The Ten Commandments of GSA Schedule Compliance

Transcription

1

2 The Ten Commandments of GSA Schedule Compliance Breakout Session #: B05 Jennifer Aubel Aronson LLC Date: Monday, July 25 Time: 2:30pm 3:45pm

3 About Aronson LLC Aronson LLC provides a comprehensive platform of assurance, tax, and consulting solutions to today s most active industry sectors and successful individuals. For more than 50 years, we have purposefully expanded our service offerings and deepened our industry specialties to better serve the needs of our clients. From startup to exit, we help our clients maximize opportunity, minimize risk, and unlock their full potential. 2

4 About Aronson LLC Thinking ahead for more than 50 years 225+ professionals located in Rockville, MD 80+ professionals dedicated to supporting government contractors Aronson helps federal contractors rethink the way they approach their business through innovative, industryspecific services and advice: Audit, Assurance and Tax Deltek Systems and Outsourcing Financial and Contract Compliance GSA Schedules News and trends and insight for today s savvy government contractor 3

5 About the Speaker Jennifer Aubel is a Principal Consultant at Aronson LLC. She is responsible for leading clients successfully through the GSA lifecycle -- from obtaining a new contract to managing ongoing contracts. She works closely with clients to custom-tailor solutions that meet organizational needs by developing scope and pricing strategies, maintaining contract compliance, providing OIG audit support, and improving the profitability and versatility of the GSA contract. Jennifer has nearly 20 years of experience in the federal market, working for contractors and as a consultant to GSA Schedule contract holders. Jennifer graduated summa cum laude from the University of Maryland University College with a bachelor s degree in Legal Studies. 4

6 Compliance is Important Risks and Penalties Reduced Profitability Restitution Payments Termination for Cause Reputational Costs Pricing Renegotiation Fines and Penalties Prosecution Suspension or Debarment False Claims Act Suits 5

7 The First Commandment THOU SHALT CLOSE NO SALE BEFORE THINKING ABOUT GSA 6

8 The First Commandment Having a GSA Schedule contract impacts ALL of your sales federal and commercial The Sales Department is probably your single largest source of risk Commercial sales can trigger price reductions or a change to the Basis of Award 7

9 The First Commandment GSA will assume all federal sales are Schedule sales unless you can prove otherwise Upcoming Transactional Sales Reporting to make order prices to GSA customers a basis for reducing contract ceiling rates 8

10 Compliance Best Practices Educate, educate, educate Institute rigorous sales policies and procedures and enforce them Automate processes when possible Document pricing proposals Perform periodic internal sales reviews 9

11 The Second Commandment THOU SHALT NOT MISREPRESENT NON-SCHEDULE ITEMS 10

12 The Second Commandment Including Open Market items can be problematic on GSA contract orders Open market items with a total value below the micro-purchase threshold (MPT) are generally allowed on GSA orders When open market items exceed MPT, though, the ordering agency must make a fair and reasonable pricing determination 11

13 The Second Commandment No open market items may be included on GSA ebuy proposals Open market items must be clearly labeled as such on pricing proposal Including too many open market items may leave you vulnerable to bid protest 12

14 Compliance Best Practices Segregate and clearly mark any open market items on GSA pricing proposals Utilize Contractor Teaming Arrangements (CTAs) to minimize open market items Do not include open market items or non- Schedule ODCs (such as travel) in your GSA sales 13

15 The Third Commandment THOU SHALT NOT TAKE LABOR CATEGORY NAMES IN VAIN 14

16 The Third Commandment Failure to provide qualified personnel on GSA task orders has been a major recurring OIG audit finding Matching personnel to a GSA labor category and then the GSA category to a task order category is complicated Labor category descriptions are analogous to a product s specification 15

17 The Third Commandment GSA is now asking for resumes at the endof-term contractor assessment GSA considers to use of unqualified personnel to be an overcharge You will have to repay the difference between the rate charged and the rate for the category the employee qualifies for 16

18 Compliance Best Practices Require all employees to update their resumes at least annually Document any experience or education substitutions used when mapping people to GSA labor categories Document mapping of any solicitation labor categories to GSA labor categories Obtain current resumes for subcontractor employees if mapped to GSA categories 17

19 The Fourth Commandment REMEMBER THE BASIS OF AWARD, AND KEEP IT HOLY 18

20 The Fourth Commandment Most Favored Customer Customer or class of customers that receives your best pricing, regardless of terms and conditions. Basis of Award Customer Customer or class of customers upon which the Price Reductions Clause is predicated. These terms are frequently used interchangeably, but they are not always the same. 19

21 The Fourth Commandment The Basis of Award (BOA) establishes a relationship between the BOA customer s discount and the GSA discount that must be maintained for the life of the contract If you don t know what the BOA is on your contract, figure it out IMMEDIATELY 20

22 The Fourth Commandment Contractors must implement and maintain a system that tracks commercial sales, especially those to the BOA customer Selling to BOA customers at a higher discount than negotiated may trigger the Price Reductions Clause 21

23 Compliance Best Practices Limit who can extend pricing to Basis of Award customer(s) and automate pricing controls, if possible Institute checks and balances between sales and contracts with consequences for rogue behavior Segregate sales to Basis of Award customer(s) in accounting system for easy price monitoring 22

