Audit Files, How Important Are They?

Well, the proposal was submitted, the “all-nighters” are done, the proposal team has celebrated either with a big happy hour or a 48-hour night/day of sleep, and all is well.  It seems that way at first until the pricing specialist wakes up in the middle of the night dreaming of errors and mistakes or compliance issues (I can only speak about myself, I’m sure the rest of the proposal team has the same sort of nightmares!).  One way to avoid having post-proposal-submission-anxiety is to document and save records of everything in your pricing files.  This is critical not only for your mental health, but for the corporate audit risk as well.  DCAA can and will come back at any point to conduct audits of how the proposal rates were developed.  Here are some quick tips to be prepared and to alleviate any post-proposal submission stress (I’ve named this condition PPSS):

1. Create an Audit folder – archive this as a part of your proposal files. Create a substructure in which you can store documents related to inputs, version control history, emails, etc.
2. Document, document, document – any email with inputs from the proposal or management team, such as basis of estimates, changes to management plans, hours, staffing or teammates. Anything that documents the direction of the proposal, why something changed, when it changed, and the reasoning.
3. Save all emails – no shortcuts
4. Save all inputs from the Finance, Accounting, HR teams – These are critical, because they will be the back up required to demonstrate how your rates and assumptions were developed.
5. Save all versions of your cost models – This way you’re able to track and see iterative changes related to inputs or assumptions, and amendments related to the RFP.
6. Save all versions of your cost volume – Ensure track changes are on, in all the draft versions, and save the final submitted versions (gold team), in a separate folder. You need to be able to trace if and how changes were made.  This is not just about CYA, it’s about accountability. If something changed and it didn’t sync up with the technical volumes, you may be able to figure out why and remedy it if the government wants clarifications and corrections after submission.
7. Have a dedicated folder – It is best practice to create and save this folder as you develop the proposal, but it’s OK if you don’t get to it until after submission. Just make sure it’s done either way!

 

Overall, be smart, save all the relevant documents, versions and files in an archive folder.  Don’t alter the files, lock them down and only give access to parties that require it.  This is your audit folder, this should provide all the clarifications and corrections to DCAA, should they audit your proposal.  This also provides a good way to review any proposal related mistakes or for a regular after-action review.  This will also help you (yes, you the Pricing team), get a good night’s rest because you’ll have all the history saved and be able to check on mistakes or errors or compliance issues that might be keeping you up.  You can only prevent mistakes in the future if you know what happened.  This audit file can also be used during a re-compete to pull historical data or historical assumptions that might form the pricing strategy for your new bid.  Basically, always prepare and keep an audit folder after your proposal is submitted.

 

Proposals are challenging, but the hard work makes the win so much sweeter. Let BOOST LLC help you with your pricing strategy. Email [email protected] and schedule a consultation today.