Do you expect to be involved in the winning or running of a US Department of Defense (DOD) contract or a related subcontract? If so, join our new training course on US Federal Acquisition Regulations (FARs) and Defense FAR Supplements (DFARs) where you can obtain an awareness of the major issues in this complex area of contracting. The workshop will set out the risks within the regime and the commercial landscape.
Whilst there have always been high level similarities between the pricing and reporting requirements of UK and US government contract systems, there are also very many differences, some of which are significant and potentially very damaging to ignore.
A good understanding of the UK or US nation’s controls and governance system will assist the understanding of the other nation’s requirements, however, knowledge of one can easily cause too great an expectation of similarity.
All contracts with US DOD are subject to the US FARs, augmented by the DFARs, and although few UK companies have prime contracts, their subcontracts will include suitably modified FAR and DFAR clauses and provisions. These sub-contracts, at whatever level, are not Government contracts but commercial contracts in support of a Government contract. DOD encourages prime contractors to flow down FARs clauses and provisions to establish purchaser rights necessary to manage effectively the sub-contract and, where required, to establish US Government 3rd party rights.
This workshop will assist delegates in ensuring that clauses and provisions are reasonable and appropriate to the circumstances.
Benefits of participation
The workshop will provide you with:
- an overarching summary of the elements of a contract governed by the FARs and DFARs; and
- an awareness of some of the potential benefits and pitfalls of contracts governed by the US framework.
Workshop content includes
- Navigating the regulations i.e. structure and interactions
- Application of Cost Accounting Standards
- Contract form and type
- Commercial items
- Contract pricing
- Estimating systems
- Pricing rates and profit
- Allowable costs
- Truthful cost or pricing data
- Defective pricing
- Pricing contract changes
- System approvals and audits
Workshop leader
The course is led by John Ashley
John is a Chartered Accountant with substantial experience in both the private and public sectors. He was a key member of the MOD team established to develop the current UK single source procurement legislation. He has significant experience of the application of the US DOD procurement system, having been the manager responsible for the MOD Reciprocal Audit function within the MOD Cost Analysis and Assurance Service. In that role, he provided guidance to CAAS investigating staff when they performed audits on behalf of US DOD. In addition, he provided advice to senior MOD staff and major UK contractors on the application of the FARs and DFARs.
