GAO Reports Deficiencies In DCAA Audit Reports

After a review that was focused on DCAA offices that issued primarily "clean" opinions and reports, GAO concluded in testimony delivered to the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs on September 23 that there were serious quality problems in 65 of 69 DCAA audit report it reviewed (with minor problems in the other 4) and recommended measures to "strengthen" the role of DCAA in the process. Because of the admittedly biased sample used by GAO, the GAO report does not address or acknowledge quality problems in DCAA findings that are adverse to contractors, although GAO did note that DCAA's decision last year to report contractor systems as either "adequate" or "inadequate," eliminating "inadequate-in-part" findings, could unfairly penalize contractors that do not have material or serious deficiencies and recommended that DCAA seek "outside expertise" to develop audit policy and training on audit standards.