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Government Contracting

The Most Important Reason to Automate Payments Now

Written by Derek Halpern, Nvoicepay

 

A funny thing happened while I was writing this article. While I conversed with our editorial consultant on how to approach the struggles companies are facing in the current global climate, she received this email:

The names are changed for privacy purposes.

 

The email’s writer, “John,” is not the only accounts payable (AP) professional sending out emails like this. We’re in uncharted territory, and the rules are changing every day. But one thing we know for sure is that payments will always have to go out and that with workers ordered to stay home, it’s very difficult to cut live checks, as John and countless other accounts payable professionals are finding. Priorities have shifted, and remote supplier payments have jumped to the top of the list.

No doubt, AP departments will find a way to get it done. Paying invoices is a core function of every company, and people are working overtime to reach out to suppliers and get them paid electronically. Maybe there is some delay, but these companies will make it through the crisis.

But I think there’s more to learn from this whole experience than just solving a short-term problem. When we go back to “normal,” do we want our old payment processes to do the same, or is this our opportunity to start making long-overdue infrastructure upgrades?

Magnifying the challenges

AP is one of the last bastions of paper processing in the enterprise, and it comes with challenges. According to the latest research from AFP, companies still make 42 percent of their payments by paper check. All those processes that are involved with paying by check—printing them, hunting for approval and signatures, and stuffing envelopes—are culprits of inefficiency.

Back-end support adds another wrench into the process. Delays and errors are inevitable, so who do suppliers call when they’re missing a payment, or they’ve found an error? Processes for resolving these supplier issues in-house are maddeningly reactive.

Now these challenges are magnified, forcing us to think differently about how we run our businesses. A surprising number of people still think that making payments by check works, and up until recently, it’s been hard to argue with that. It’s not as efficient as it could be, but people have their check processing routines down. As more employees work from home, processes that required in-office attendance are no longer feasible. Just like John, many companies are reaching out to their suppliers, asking for different ways to make their payments. The new challenge: finding a way to securely store the data their suppliers provide them. Financial technology (fintech) companies have solved for this exact problem, and are ready to add value to AP workdays.

When most people think of adding technology to their business payments process, they usually imagine outsourcing the check writing process, doing ACH payments through their bank, and maybe having some kind of virtual card program.

Most fintechs have moved beyond that kind of disjointed offering. They look at the whole end-to-end process and implemented a process that streamlines payments and mitigates the risk of maintaining extensive supplier data by offering supplier services.

Beyond operational efficiency

Until now, the drive for supplier payment automation focused primarily on improving operational efficiency. As payment fraud rises, buyers have turned their attention to reducing the associated risk. Business continuity has not really been part of the conversation; if it came up, concerns got pushed aside as unlikely worst-case scenarios. Now is the time to address the elephant in the room, and push through the uncertainty to strengthen our AP teams.

We don’t know what the new norm is yet, but it seems clear that we’ll see a rise in remote work. The ability to quickly move so many operations online has been one source of resiliency during this time. Companies are learning more about roles previously considered to require a presence at headquarters. They’re finding that many HQ functions can be accomplished remotely by taking advantage of automation and cloud technology.

At a minimum, remote capabilities cater to the business continuity strategy that meets today’s needs. But in many cases, the other benefits like added security and supplier support make automation adoption a no-brainer. By removing the stress of getting manual check payments out the door, AP teams are freed up to apply their time to more beneficial and critical tasks.

Learn more

Join PCI and Nvoicepay on 10/14 for an overview of Nvoicepay and Costpoints API integration.

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“This article originally appeared on Nvoicepay’s blog https://www.nvoicepay.com/resources/blog/the-most-important-reason-to-automate-payments-now/”

Transitioning to Costpoint

Transitioning to Costpoint

 

Are you on a legacy accounting system like QuickBooks and looking to make the move to Costpoint?

