In an attempt to promote "protection" and "provide transparency," the FAR Councils recently issued a final rule formally mandating Government Accountability Office ("GAO") auditor access to interview contractor personnel during an audit of the contractor's records. This final rule published on October 14, 2009 adopted, without change, an interim rule issued March 31, 2009, implementing section 871 of the Duncan Hunter National Defense Authorization Act for 2009 ("Section 871"), as codified at 41 U.S.C. 254d(c)(1) and 10 U.S.C. 2313(c)(1)." The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (the "Recovery Act") provides a similar interview right, but the Recovery Act provision extends that right to agency inspector generals. Congress limited Section 871 interview rights to the GAO.
Please see full publication below for more information.