DOE Revises Cost Principle on Legal Costs

On January 7th, the Department of Energy published a revision to its cost principle regarding the allowability of legal costs. In the DOE FAR Supplement 31.205-47, a reference to "10 CFR Part 708" has been changed to "10 CFR part 708". That's certainly a refleif for those of us who try to understand and apply these cost principles - it has been such a contentious issue. This simple change should indeed smooth out the Government contracting process and significantly ease pressure on Federal appropriations.

And speaking of the DOE FAR Supplement, there's a reminder here that contractors should be familiar with the specific FAR supplement of the Agency issuing the contract. Almost all Executive Agencies have FAR supplements and many of those affect cost principles in FAR Part 31. For example, the DOE FAR Supplement contains additional coverage on the allowability of insurance, pre-contract costs, professional and consultant services, independent research and development, and legal costs. The NASA FAR Supplement contains additional coverage on the allowability of compensation and precontract costs. The Department of Defense FAR Supplement adds additional coverage to compensation, lobbying, restructuring, and research and development. Here's a link to an index of all Agency FAR supplements.