Here are key indicators you are ready for the transition:

  • Guidelines / Compliance
  • Multiple Government Contracts
  • Audit / SF1408 / Proposal Requirements
  • Approved by SBA for 8(a), WOSB, HUBZone etc.
  • Incurred Cost Submission requirements
  • Multiple software needs
  • Internal financial / reporting deficiencies

 

Access our on-demand webinar to learn why switching to Costpoint is critical for your small business, an overview of what implementation looks like and what to expect with your transition.

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Is it Time to Digitally Transform your Contract Management Process?

Effective contract management is one of the key fundamentals to running a successful government contracting business. It is imperative to establish effective contracts processes to manage, track and deliver on your contractual obligations. If not managed properly, your business can become vulnerable to potential penalties and fines due to failure in legal compliance, or struggle with higher operational costs as a result of inefficient contract processes.

Contract Managers are often challenged to locate contract information in both the pre-award and post-award process. Contract information is usually stored on shared drives, physical paper in filing cabinets, spreadsheets or in a document management application making it more time consuming to quickly locate important contract details. This slows down the process of responding to data calls from contract officers, providing contract status updates within their company, communicating with subcontractors and other vendors and makes the process of identifying binding FAR/DFARS clauses on contracts very challenging.

To help Contract Managers organize contracts in a single place, have more accurate records of FAR/DFARS clauses and help track other compliance issues like Organizational Conflicts of Interest (OCI), Costpoint offers an integrated Contract Management solution that supports managing all of your contract data from opportunity identification to contract closeout. Unlike other contract management solutions, Costpoint Contract Management is the only solution designed for government contractors that can digitally transform the entire contract management process with a single solution that connects business development to finance in order to reduce operational costs, improve communication and negotiate better contracts.

To learn more on how to effectively manage your GovCon contracts, join us for our contract’s webinar on July 15th at 2:00 pm EST!

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6 Benefits of Moving to the Deltek Cloud

Enable your mission-critical business processes through the secure, reliable Deltek Cloud. You can power project lifecycle solutions from pre-award to project close-out, win new projects and clients, manage these projects on-time and on-budget, find and develop the right talent, deliver against key financial and compliance imperatives, and measure your key KPIs across your projects and clients.

 

Unlock your team’s potential by harnessing the power of the Deltek Cloud so you can focus on delivering successful projects!

 

6 Benefits of moving to the Deltek Cloud include:

  1. Security – Sleep easy knowing your data is completely secure in Deltek’s Cloud.
  2. Flexibility – It’s easy to safely access, copy and move your data.
  3. Compliance – Regardless of location, Deltek has you covered.
  4. Scalability – Deltek will handle all your needs and support you as you grow!
  5. Enhancements – Access the latest enhancements across all your Deltek cloud solutions.
  6. Support – With 24/7 support available, Deltek’s support team can handle any issues that arise.

 

Deltek solutions are designed to be seamlessly delivered in the Cloud and can significantly reduce your technology hardware and software costs, plus allow you to avoid the time-consuming burden of setup, deployment and maintenance. You won’t have to worry about ongoing maintenance, backups or security protocols; and with internet access, you’ll have secure access from anywhere.

 

For more information on moving to the cloud, contact us today!

Recap of Deltek Insight 2019

Deltek Insight brought together 3,500+ of the Deltek Project Nation community for four action-packed days of education, inspiration, networking and a ton of fun! We enjoyed seeing our clients and networking with colleagues in the Government Contracting and Marketing Agency community!

 

A few highlights below:

 

MVP Partner Award

This was an exciting year for us at the conference as we were announced as the winners of the Deltek Partner MVP Award along with our client Highlight Technologies. This award acknowledges a Deltek partnership that showcases an exceptional implementation of Deltek’s solutions! We are so proud of our team for this exciting accomplishment!

 

Legos

This year we decided to make our booth a little more interactive and fun with the use of Legos! Thanks for all who stopped by to build your figurine for our PCI board! This is now proudly displayed in our NJ office!

 

Sessions

We had multiple sessions at Insight on Costpoint API Integrations, Business Intelligence/Reporting and cleaning up Costpoint with WorkFlows and Jobs. If you attended our sessions and would like to request additional follow up, contact us today!

