This article was originally published on the Deltek Costpoint blog. Read the entire article there.
Passing DCMA Audits with A2B Tracking and Costpoint
By Peter Collins
Defense Contract Management Agency (DCMA) Audits come with the territory when conducting business with the United States Department of Defense (DoD) and other government agencies. DCMA Audits ensure that government resources, including Government Furnished Property/Equipment (GFP/GFE), are being properly allocated and tracked by government contractors that are awarded contracts with the Federal Government. In addition to GFP or GFE, Contractor Acquired Property (CAP), where the contract obligates the contractor to acquire the property during the course of the contract, may also be subject to audit.
Passing a government property audit means being able to consistently substantiate the existence and completeness of government property inventory. Contractors need to be audit ready from “floor to book” and “book to floor” at all times. In other words, there needs to be complete accountability for all DoD assets and property.
This blog outlines the considerations that should be made when developing a plan for managing GFE to ensure successful government property audits. The GFE management plan should start with asset identification and an assessment of applicable government reporting systems and the organization’s own business systems. Audit readiness can be further accelerated by utilizing an asset tracking system integrated with an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) tool, this ensures compliance with both Government Property Management and Accounting Systems Standards.
Auto-ID Technology
Item unique identification (IUID) requirements for government property typically mandate that all government property be permanently marked with a unique ID in the form of a 2-Dimensional barcode. IUID and Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology are both commonly employed as Auto-ID technology to track and manage government property.
Unfortunately, one of the things that we have found working with contractors is that even though government property is almost always marked with a barcode or an IUID, the barcode is not always scanned for tracking purposes. Deploying a modern Government Property Management system allows organizations to take full advantage of the auto-ID technology and the efficiencies that they provide.
Reporting to Government Systems
Government property not only needs to be tracked and managed; but the asset data also needs to be reported through to government systems. Reporting property data to the PIEE system (Procurement Integrated Enterprise Environment) is a critical contract obligation that cannot be overlooked.
The PIEE system which includes WAWF (Wide Area Workflow), IUID Registry, GFP Module and others is an e-commerce platform that continues to grow and evolve. This is where contractors can fulfill their obligations to provide their property data and transactions of information through to the government which eventually flow through to the Accountable Property Systems of Record (APSR).
The PIEE systems were designed to take advantage of a direct data exchange between the contractor’s property system and PIEE so that with the click of a button it can process hundreds of assets at a time. Utilizing a compatible tracking system can eliminate the need to enter this data manually, saving time and reducing errors that could cause rejected shipments or withheld payments until the situation has been resolved.
Government Property clause FAR 52.245-1
FAR 52.245-1 stipulates that contractors need to have a system of internal controls to manage Government property in its possession. Furthermore, maintaining an adequate Government Property Management System is required per the Contractors Business Systems clause.
Deltek Costpoint Integration
Deltek Costpoint IntegrationA2B Tracking’s integration to Costpoint Fixed Assets module provides a complete Government Property Management solution that supports contractors with an Asset Management system that meets all requirements of FAR 52.245-1. This ensures that, in the event of an audit, the Property Management and Accounting Systems are compliant with Federal Regulations.
A2B Tracking’s platform, UC! Web, provides an automated data exchange to PIEE, WAWF, GFP Module, IUID Registry and PCARSS for military assets and shipments, property transfers and asset lifecycle events. Features also include IUID Compliance, robust audit trails for complete lifecycle asset management, as well as advanced barcode and RFID technology for accurate and efficient inventory tracking.
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Costpoint Fixed Assets Module
Deltek Costpoint users will benefit from our direct integration with the Costpoint Fixed Assets module to provide a FedRAMP approved and ITAR secure solution. By taking advantage of our integration, Costpoint users will be able to manage all government property details, shipments and lifecycle asset events from acquisition through to disposal.
UC! Web is a complete government property management platform that provides total compliance to FAR 52.245-1 (Government property clause) as well as, DFARS 252.211-7003 (Item Identification and Valuation clause) and DFARS 252.211-7007 (Reporting of GFP clause). The platform is designed to support property managers to help them pass DCMA property audits. It is also designed to support property managers by providing increased efficiency, reduced errors and huge time savings.
Organizations can save hundreds of hours with our automated data exchange to PIEE, WAWF, IUID Registry, GFP Module and IUID Registry. Furthermore, understand that UC! Web saves time by preventing data entry mistakes and other errors and warns the user to fix the errors prior to submission. With the A2B Tracking platform you can create your DD250s, DD1149s, DD1348s and other custody transfer documentation with a click of a button. Costpoint users will also benefit from the ability to leverage RFID and advanced barcode to track serialized assets and non-serialized stock for automated inventory tracking.
Costpoint Integration Video
Costpoint users can benefit from the direct integration between the A2B Tracking’s UC! Web and Deltek Costpoint to provide a complete lifecycle asset management system to help support passing DCMA property audits.
The integration agent works in-between these two platforms to keep both sets of data in sync and up-to-date (syncs can be configured to run every day, or every few hours or even every few minutes). The Costpoint Integration agent can be run as a Windows service and works with internally hosted and Deltek cloud-hosted installations.
For a deeper dive, take a look at our Costpoint Integrated Solution brochure. You can also watch a 3-minute video demonstration below to learn more about how Costpoint and A2B Tracking can support the management of your government property to help pass DCMA audits.
