Tuesday, August 3, 2010

Requesting Extensions to Due Date for Submitting Annual Incurred Cost Proposals

FAR 52.216-7.d requires contractors to submit adequate final indirect cost rate proposals to the Contracting Officer and auditor within six months following the end of its fiscal year. The same clause also provides for extensions to that date under certain circumstances. Specifically, FAR states:
Reasonable extensions, for exceptional circumstances only, may be requested in writing by the Contractor and granted in writing by the Contracting Officer. The Contractor shall support its proposal with adequate supporting data.
It has been our experience that contracting officers are inconsistent in applying the "exceptional circumstances" criteria. We have seen contracting officers agree to extensions for no stated reason to cases where contracting officers have probed and queried contractors on their stated justification and supporting data (and in some cases, ultimately denying the request). There is no consistency here at all. One recent DCMA denial for extension contained these words:
(Our) policy is not to grant extensions but simply to require Contractors to get their submissions in as soon as possible. The requirement for incurred cost submissions is very clear and (contractor) is not unfamiliar with this requirement.
The reason the Government is so insistent in receiving these proposals in a timely manner is not because they are chomping at the bit to start their audit. The Government is significantly in arrears in reviewing incurred cost claims - three and fours years behind. The primary purpose in getting these claims submitted timely is so they can compare final indirect rates with provisional billing rates and adjust billings as appropriate. If the final rates are significantly less than the provisional billing rates, the Government will expect contractors to process adjustments to their billings. Conversely, if final rates are significantly higher than provisional billing rates, contractors should process billing adjustments to recoup their additional costs.

Don't count on receiving extensions to the due date for submitting your final incurred cost submission. Work to complete them in a timely manner. Tomorrow we will discuss some of the implications for contractors who are significantly delinquent in submitting their claims.

No comments:

Post a Comment