GovCons: Proactively assess your compliance program

Over the past few years, a global pandemic and the collapse of several financial institutions have ushered in a never-before-seen era of government relief spending. As helpful as these government measures are for organizations truly in need of such relief, they also bring with them the opportunity for employees and third parties working on behalf of organizations to engage in fraud, waste, and abuse.

History has shown that when the U.S. government establishes relief programs, enforcement action soon follows. Thus, all organizations – especially government contractors (“GovCons”) – should take steps now to ready themselves for government inquiry, oversight, and enforcement. And while all organizations are subject to certain laws, regulations, evaluative criteria, guiding frameworks, and agency guidance – i.e, compliance program “drivers” – that inform the manner in which their compliance program should be designed, GovCons should take special care to make sure their compliance programs are effectively designed, because they have an additional layer of compliance requirements when it comes to preventing, detecting, and responding to potential instances of fraud and misconduct.

The table below provides select examples of the certain compliance program drivers that apply to all organizations, as well as examples of additional compliance-related drivers that apply to GovCons. Many of these requirements are relatively new; and while some are quite old, we often see companies still have challenges maintaining controls to support the older ones. Consider each item carefully in building or strengthening your compliance program.