CAS Board Meeting

CAS Board – 60th Meeting
August 18, 2010

Chairman Daniel Gordon, the Administrator of the Office of Federal Procurement Policy (OFPP), convened the 60th meeting of the Cost Accounting Standards (CAS) Board (CASB) on August 18, 2010 at 9:00 A.M. ET.  The meeting was held in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building in Washington, DC.  Board Members April Stephenson, Kathleen Turco, Bruce Timman, and Richard Wall were in attendance.  Also attending the meeting were Raymond Wong, CASB Director; and Eric Shipley, CAS Board Staff.

Agenda Item:

Mr. Gordon introduced himself to the other CAS Board Members as this was his first face-to-face CASB meeting since he was confirmed as the OFPP Administrator. 

CAS Pension Harmonization

Mr. Shipley briefed the CASB on the pension relief legislation enacted recently, the Preservation of Access to Care for Medicare Beneficiaries and Pension Relief Act of 2010 (PRA 2010).  This led to a discussion on how the PRA 2010 would impact the current rulemaking to implement CAS pension harmonization.  The CASB concluded there was no impact to the CASB’s proposed revisions to CAS 412 and 413. 

Mr. Shipley briefed the CASB on the overall scope of the public comments received in response to the NPRM, their general content, highlights, and tone, and the work the Working Group has completed to date to address the public comments.  Generally, the comments raised concerns on, or recommended various edits to, the proposed rule.  The Working Group’s list of major conceptual questions on contract cost accounting for defined benefit pension plans, as well as the summary and analysis of the public comments to the proposed rule, were presented to the CASB.  Mr. Shipley walked the CASB through some models, discussing some of the pertinent details. 

The public comments raised several issues that the CASB considered to be beyond the scope of the CAS pension harmonization rule.  Thus, they were deferred until a later date to be addressed potentially in separate rulemakings.    

For the CASB’s consideration at its next meeting in September, the CASB directed the Working Group to proceed with the next steps in the rulemaking process, i.e., prepare draft responses addressing the public comments, and modify the regulatory text, as appropriate.  The CASB also directed the Working Group to model alternatives with different combinations of the three trigger thresholds mentioned in the proposed rule

CASB Administration

The CASB members discussed their concerns with respect to the coordination of the CASB’s and OMB’s administrative processes for conducting rulemaking.  Mr. Gordon affirmed his support to facilitate CASB rulemaking in the OMB clearance process in a timely manner.

The CASB was briefed on the status of pending rulemakings.  The CASB directed that resources be devoted to completing the statutory cases before all others.

Adjournment

The CASB Chair, Mr. Gordon, adjourned the meeting at 12:00 P.M.

Minutes submitted by Raymond J. M. Wong, August 19, 2010.