 

Our New(er) Offerings

This year we were excited to showcase some of our more recent service offerings including our new API capabilities along with our automated expense and travel solution.

 

  • API Integrations: PCI can assist in identifying and bridging gaps between various business systems, offering a number of third-party integrations into Deltek Costpoint. Our API capabilities include data pulls and custom-built integrations.

 

  • PCI’s travel and expense solution – ARCH: PCI’s ARCH (Air, Rail, Car, Hotel) program is an end to end travel booking and credit card reconciliation solution designed for the modern Government Contractor. ARCH provides the ability to integrate the travel booking process, credit card reconciliation and with our API, feed the data into Deltek’s Costpoint expense solution. This means no more manual expense entries for travelers!

 

We can’t wait to see everyone next year in Denver! Pre-Register today for Deltek Insight 2020 for $100 off early bird pricing!

Why Costpoint Contract Management Works

Managing contract deliverables, tracking dates, costs, modifications and responding to data calls efficiently – these are just some of the responsibilities contract managers and their staff oversee.

 

New regulatory requirements and increases in contract volumes and complexities, have augmented the importance of an automated solution for better contract management. Costpoint takes a holistic, modern approach to contract management by integrating and automating your financial, project, contract and business development information in a single solution.

 

Contact us today for a consultation on Contract management.

Quick Facts about Fiscal Year 2020 Per Diem Rates

Timing: Fiscal year 2020 Per Diem rates will go into effect October 1, 2019.

 

Background: Each Fiscal Year the Government determines the per diem rates for the Continental United States (CONUS). These rates are the maximum allowances Federal employees can incur for expenses while on official travel. The Defense Travel Management Office (DTMO) determines the rates for non-foreign locations outside the Continental United States, also known as non-foreign OCONUS (e.g. Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, the Northern Mariana Islands, Guam and other U.S. territories and possessions). The Department of State (DoS) sets rates for foreign locations.

 

Three allowances of the CONUS per diem rate:

  1. Lodging
  2. Meals
  3. Incidentals

 

Helpful DoD Per Diem links:

Access the Quick find Per Diem rates here on October 1st

Per Diem Rates Calculator

Per Diem Reporting Procedures & Responsibilities

If you are required to have GSA per diem rates, access them here.

Three Reasons Why Your Small Business Should Attend Insight 2019

Deltek’s annual user conference, Insight, consists of over 3,000+ attendees, hundreds of product specific tracks, direct access to Deltek product experts and more! As most small businesses, budget is always a large concern. We’ve outlined three reasons this investment should be a no brainer:

 

  1. Professional Growth – Expanding your product knowledge with over hundreds of breakout sessions to choose from and opportunity to network with other like-minded professionals will only increase your product skills and industry expertise. You can also earn those CPE credits you’ve been putting off all year.
  2. Networking – Insight is a great way to mix and mingle with not only industry peers but the Deltek product experts themselves. You can find these product connoisseurs during expo hall hours and even schedule one-on-one appointments to ask questions and share feedback. The expo hall is also a perfect time to stop by booth #2 and say hello to the PCI team!
  3. Return Home as the Office Hero – Your ERP system helps to run your organization. The content covered at Insight will provide you with best practices on how to efficiently run your back office. Your new relationships with Deltek experts and industry peers will also come in handy if you find yourself stuck on a task or need assistance. The sessions at Insight will also prepare you with what to expect regarding product road maps, ensuring your organization stays ahead of the curve on what’s to come!

 

This year’s Deltek Insight is taking place from November 18-21st at the Gaylord Palms Resort and Convention Center in Orlando, FL. If your organization is interested in attending, contact us today for a $100 discount code.

 

Register now for Insight!

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PREMIER CONSULTING & INTEGRATION

Premier Consulting & Integration, LLC (PCI) is the leading provider of financial management consulting services, implementation and audit support for government contractors and marketing agencies.

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