STUDENT 1: William

Good Day Classmates,

Until the past year, I have had little exposure to the Defense Contract Audit Agency (DCAA).I am currently involved in two requirements that have been sent to DCAA to conduct an evaluation of the contractor proposals.It was initially thought that the Defense Contract Management Agency (DCMA) was responsible for conducting the evaluation of the contractor proposals but was informed by DCMA that it was the responsibility of DCAA because the request was to evaluate the adequacy of a contractor’s proposal based on certified cost or pricing data.In my experience, the normal turnaround time for DCAA to evaluate a contractor’s proposal is 60 days.This could potentially affect one of the contractor’s proposal because it is only validate for 60 days.This contractor has expressed to the Government that if the contract is not awarded within the timeframe specified in the proposal, then their proposal will have to be redone and staffed through their senior leadership resulting in an increase to the proposal cost.

The DCAA contract audit manual (link below) provides in Chapter 1, Section 1-403.1 the DCAA responsibilities to procurement and contract administration organization.This section explains that DCAA is the audit and financial advisor to provide timely and responsive services to meet the needs of the organizations they are responsible to support.Good thing is that they are an independent organization from the DoD components.This independence allows them to provide audit recommendations, opinions and conclusions without the undue command influence often encountered within the DoD. In Chapter 1, Section 1-403.2 is the five responsibilities of the procurement and contract administrative organizations to DCAA.

I saved to my favorites at work the Checklists and Tools section of the DCAA website.I was most interested in the contract pricing proposal adequacy checklist which is the DFARS 252.215-7009 provision that I re-read in December 2018 when I was reviewing a synopsis and solicitation for a non-commercial service.

Link: https://www.dcaa.mil/Content/Documents/cam/Chapter_01_-_Introduction_To_Contract_Audit.pdf.

STUDENT 2: Danique

A tailored evaluation is a uniquely created evaluation criteria designed to receive information on a specific topic or set of circumstances. These topics have an identified target audience to whom the information pertains to or is about. From the target audience stakeholders will emerge and the tailored evaluation will address and meet the needs of those with an invested interest in the program. The relationship of the stakeholder is two-fold, the results of evaluation directly impacts the stakeholder. The evaluator needs to be vigilant to avoid hidden agendas. Hidden agendas in itself is an ethical issue especially if misleading tactics are used throughout the process. The evaluator can be independent, collaborative, and or be used for empowerment the stakeholders from this pool may be singular of impacting a number of communities. Once the stakeholders are identified a series of evaluation questions are developed with the intent of improve, investigate and assess the vitality of a program. The data collected can be used to assess the impact of all moving parts of the program.The program can be monitored and assessed to the standard specified by the evaluator. The method of assessment being used must be structured and analytical research methods. Some research methods available are exploratory, observatory and questionnaires administered by survey or interviews.

Program evaluation in practice by Spaulding offered the following evaluation approaches: Objectives-Based, Decision-Based, Participatory, Consumer-Oriented Approach, Expertise-Oriented and Eclectic Approach. The term Eclectic approach intrigued me as it was the only approach that I could not attach a definition to in my own words. To summarize it is when the evaluator uses a variety of designs and methodologies in the data collection. This approach may be well suited as it may cover the needs of many of the stakeholders and is most appealing to evaluators.

Spaulding, D. (2014). Program evaluation in practice : core concepts and examples for discussion and analysis (Second edition.). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.