Cherry Bekaert: Government Contractors Guidance

Are you thinking about an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) or wondering how they work? Susan Moser, Partner, and John Carpenter, Principal, in Cherry Bekaert’s Government Contractor Services Group discuss ESOPs, including the top 5 reasons an ESOP makes sense, the challenges in becoming an ESOP and common myths and questions asked from government contractors considering an ESOP.

View all Government Contracting Podcasts

Contracting officers have been known for incorrectly including clauses into contracts. John Carpenter and John Ford, members of Cherry Bekaert’s Government Contractor Services Group, discuss the clauses that should be (and should not be) included in contracts for Commercial Items.

View all Government Contracting Podcasts

Each Agency and Contracting Officer is unique. However, there are common issues that continuously pop up and may delay responses/actions from Contracting Officers. In this podcast, Eric Poppe, Senior Manager and Javier Diaz, Manager in Cherry Bekaert’s Government Contractor Services Group discuss some of these issues.

View all Government Contracting Podcasts

On March 27, 2020, the Department of Defense (“DoD”) issued a class deviation in response to Section 3610 of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (“CARES Act”), which allows agencies to reimburse, at the minimum applicable contract billing rates for government contractors to be at a ‘ready state.’ Recently, DoD issued a draft checklist outlining the requirements to seek reimbursement. 

Eric Poppe, Senior Manager in Cherry Bekaert’s Government Contractor Services Group is joined by Ryan Bradel, Partner at Ward & Berry for a discussion the draft checklist and reimbursement, and the implications on direct and indirect rates, how to communicate with your contracting officer and other items government contractors should consider.

View all Government Contracting Podcasts

As May wraps up, there is a deadline looming for many government contractors. Eric Poppe and Javier Diaz, members of Cherry Bekaert's Government Contractor Services Group talk about preparing and submitting your annual Incurred Cost Submissions (ICS). An ICS is due six months after the end of your fiscal year and is based on the requirement of the Allowable Cost and Payment Clause. Discussion includes items required to compile your indirect rates, documents needed to prepare the submission, the submission process and potential pitfalls so you are on the lookout prior to submission to DCAA.

View all Government Contracting Podcasts

A basis of estimate is that backbone to every price estimate submitted to the government. In this Cherry Bekaert GovCon podcast, Eric Poppe, Senior Manager and Javier Diaz, Manager in Cherry Bekaert’s Government Contractor Services Group discuss the common methodologies and basis of estimates used for various cost elements normally included in proposals.

View all Government Contracting Podcasts

Private equity finished strong in 2019 with a record level of cash. Will that level of investment activity continue in 2020? And if so, what are the factors influencing that trend?

Join Jeff Bengtson, principal and national leader of Cherry Bekaert’s transaction advisory group as he discusses his predictions for 2020 and the trends that will shape the PE industry in the coming year.

The new Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (“CMMC”) that will be required for ALL DoD contractors is quickly approaching!

This new certification will require all Department of Defense (“DoD”) contractors, both contractors and suppliers, to meet a certain level of cybersecurity controls from the CMMC framework in order to respond to any DoD RFP. The full Version 1.0 is scheduled to go live in January and CMMC requirements will start showing up in RFIs as early as next May and then in RFPs next Fall.

DoD issued the first publicly released version of the framework for comment in September 2019. Draft, Version 0.6, was publicly released in November and it is anticipated that version 0.7 will be released this month as well as formation of the CMMC Accreditation Body.

Neal Beggan, Principal in Cherry Bekaert’s Cybersecurity Services Practice, joins Eric Poppe in the Firm’s Government Contracting Services Practice, for a discussion on what the CMMC requirement is, who it applies to and what companies can do now to prepare.

We have already started helping clients get ahead of CMMC and are scheduled to host a webinar on the topic on January 8th. Click here to learn more about the webinar and/or to register. Please contact Neal Beggan [email protected] with any questions.

View all Government Contracting Podcasts

Qualified Small Business Stock can offer significant tax savings to boost your after-tax rate of return on an exit.

Join Chris Truitt, Partner and National Leader for Transaction Tax Services, and Barry Weins, Director, Transaction Tax Services, for a discussion on the benefits of Qualified Small Business Stock. This powerful tax provision creates significant opportunities for qualifying investments. This podcast provides an overview of the opportunity and answers many questions that have been posed by our clients.

John Carpenter and Curt Smith discuss some of the most common reasons contractors are not successful in getting their accounting system deemed adequate when going through a DCAA audit.

View all Government Contracting Podcasts