Since Congress ignored the issue last year, DCAA has decided to create a FAR Case:
• Read-Only Access to Online Data. As discussed in the 2012 Report to Congress, DCAA
continues to have concerns regarding the lack of access to contractor online data. Read-only
access to the contractor’s books and records would greatly assist DCAA to effectively plan
and perform all of the audit effort at a contractor location. While we have had some limited [12]
success in working directly with contractors to obtain read-only access to online books and
records, we believe that clarification to the regulations will ensure DCAA has the necessary
access to contractors’ online data.
Specificity of the authority for direct and online read-only access to contractor’s data would
improve both the audit and DCAA’s ability to support the Contracting Officer. Furthermore,
this access would decrease the amount of costs and personnel resources needed by contractors
to support audit requests for data. In addition, online read-only access would advance DCAA
audit efforts by allowing real time contract cost monitoring and continuous risk analysis,
including the use of advanced data analytics. As a result, DCAA will propose a new FAR
case to pursue a clarification to the regulation
UPDATE: September 2018 — The proposed FAR Case has been withdrawn,