WHETHER GOVERNMENT CAN ACCURATELY REPORT DATA OR NOT, CONTRACTORS MUST
A recent Government Accountability Office report highlighted problems – sometimes significant – that federal agencies are having meeting the disclosure requirements of the DATA Act. The Act requires agencies to disclose all of their non-classified expenditures, including procurement and grant information. The information from several agencies is incomplete and less than accurate. There are two take-aways here for government contractors. First, it’s important to understand that federally-supplied information may not be as reliable as you would like it to be. Make sure you have other sources to make use of when conducting business planning. Second, even though your federal customer agency may not have accurate spending records, this does not absolve you from contract requirements mandating that you keep accurate, current and complete information. Regardless of whether the Schedules TDR program moves forward, Schedule contractors must still accurately track and remit Industrial Funding Fee collections. Similarly, other Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity contracts require contractors to track and submit spending and other usage data. The government relies on contractor supplied data in many instances and the GAO report may be one indication as to why. While “the cat ate my data” might work for federal agencies, failure to abide by the terms of your federal contract could have substantial implications for your company.