Fort Belvoir, Va. –
For a small business contractor, knowing you will be paid in a timely manner is essential to maintaining operations, particularly as these companies face new uncertainties associated with changes brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic. DCAA’s Tampa Bay Branch Office understands this and, when the pandemic was declared, acted to support their small business contractors. For their efforts, the Tampa office received a thank you letter from a small business contractor who is researching and building advanced polymer components for eventual use in unmanned aerial systems (UAS).
“I would like to thank you and all the professionals at DCAA for the valuable assistance and guidance you provided,” the owner said “As a small business, we particularly appreciate your timely efforts to review our submission, especially in this national emergency. Thank you”
To earn this appreciation, the Tampa office performed a periodic review of the contractor’s indirect rates, the percentage of business costs not attributable to a product, used for interim billings. After coordinating with the contracting officer, the Tampa office contacted the contractor on April 3, 2020 to discuss the needed information and timeline to complete their rate review. By the end of the week, the review was completed and, on behalf of the contracting officer, the Tampa office sent the letter establishing interim billing rates, and the contractor was on track for receiving interim payments. Without DCAA’s proactive efforts, the contractor may not have been properly paid for their indirect manufacturing costs in a timely manner. DCAA does these reviews because it understands that small businesses depend on regular cash flow, which is particularly important during these unprecedented times.
The thank your from the small business owner raised the spirits in the Tampa office and is also an acknowledgement of DCAA’s commitment to provide quality, valuable audit support not only for our large contractors, but also for small businesses.