Modern Government Property Managers are now working in a world where audits are the new normal. It’s no longer a question of if the audits will happen but when. In this post, I would like to take a closer look at why, I think, Audit Readiness is important for Government Property Managers.
Last month, I attended the NPMA (National Property Management Association) conference in Washington DC, where I spoke with a number of smart Government Property Managers who explained to me their strategies for Audit Readiness. One of the key elements for all of these organizations was an acknowledgement that audits were inevitable and that the best way forward was to integrate systems into their day-to-day operations.
Government Property Management
When organizations are managing government property they are typically required to comply with the FAR clause 52.245-1 since their contract states this obligation. This property management clause clarifies that the organization has an obligation to have an internal business system in place to manage the government property in its possession or when flowing down that obligation to a subcontractor.
The FAR clause makes it clear that this government property management system needs to be able to manage, control, protect, preserve and maintain all Government Property, regardless of whether it’s in the contractor’s possession or in the possession of subcontractors. This automated system must also provide a current and complete audit trail of all government property from acquisition to disposition.
The property managers that I spoke with at the NPMA Conference all had business systems in place to help them comply with these government property management obligations. Tracking and managing their assets was a part of their everyday operations. Furthermore, everyone on their team knew the importance of marking, tracking and managing the government property. And it was clear that they saw this obligation as part of their responsibility as being a steward of government property.
Compliance to government contracts
Maintaining compliance to government contracts is clearly a key element to any government property managers role. Unfortunately, for most government contractors compliance is not a simple process. Often, there are multiple dimensions to maintaining compliance such as the added pressure of the FIAR obligation for the programs which they support, IUID Compliance for assets qualifying assets, performing self evaluations, inventory management, being prepared for DCMA visits and then, of course, supporting the record keeping, tracking, reporting and management of the government property to systems such as PCARSS and Wide Area Workflow (WAWF).
The modern property manager needs to balance each of these initiatives and make sure that their program is supporting all of them. Not an easy task. But, it is a manageable task with the proper tools and best practices in place.
Audit Readiness is important for Government Property Managers
We recently held a webinar on Audit Readiness for government contractors and talked about these very real challenges of maintaining compliance. Here is a 4-minute video segment taken from that session that continues this discussion on Why Audit Readiness is important for Government Property Managers. Take a look!
