In short, the answer is "Yes." Since President Biden issued Executive Order 14042 on September 9, 2021, the government has issued no fewer than four significant guidance and FAR deviation papers in three weeks. The Safer Federal Workforce Task Force issued its 14-page guidance on September 24. By October 1, OFPP, the Civilian Agency Acquisition Council (CAAC), the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense/Defense Pricing and Contracting (DPC), and GSA had all issued FAR and DFARS implementation papers. Contractors and subcontractors at all tiers must be ready to comply. The purpose of this webinar is to help you to understand the impending contract and subcontract requirements and to plan for their impact. The discussion will include topics such as (Learning Objectives):  Key requirements for contracts and subcontracts  Application of requirements to existing and future contracts and subcontracts  Compliance responsibilities  Potential cost impacts and cost recovery scenarios This webinar is designed for business, contracts, compliance, and legal personnel. We look forward to a lively discussion!

July 29, Noon-1:00 pm ET - FAR Parts 38 and 41 - Fed Supply Schedules and Utility Services. This is Session 17 of the Foundations of the FAR webinar series. This session covers Parts 38 and 41 of the Federal Acquisition Regulation. Alex Major from McCarter & English will discuss policies and procedures for contracting for supplies under the Federal Supply Schedule program (Part 38), as well as the acquisition of utility services (Part 41). Part 38 Scope This part prescribes policies and procedures for contracting for supplies and services under the Federal Supply Schedule program, which is directed and managed by the General Services Administration. GSA may delegate certain responsibilities to other agencies (e.g., GSA has delegated authority to the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to procure medical supplies under the VA Federal Supply Schedules Program). The VA Federal Supply Schedules Program is covered by this subpart. Additionally, the Department of Defense manages a similar system of schedule contracting for military items; however, the Department of Defense systems are not a part of the Federal Supply Schedule program. Subpart 41.1 Scope This part prescribes policies, procedures, and contract format for the acquisition of utility services. (See 41.102(b) for services that are excluded from this part.) After completing this webinar, you will learn about: - policies and procedures for contracting for supplies and services under the Federal Supply Schedule program, which is directed and managed by the General Services Administration. - policies, procedures, and contract format for the acquisition of utility services. This live webinar is eligible for both CLE and CPE credit. NOTE: CPE/CLE credits for attendees are subject to participation and approval by the governing boards.

Feb 28th, 12:00-1:00 p.m. ET - Compliant, Scalable Business Systems for Small Business In this session, we will cover critical evaluation factors for small business accounting software selection. Government contractors must consider traditional accounting functions provided by most accounting software along with the litany of compliance expectations required by their federal government customers. In this course, we'll contrast two typical small business paths involving the various types of government acquisition methods (GSA/OTA/FAR 12, and FAR Part 15 Contracts) and discuss the compliance hurdles that companies will encounter along the way as well as key features/tools that you should be looking for when evaluating software offerings. This webinar is sponsored by NeoSystems and presented by Asa Gilliland of Redstone Consulting

December 5, 1:00-2:00 p.m. ET - As we continue to see an uptick in contracts compliance enforcement in the areas of the GSA Schedules and other contracting vehicles, this webinar will focus on the objectives and findings that are most common in OIG Pre & Post Award Reports in accordance with FAR 552.215-71 and best practices to mitigate the consistent trends that are occurring in most of these audits. The areas of focus for this webinar: What is the difference between Pre and Post Award Audits? What are the common areas of focus in these audits:  Qualified Labor Per FAR 52.212-4  Accurate Commercial Sales Practices Disclosed  Cost Builds  Fair & Reasonable Pricing Per FAR 15.404-4  Defective Pricing  Price Reduction Clause  IFF Sales Tracking & Cost segregation  Basis of Award Monitoring (outside of the TDR) Best Mitigation Practices for all areas of focus. Sponsored by GCO

September 14th, Noon -1pm EDT -What is Fair & Reasonable Pricing from an Contract Audit Point of View based upon FAR 15.404-4 From a recent issue audit report from the GSA Office of the Inspector General the following statements were made: The OIG recognizes that it is the contracting officer's responsibility to negotiate and award a reasonable profit rate in accordance with the guidance provided under Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 15.404-4-Profit. For presentation purposes, the OIG used a 10 percent profit rate to calculate the per audit labor rate for ABC's employees. We applied this factor because the vast majority of the sales analyzed were under T&M task orders, a contract type that typically carries a lower risk to the contractor. FAR 15.404-4 provides guidance on profit and states that T&M contracts should be treated in the same manner as cost-plus-fixed-fee contracts, which limits profit to 10 percent. In addition, our position is that subcontractor labor should be treated as a pass-through cost, and profit should not be applied to this labor type. This was then used to request a 32% reduction in rate for the labor category rates for the company. The OIG performed a cost build for the labor rates that were charged on task order contracts and independently reviewed base rates, indirect rates, & profit to determine what the actual target rate should have been. The purpose of this webinar is to look at Fair & Reasonable pricing based upon the above stated approach and cover the follow questions:  Is FAR 15.404-4 an appropriate measure of the percentage of profit?  Do you add a fee to manage subcontractor labor or is it straight pass through?  GSA Schedule pricing structures (CPL vs Market Rates) : what is the impact of true historical rates usage?  What are in your indirect rates? (Do you know)  What is defective pricing?  What are the legal ramifications of defective pricing?