Disclosure Statements

Introduction

A "Disclosure Statement" is a written description of a contractor's cost accounting practices, and procedures." (48 CFR 9903.202.1(a). It is the starting point at which the government uses this document to measure the consistency and compliance of a contractor's compliance with the Cost Accounting Standards.

Requirements

Segment Disclosure Statement

The threshold for a "Segment Disclosure Statement, for a segment operating under modified CAS coverage is $10M. A business unit or segment with CAS covered awards of less than $10M and less than 30% of total sales is exempt from submitting a Disclosure Statement.

Full CAS Covered Enities

Disclosure Statements are required for all CAS contracts with full CAS coverage.

If a contractor does not have full CAS coverage, but a single award will make that entity fully CAS coveraged, a Disclosure statement is required immediately. The Contracting Officer (CO) cannot award a contract until the contractor submits an adequate Disclosure Statement. This is normally submitted with the proposal.

If a contractor reaches a combined amount of $50M or more in the preceding cost accounting period (Fiscal Year), then they have become fully CAS covered, and need to submit a Disclosure Statement.

For the determination of whether or not under modified CAS coverage, you need to submit, see Modified CAS Coverage

9903.202-1 General Requirements

(a) A Disclosure Statement is a written description of a contractor's cost accounting practices and procedures. The submission of a new or revised Disclosure Statement is not required for any non-CAS-covered contract or from any small business concern.

(b) Completed Disclosure Statements are required in the following circumstances:

(1) Any business unit that is selected to receive a CAS-covered contract or subcontract of $50 million or more shall submit a Disclosure Statement before award.

(2) Any company which, together with its segments, received net awards of negotiated prime contracts and subcontracts subject to CAS totaling $50 million or more in its most recent cost accounting period, must submit a Disclosure Statement before award of its first CAS-covered contract in the immediately following cost accounting period. However, if the first CAS-covered contract is received within 90 days of the start of the cost accounting period, the contractor is not required to file until the end of 90 days.

(c) When a Disclosure Statement is required, a separate Disclosure Statement must be submitted for each segment whose costs included in the total price of any CAS-covered contract or subcontract exceed the Truth in Negotiations Act (TINA) threshold, as adjusted for inflation (41 U.S.C. 1908 and 41 U.S.C. 1502(b)(1)(B)) unless

(i) The contract or subcontract is of the type or value exempted by 9903.201–1 or

(ii) In the most recently completed cost accounting period the segment's CAS-covered awards are less than 30 percent of total segment sales for the period and less than $10 million.

(d) Each corporate or other home office that allocates costs to one or more disclosing segments performing CAS-covered contracts must submit a Part VIII of the Disclosure Statement.

Foreign Contractors and Subcontractors

(e) Foreign contractors and subcontractors who are required to submit a Disclosure Statement may, in lieu of filing a Form No CASB–DS–1, make disclosure by using a disclosure form prescribed by an agency of its Government, provided that the Cost Accounting Standards Board determines that the information disclosed by that means will satisfy the objectives of Public Law 100–679. The use of alternative forms has been approved for the contractors of the following countries:

(1) Canada.

(2) Federal Republic of Germany.

(3) United Kingdom.

Educational Institutions

(f) Educational institutions—disclosure requirements.

(1) Educational institutions receiving contracts subject to the CAS specified in part 9905 are subject to the requirements of 9903.202, except that completed Disclosure Statements are required in the following circumstances.

(2) Basic requirement. For CAS-covered contracts placed on or after January 1, 1996, completed Disclosure Statements are required as follows:

(i) Any business unit of an educational institution that is selected to receive a CAS-covered contract or subcontract in excess of the Truth in Negotiations Act (TINA) threshold, as adjusted for inflation (41 U.S.C. 1908 and 41 U.S.C. 1502(b)(1)(B)), and is part of a college or university location listed in Exhibit A of Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Circular A–21 shall submit a Disclosure Statement before award. A Disclosure Statement is not required; however, if the listed entity can demonstrate that the net amount of Federal contract and financial assistance awards received during its immediately preceding cost accounting period was less than $25 million.

(ii) Any business unit that is selected to receive a CAS-covered contract or subcontract of $25 million or more shall submit a Disclosure Statement before award.

(iii) Any educational institution which, together with its segments, received net awards of negotiated prime contracts and subcontracts subject to CAS totaling $25 million or more in its most recent cost accounting period, of which, at least one award exceeded $1 million, must submit a Disclosure Statement before award of its first CAS-covered contract in the immediately following cost accounting period. However, if the first CAS-covered contract is received within 90 days of the start of the cost accounting period, the institution is not required to file until the end of 90 days.

