Episode Details

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Your SPRS score can quietly decide whether your company is even eligible to bid on a DoD contract, and defense contractors have already paid millions in False Claims Act settlements for getting that number wrong. Austin and Brooke break down exactly how SPRS scoring works, what score you actually need, and how to make sure your number is accurate before a government audit finds you.

In this episode:

• What SPRS (Supplier Performance Risk System) actually is, and why it's the DoD's authoritative source for your compliance status
• How the scoring math really works: starting at 110, deducting 5, 3, or 1 points per missed control, and how you can end up as low as negative 203
• Why missing just a couple of five-point controls can put your score under 100 fast, and why negative 50 to negative 70 scores are common in real gap assessments
• The one control (3.12.4, your SSP) that can single-handedly tank your entire assessment if it's incomplete
• Why an 88 is the minimum score to bid on a contract, and what that means for your POA&M
• The six-month clock: what happens if you report a POA&M and don't close it out in time
• Why misrepresentation, not the underlying gap itself, is what actually triggers False Claims Act exposure
• The 2026 timeline of changes: the February class deviation, the July 16th revision that formalized the Phase 2 pause, and the September 3rd update
• Who can actually see your SPRS score (hint: it's not primes, and it's not your competitors)
• How to actually register and submit a score: getting a CAGE code through SAM.gov and navigating PIEE