DOD Acquisition Policy – Better Buying Power or a Shift in Power?

The Department of Defense issued a memorandum on January 4, 2011, the subject: Better Buying Power: Guidance for Obtaining Greater Efficiency and Productivity in Defense Spending; “Align Defense Contract Management Agency (DCMA) and Defense Contract Audit Agency (DCAA) Process to Ensure Work is Complementary” The following actions have been implemented:

• Cost/Price Proposal Audits – DCAA will no longer perform field pricing audits on cost type proposals less than $100 million and fixed-type proposals less than $10 million.  Request for proposal audits below this threshold will be referred to DCMA for field pricing assistance.
• Forward Pricing Rate Agreements (FPRA) – DCMA will be the single agency responsible for issuing all FPRA.
• Financial Capability Reviews – DCAA will no longer perform Financial Capability Reviews and Audits.  DCMA will now conduct the Financial Capability Reviews as part of the Pre-Award Survey Process.
• Purchasing System Reviews – DCAA will withdraw from performing regularly scheduled Purchasing System Audits.  DCMA will conduct these reviews out of their Purchasing System Review Center.
• Contractor Business Systems Rule – When the proposed rule is implemented, the revised policy will clearly define DCMA/DCAA responsibilities with respect to each Agency’s role.

DCMA is well on their way to meet the needs of the additional workload.  The agency has hired an additional 215 new cost/price analysts and expects this number to increase to 300 by the end of 2011.

We can all hope for better quality and more efficient work with the new alignment of resources.

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