(3) Transition period requirement. For CAS-covered contracts placed on or before December 31, 1995, completed Disclosure Statements are required as follows:

(i) For business units that are selected to receive a CAS-covered contract or subcontract in excess of the Truth in Negotiations Act (TINA) threshold, as adjusted for inflation (41 U.S.C. 1908 and 41 U.S.C. 1502(b)(1)(B)), and are part of the first 20 college or university locations ( i.e., numbers 1 through 20) listed in Exhibit A of OMB Circular A–21, Disclosure Statements shall be submitted within six months after the date of contract award.

(ii) For business units that are selected to receive a CAS-covered contract or subcontract in excess of the Truth in Negotiations Act (TINA) threshold, as adjusted for inflation (41 U.S.C. 1908 and 41 U.S.C. 1502(b)(1)(B)), and are part of a college or university location that is listed as one of the institutions numbered 21 through 50, in Exhibit A of OMB Circular A–21, Disclosure Statements shall be submitted during the six month period ending twelve months after the date of contract award.

(iii) For business units that are selected to receive a CAS-covered contract or subcontract in excess of the Truth in Negotiations Act (TINA) threshold, as adjusted for inflation (41 U.S.C. 1908 and 41 U.S.C. 1502(b)(1)(B)), and are part of a college or university location that is listed as one of the institutions numbered 51 through 99, in Exhibit A of OMB Circular A–21, Disclosure Statements shall be submitted during the six month period ending eighteen months after the date of contract award.

(iv) For any other business unit that is selected to receive a CAS-covered contract or subcontract of $25 million or more, a Disclosure Statement shall be submitted within six months after the date of contract award.

(4) Transition period due dates. The educational institution and cognizant Federal agency should establish a specific due date within the periods prescribed in 9903.202–1(f)(3) when a Disclosure Statement is required under a CAS-covered contract placed on or before December 31, 1995.

(5) Transition period waiver authority. For a CAS-covered contract to be awarded during the period January 1, 1996, through June 30, 1997, the awarding agency may waive the preaward Disclosure Statement submission requirement specified in 9903.202–1(f)(2) when a due date for the submission of a Disclosure Statement has previously been established by the cognizant Federal agency and the educational institution under the provisions of 9903.202–1(f) (3) and (4).

• Caution:This waiver authority is not available unless the cognizant Federal agency and the educational institution have established a disclosure statement due date pursuant to a written agreement executed prior to January 1, 1996, and award is made prior to the established disclosure statement due date.

Adequacy and Compliance

It is important to note that you can have an adequate Disclosure Statement that adequately describes non-compliant practices. In order to comply with CAS, a contractor must not only have an adequate Disclosure Statement, but the practices disclosed my comply with the standards.

Parts of a Disclosure Statement

There are 8 parts (not including the cover sheet). Depending on the disclosing party, all parts may not be required to be completed. For example a home office may only have 2 parts. The reporting of parts is shown below:

Home Office; Parts 1 and 8,

Segment; Parts 1 - 8.

The parts are:

Part 0 - Cover Sheet and Certification

This part contains the company name and address, and company contact. It also contains the certification, which is a statement of accuracy.

Part 1 - General Information

This section contains the following:

• Sales and Industry data,

• Description of the cost accounting system,

Fiscal year.

Part 2 - Direct Costs

This section contains the following:

• Method of charging Direct Materials

• Method of charging Direct Labor

• Standard and Actual Costing

• Treatment of Interorganizational Transfers - FAR 31; Material Cost Rule

Part 3 - Direct vs. Indirect

This section contains the criteria for determining how cost are charged and/or allocated to cost objectives. It also requires the specification for the treatment of transactions.

Part 4 - Indirect Costs

This section requires the contractor to disclose it's final indirect cost pools, the composition of the pools and the allocation base. It also requires the contractor to disclose it's intermediate pools to include cost pools, and service centers, and pools such as IR&D and B&P pools.

In this section a contractor will disclose its method of charging direct and indirect costs and the establishment of cost objectives.

Part 5 - Depreciation and Capitalization Practices

Part 5 is where the contractor discloses their method of capitalization and Depreciation

Important disclosures include the:

• Method of determining useful lives of assets,

• Residual value of assets,

• Comparison of methods between tax and financial purposes for capitalization and depreciation

• The criteria for capitalization, and

• The treatment of costs incurred in the procurement process

Part 6 - Other Costs and Credits

This part captures the contractors disclosures regarding the charging and crediting of compensated personal absence, and the treatment of severance and unemployment costs.

Part 7 - Deferred Compensation and Insurance Costs

This part captures the contractors pension and deferred compensation plan, as well as purchased insurance or self-insurance plans.

Part 8 - Home Office Expenses

This section relates to home office pools and method of allocating those costs. Within this section, a description of Home Office expenses and sales information is necessary.