Federal agencies’ construction budgets were cut by 6% in the 2012 appropriations bill, according to Associated General Contractors of America.

Some projects, such as the Homeland Security Department’s new Washington headquarters, were stopped in midstream.

The trade group’s Marco Giamberardino told Federal News Radio in Washington that the appropriations bill “really leaves us with one major project and a few smaller, new projects, and that’s about it.”

Among the few increases: a 36% jump for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and an 86% increase for the State Department’s embassy construction program.

The maximum set-asides for woman-owned businesses have been increased to adjust for inflation. Set-Asides are now permitted for contracts up to $4 million, and $6.5 million for manufacturing. The previous limits were $3 million and $5 million.

The interim rule, effective Jan. 12, brings the woman-owned set-aside program in line with other socioeconomic programs, whose limits were previously adjusted for inflation.

Federal agencies proposed to debar more than 1,000 contractors in 2011, almost as many as in the last four years of President George W. Bush’s administration.

Bloomberg reported that the number is the highest since at least 1997, the first year such records were kept. Proposed debarments increased by 16% over 2010.

Federal officials cited pressure from Congress to ensure that contracts are not going to unscrupulous or unqualified companies. Reports by the Government Accountability Office and inspectors generals have turned up numerous instances in which companies continued to receive contracts after being found guilty of ethics violations.

The new 2012 NAICS codes are now in effect. To find out whether your codes need to be changed, go to www.census.gov/eos/www/naics/ where there is a link to the “2012 NAICS Structure” under “Announcements”.

The Justice Department secured more than $3 billion in settlements and judgments in False Claims Act cases in 2011, for the second straight year. The Obama administration has made that an enforcement priority. In the past three years, Justice says the administration has recovered more than one-fourth of all money under the act since it became law 25 years ago.

The False Claims Act covers procurement fraud as well as fraud involving Medicare payments and other government programs, by far the largest source of fraud cases. Justice said $422 million of the $3 billion involved procurement fraud.

In 2011 $2.8 billion of the $3 billion recovered came in cases filed by whistleblowers, who share in any recovery.

When the last U.S. troops came home from Iraq in December, they left behind an army of contractors. As many as 5,000 contractors will guard State Department and other U.S. civilian personnel in the country.

The contractors are armed and fly attack helicopters, but they are not like soldiers, says Patrick Kennedy, the State Department official supervising the security force. “We run. We go. We do not stand and fight,” Kennedy told NPR.

But Dov Zakheim, a former Defense Department comptroller, questioned whether the State Department has adequate control over its contractor guard force. “This isn’t what the State Department does for a living. This isn’t part of their culture,” Zakheim said on NPR’s Morning Edition. “They are being thrown into something that they have never managed before.”

Kennedy said a State Department security agent commands each convoy and has authority to tell the contractors when to open fire.