24 The Fifth Commandment HONOR YOUR NEGOTIATED DISCOUNTS 23

25 The Fifth Commandment GSA attempts to negotiate three types of discounts at contract award: 1. Basic Discount 2. Volume and Quantity Discounts 3. Prompt Payment Discount When GSA negotiates discounts outside your standard commercial practices, they are easy to forget 24

26 The Fifth Commandment GSA will check to make sure negotiated discounts are extended on contract orders at the annual contractor assessment If the prompt payment discount does not appear on your invoice, GSA assumes the government would have paid in time to get discount and you owe money back 25

27 Compliance Best Practices Don t negotiate discount terms that differ from your standard commercial practices Automate pricing system to include any volume or quantity discounts Include prompt payment discounts in invoicing instructions when setting up GSA orders in accounting system Conduct occasional spot checks 26

28 The Sixth Commandment THOU SHALT NOT KILL YOUR DISCOUNT RELATIONSHIP 27

29 The Sixth Commandment When the Basis of Award discount relationship is disturbed, then a PRICE REDUCTION has been triggered You must disclose any price reductions to GSA within 15 days Be sure to read and understand GSAR , Price Reductions 28

30 The Sixth Commandment Price reductions are not really about price, rather the discount this is a common area of confusion and errors Certain transactions are exempt from triggering price reductions 29

31 Compliance Best Practices Educate ALL stakeholders on price reductions and the related financial risks Consider whether a reduction can be classified as temporary before giving GSA a permanent decrease Schedule regular internal reviews Disclose any exceptions in your Commercial Sales Practices (CSP) 30

32 The Seventh Commandment THOU SHALT NOT CHEAT ON YOUR SALES REPORTING 31

33 The Seventh Commandment The Schedules Program is funded via the Industrial Funding Fee (IFF), not Congress GSA is highly incentivized to maximize reported Schedule sales Having an adequate and verifiable sales reporting system is critical Sales must be reported by Special Item Number (SIN) 32

34 Compliance Best Practices Document SINs, open market items, and ODCs from the proposal forward Flag GSA orders in your accounting system so you can easily run reports on sales Place reporting dates on your accounting calendar Use electronic payment to avoid late penalties File reconciliation and reporting confirmations Don t forget Participating Dealers and CTAs 33

35 The Eighth Commandment THOU SHALT NOT STEAL FROM YOUR CUSTOMERS 34

36 The Eighth Commandment Overcharging agencies on GSA orders is a serious contract violation GSA reviews invoices for overcharges at annual contractor assessments Any overcharges must be repaid promptly Systemic pricing errors are reported to the Contracting Officer and can even result in referral to Office of Inspector General 35

37 The Eighth Commandment Overcharges on products most often occur because of failure to update internal pricing tools or calculating GSA price directly from commercial pricelist Overcharges on services most often occur when task order escalation rate is higher than GSA Schedule escalation rate Failure to extend discounts and use of underqualified labor are also overcharges 36

38 Compliance Best Practices Automate pricing functions, if possible Track escalation on GSA task orders to ensure rates don t exceed current GSA price Have GSA contract administrator validate pricing on GSA proposals Do not increase GSA rates with a new commercial pricelist until an Economic Price Adjustment modification is awarded 37

39 The Ninth Commandment THOU SHALT NOT BEAR FALSE WITNESS ABOUT COMMERCIAL SALES PRACTICES 38

40 The Ninth Commandment In FY13, the GSA OIG found 77% of audited contracts had CSP disclosures that weren t current, accurate and complete Making adequate disclosures on the CSP can be very challenging Services companies are often at a disadvantage when they use market pricing rather than a commercial pricelist 39

41 The Ninth Commandment GSA s emod system and OPEN renewal process make it easy to state that there have been no changes to the CSP, even when there are Only tracking BOA customer(s) may leave you vulnerable under GSAR , Price Adjustment Failure to Provide Accurate Information 40

42 Compliance Best Practices Make comprehensive disclosures of your practices both standard and nonstandard it offers you more protection with future commercial sales Clearly explain what transactions are included in the disclosure and if any aren t Vague practices such as discounts for competitive reasons rarely stand up to scrutiny; you need to say how much and how often 41

43 The Tenth Commandment THOU SHALT NOT COVET PRODUCTS MADE IN CHINA 42

44 The Tenth Commandment The Trade Agreements Act (TAA) is one of the hottest compliance areas now Schedule products cannot be manufactured or substantially transformed in countries that are not compliant with the TAA (i.e. China, India, etc.) For services, the Country of Origin (COO) is where the firm is established 43

45 The Tenth Commandment Compliance with the TAA can be quite complicated Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is the ultimate arbiter of TAA compliance Violations can give rise to qui tam lawsuits under the False Claims Act GSA Advantage! allows competitors to easily check your awarded products for compliance 44

46 Compliance Best Practices Resellers and integrators should require manufacturers to recertify the COO of their products at least annually Spare parts and accessories often cause problems (ex. Batteries or power supplies); do not sell separately if conflicts exist Consider talking to a government contracts attorney about complex topics like cloud software 45

47 QUESTIONS? 46

48 Contact Information 47