We have a CR contract awarded in 2012 to a not-for-profit small business organization for R&D. Now, in one of the option years, the contractor is claiming that they can do a portion of the work for less if they hire a subcontractor to do that portion of the work. They are trying to charge the government for the audit of a potential subcontractor to do this work. The government did not 'request' or 'require' that the subcontractor be used--the contractor proposed it on their own. I can't find anywhere that addresses this directly (or indirectly on the facts presented--existing contract, subcontractor audit, etc). So my question is whether the government is/can be liable for the cost of auditing the potential subcontractor? The contract is subject to the HSSAR if that helps.