DCAA compliance insights, indirect rate strategy, and federal contracting guidance.
DCAA audits the incurred cost submission. DCMA negotiates the final rate agreement. Form 1 responses, quick-closeout thresholds, and the appeal route to ASBCA.
Five points off your overhead rate on a $3M labor base is $150,000 a year. Most carry 10 to 30 points of excess from bookkeeping problems, not business problems.
A forward pricing rate proposal sets the indirect rates you price future work with, and DCAA audits every one before it is negotiated. Errors delay awards and inflate questioned costs.
Provisional billing rates let you bill indirect costs before final rates exist. Build them from budget, file before the fiscal year opens, then track them against actuals all year.
Contractors bill the government through three pools: fringe, overhead and G&A. Each uses a different allocation base and carries different audit risk. Getting them wrong inflates every rate you quote.
Indirect rate calculation is one of the most misunderstood areas of government contract accounting. Here is how fringe, overhead, and G&A rates actually work, with step-by-step instructions.
Before You Go
Get the Unallowable Cost Quick Reference, every FAR 31.205 category organized by risk level. Plus new compliance work as we publish it. Unsubscribe anytime.
We respect your privacy. Unsubscribe with one click.