Small Businesses Need Accounting Software Designed for the Federal Marketplace

 A transcribed interview by the founder of PROCAS discusses some of the 'compliance' issues that small businesses face when pursuing or thinking of pursuing Government contracts. 

This interview focuses on Accounting and Timekeeping systems and other requirements of the SF 1408 (Accounting Systems). 

You can access the interview here.

This is not an endorsement for PROCAS. We have no first-hand experience with this particular software although it seems to have a lot of features necessary for Government contract accounting.

Compensation Caps for 2024

The Office of Federal Procurement Policy (OFPP) recently published the compensation cap for 2024. The new cap is $ 646,000 and represents a 4.4 percent increase over the 2023 compensation cap of $ 619,000.  

Following are the compensation caps by year:

Prior to 2014, compensation caps were applied variously to 'top five employees in management positions', and 'all employees' depending on the year and whether the contract was awarded by DoD/NASA or a civilian agency. Also, compensation caps prior to 2014 were much higher, peaking at $1.1 million in 2014. If you still have contracts awarded prior to June 24, 2014, you should become very familiar with FAR 31.205-6(p) to ensure accurate implementation of compensation caps.

IRS Mileage Rate for 2024

 For 2024, the standard mileage rate for business will increase from 65.5 to 67 cents per mile.

The rate for medical and moving will decrease by one cent to 21 cents per mile while the rate for charitable purposes is set by statute and remains unchanged at 14 cents per mile.

Compensation Caps for 2023

The Office of Federal Procurement Policy (OFPP) recently published the compensation cap for 2023. The new cap is $619,000 and represents a 5.1 percent increase over the 2022 compensation cap. This is the largest annual increase since these caps were established by the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2013). 

Following are the compensation caps by year:

Prior to 2014, compensation caps were applied variously to 'top five employees in management positions', and 'all employees' depending on the year and whether the contract was awarded by DoD/NASA or a civilian agency. Also, compensation caps prior to 2014 were much higher, peaking at $1.1 million in 2014. If you still have contracts awarded prior to June 24, 2014, you should become very familiar with FAR 31.205-6(p) to ensure accurate implementation of compensation caps.

IRS Mileage Rate for 2023

For 2023, the standard mileage rate for business will increase to 65.5 cents per mile

The rate for medical and moving will also increase to 22 cents per mile while the rate for charitable purposes remain at 14 cents per mile.

Acquisition Regulation Comparator (ARC)

The new Acquisition Regulation Comparator (ARC) is now live on Acquisition.gov. 

ARC provides users the ability to compare up to three regulations side by side. The results are displayed in a column layout, with regulations compared at the part/subpart level and lined up by the sections.

Its not quite finished however. Currently it contains the FAR, GSAR (GSA FAR Supplement), and DFARS (DoD FAR Supplement) but soon (they say) ARC will release all of the civilian agency acquisition regulations (e.g. NASA, DOE, etc).

ARC is easy to use - select the three regulations you want to compare, select the subpart, and then generate the comparison.

For example, if you have a DoD contract and want to research the cost principle on public relations and advertising (FAR 31.205-1), you need to understand not only the FAR coverage but also whether the DoD FAR supplement adds any additional restrictions on allowability. It does as you can see by this example:

This tool will save time when researching acquisition regulations and whatever FAR supplement is applicable. We hope the civilian agency supplements will be added sooner rather than later.