Fort Belvoir, Va. –
DCAA’s European Branch office in Wiesbaden, Germany, earned The Department of Defense Salute to Savings Award for their work on high profile, high risk audits related to the F-35 fighter aircraft, which is being built in the US, Italy, and Japan with components from over 1,900 companies. DoD presents this award annually to recognize teams whose actions resulted in significant savings to the taxpayer.
In earning this award, the European office performed six audits examining over $2 billion of costs from contractors in Italy, Norway, and Israel. These audits were exceptionally complex and required extensive coordination. All six audits involved foreign suppliers, which bring unique challenges due to language barriers, differences in accounting standards, unfamiliarity with US contracting regulations, and differences in business practices. Adding to the complexity were time zone differences, accounting records in foreign languages, and foreign travel to contractors’ locations.
Mr. Daniel Kick, Office Manager, stated, “I am extremely proud of the team. They overcame many unique challenges and completed all six audits on time.” During the audits, the team found numerous deficiencies with the contractors’ financial documents and identified potential savings to the government of $400 million, or 18% of the dollars audited.