Every Fall, the NPMA (National Property Management Association) holds a conference for its members to come together for a few days of focused training and education on the details of Government Property Management. The NPMA Fall Education Seminar brings together Property Managers of all levels from across the country to get up to speed on the latest with government regulations, compliance and technologies that can support their efforts.
Last week, I attended the NPMA Fall Education Seminar in San Diego, CA. The range and depth of educational content at this event is really very strong. The NPMA has to be applauded for putting together a well organized seminar with valuable sessions covering a wide range of topics on asset management and government contract regulations.
Defense Audit
One of the topics of conversation that came-up again and again this year was Audit Preparation. The Department of Defense is feeling the pressure from Congress to execute a successful audit of the entire department – including a complete inventory of all mission critical assets. This pressure is in turn being pushed down to the branches of the Military and the Defense contractors who support them. Everyone is feeling the heat of these DCMA Audits.
I heard from multiple sources during the seminar that the DCMA Audits have significantly increased this year — both in terms of their frequency and their intensity. Auditors are inspecting defense contractors that hold possession of government property like never before. Contracts are being reviewed to ensure that all government property is accurately reported to the appropriate government system and that all items that have been reported can then be physically located and accounted for when asked.
More and more Property Managers are realizing the challenges of a sustained audit readiness initiative. I spoke with one property manager who explained that it requires an organizational mindset — a true shift in culture – to be able to sustain audit readiness. Improving asset visibility and inventory accuracy to a near 100% is going to take time and investment from all levels of the organization.
2019 Audit Readiness
Pat Jacklets and I hosted a Breakout session in San Diego last week on this topic of Audit Readiness and how to prepare for 2019. It was well attended and as you might imagine, people were eager to hear about the latest developments in the DoD Audit Strategy. More importantly it was a great opportunity to open up the session to hear what other organizations were doing in preparation for DCMA Audits. Everyone wanted to know what systems and procedures were being used to improve inventory accountability.
Most of the organizations at the Breakout session have come to grips with the fact that the Defense Audits are not going away; but, are just now starting to map out a future where their organization can sustain full asset accountability and be audit ready at a moments notice. Not surprisingly, there were many organizations that were looking at technology investments that could support this audit readiness initiative.
For a more in-depth look at Audit Readiness read our 2018 Guide to Audit Readiness.
