PILOT PROGRAM FOR UNIFORM AUDIT PROCEDURES.

SEC. 1092. PILOT PROGRAM FOR UNIFORM AUDIT PROCEDURES. (a) Establishment.— The Secretary shall establish a pilot program under which any contract or subcontract awarded in accordance with section 112(b)(2)(A) of title 23, United States Code, shall be performed and audited in compliance with cost principles contained in the Federal acquisition regulations of part 31 of title 48 of the Code of Federal Regulations. The pilot program under this section shall include participation of not more than 10 States. (b) Indirect Cost Rates.— In lieu of performing their own audits, the States participating in the pilot program shall accept indirect cost rates established in accordance with the Federal acquisition regulations for 1-year applicable accounting periods by a cognizant government agency or audited by an independent certified public accountant, if such rates are not currently under dispute. Once a firm’s indirect cost rates are accepted, all the recipients of such funds shall apply such rates for the purposes of contract estimation, negotiation, administration, reporting, and contract payment and shall not be limited by administrative or defacto ceilings in accordance with section 15.901(c) of such title 48. A recipient of such funds requesting or using the cost and rate data described in this subsection shall notify any affected firm before such request or use. Such data shall be confidential and shall not be accessible or provided, in whole or in part, to any other firm or to any government agency which is not part of the group of agencies sharing cost data under this subsection, except by written permission of the audited firm. If prohibited by law, such cost and rate data shall not be disclosed under any circumstances. (c) Report.— Each State participating in the pilot program shall report to the Secretary not later than 3 years after the date of the enactment of this Act on the results of the program.