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Senators Say DCAA Isn’t Improving Fast Enough

From “Defense Contract Audit agency not improving fast enough” at FederalNewsRadio.com: “The Defense Contract Audit Agency, like many in the a...

Federal News Network Staff

September 24, 2009 3:55 pm

1 min read

From “Defense Contract Audit agency not improving fast enough” at FederalNewsRadio.com:

“The Defense Contract Audit Agency, like many in the acquisition community, is finding that decisions made during the 1990s are having a negative impact today.

“April Stephenson, DCAA director, says part of the reason the agency has felt the ire of lawmakers is it does not have the resources to audit the large amount of cost type contracts the Defense Department uses.

“‘In 1995 during acquisition reform, there was a drive to reduce overhead and our ability to audit,’ she says. ‘The thought was audits would be more streamlined because DoD and other agencies would use more firm fixed price contracts. But we’ve seen an increase in cost type contracts, and the streamlined audit approach is not appropriate for cost type contracts.’

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“Stephenson also knows that lawmakers don’t necessarily want to hear excuses, and want to see improvements across the board.

“And Stephenson says DCAA is making progress in fixing its problems, but she heard Wednesday that it still is too slow for some senators.

“That is why for the second time in a year, DCAA came under fire from the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee for continued problems in how it audits Defense Department contracts.”