Government Contractors’ Compliance Programs: The Government’s Perspective.
The Government has a large stake in the compliance program process. Government officials need to understand what contractors are required to do in this area. If they understand these requirements, they will be in a better position when fraud type allegations arise to know whether a contractor has a quality program in place that would entitle the contractor to benefit from voluntary disclosure and other diversionary programs that call for more lenient penalties. Or, if contractors have not taken adequate steps needed to prevent and detect fraud in their compliance programs, Government personnel will know that such contractors should held to more stringent remedies.
This material can be covered in one day when we focus upon Government awareness as to the foregoing issues.
Cost and Pricing Data Claims: The Government’s Perspective.
Most of the public courses on this subject are two days, and focus on the contractor’s side of this issue, such as how the contractor can avoid being presented with Government claims for price reductions.
The Government also has a stake in this defective pricing claims process. Its approach, however, to these issues needs to be different: What should contractors be doing to prevent these claims initially? What mistakes is the Government continually making in presenting defective pricing claims against contractors? How can the Government improve its recovery rate?
These materials can be covered in one day, and can significantly increase the Government’s recovery in defective pricing situations.
Government Defenses to Contractors’ Claims: The Procedural Issues.
This course focuses on procedural errors that contractors make in processing claims that the Government should take advantage of.
The course reviews the procedural aspects of contractors’ claims presentations, including topics such as accounting issues and delay submittals. Claims are often filed or presented in ways that are inconsistent with requirements set forth in case law decisions, and should be significantly downgraded in terms of payment as a result.
Government Defenses to Contractors’ Claims: The Substantive Issues.
This one day course covers the principal legal and factual bases upon which contractors present their claims, and the Government’s defenses to them.
This presentation covers a thorough review of the following types of Contractor claims: constructive change claims, defective specification claims, impossibility of performance claims, Government furnished property claims, and other types of claims that fall into recurrent patterns that the Government must continually deal with and defend against.
While these materials can be challenging to cover in one day, this can be done if we focus on the principal types of claims that contractors present and the Government’s defenses to them.
Inspection/Quality Disputes: Government Rights.
We emphasize detailed Government cost recovery rights for deficient contractor performance, as well as related topics. This is an important subject for Government personnel to understand their comprehensive rights.
The Relation Between Default and Convenience Termination; Proof of Claims and Cost Recoveries.
After Inspection, these are the two principal clauses the Government has available to manage deficient performance and to recover from procurement errors. The interaction here is significant. This course comprehensively covers the Government’s rights to manage by use of the T for D and T for C course.
Recognizing and Preventing Contractual Changes to Federal Contracts.
This is an area where we believe agencies can exercise leadership in preventing the Government from paying needless money after the fact for constructive changes. Government personnel, if properly prepared, can prevent many of these claims by contractors.
Proof and Defense of Equitable Adjustment Amounts in Price Increases or Decreases Under Federal Contracts.
The Government needs to know the detailed rules so it can defeat contractor stretching and over-statements in all extra work and pricing activities that take place under Federal contracts. There are substantial, specialized rules from case law decisions in this area. Government personnel should know them.
Delay and Acceleration Claims Under Federal Contracts.
This is an area in which contractors are constantly presenting claims. Often they are presented in a sloppy, overstated fashion. Government personnel need to know where such contractor claims are vulnerable.
Advance Time Charging Issue
Time charging problems have moved beyond the “white out” stage. Numerous compliance problems still exist. Many Federal Government contract personnel on both sides of the table believe that time keeping problems are the most prevalent potential noncompliance area in Government contract administration. Techniques to minimize these problems are explored in this course.
Additional 1/2 Day Seminar Session
For many courses, we will offer a second day–a morning session, if there is student interest. That allows time for an early to mid-afternoon airplane trip home.
We will take specific situations from actual cases in the topic area being covered–and then explain how proactive work by contractors would have changed the case result. We will also take routine contract clauses of the government or prime contractors dealing with the topic area covered and show how to change results and increase profitability based upon innovative contract administration techniques.