The Department of Homeland Security says contractors will soon be able to submit all bids electronically through Web-based portals. In remarks at the department’s Jan. 26 industry day, Undersecretary for Management Rafael Borras gave no timetable for when the new system will be ready, Federal Times reported.

He also said DHS plans to hold forums with industry to discuss its projects while requirements are being developed.

House Republicans proposed spending $260 billion on road building by 2017, but their ideas on how to pay for it are opposed by most Democrats.

The bill sponsored by House Transportation Committee Chairman John Mica, R-FL, would spend more than gasoline-tax revenue will generate. Republicans favor covering the gap with money from new oil and natural gas drilling leases.

Mica’s bill would also give states more authority over how to spend highway money and would allow heavier trucks on the roads.

Senate Democrats reportedly want to spend about half as much, saying that’s all the budget will bear.

SBA is proposing a streamlined application for small contracts under its Surety Bond Guarantee Program. The proposed short-form application would consolidate three existing forms for contracts under $250,000 and eliminate some of the information the applicant is required to provide.

The proposed rule is RIN: 3245-AG39 in the Feb. 6 Federal Register. Comments are due April 6.

The AbilityOne program for blind and other severely disabled workers now accounts for almost one-third of the Defense Department’s spending on military uniforms, according to an analysis by Bloomberg. Small businesses received 12% of the contract dollars in 2010, and about 7% went to Federal Prison Industries.

The analysis showed AbilityOne’s prices for uniforms averaged 17% higher than those of large manufacturers.

President Obama said he will nominate Joseph Jordan as the new administrator for federal procurement policy. Jordan served as associate SBA administrator for government contracting and business development from 2009 until he moved to the Office of Management and Budget as a senior adviser in December.

Before joining the administration, Jordan was a management consultant with McKinsey & Co. and helped start Backwire, an Internet publisher and marketer.

If confirmed by the Senate, he will succeed Dan Gordon, who left to accept a teaching position at the George Washington University Law School.

The Army Contracting Command is finally getting its first commanding general. Brig. Gen. Camille Nichols has been selected for the post.

The Contracting Command was created after the 2007 Gansler Commission recommended that the Army place more high-ranking officers in key procurement positions, including a general as head of the command. The commission said Army contracting was led and dominated by civilians and blamed the lack of military involvement for some of the abuses in Iraq and Afghanistan contracts.

Nichols has been recommended for promotion to major general. She is a West Point graduate with more than 20 years’ experience in defense contracting, most recently as the commander, U.S. Army Central Command Contracting Command.

President Obama’s proposal to fold SBA into a larger business department has caused some confusion—in the White House.

In an online video chat on Jan. 31, the president was asked whether the new department would “dilute or diminish the government’s focus on small business.” His reply: “I elevated the SBA administrator to a Cabinet level position so that they are talking directly to me, so that there is nobody in between me and the SBA when they are advocating on behalf of small business. …And [even after a reorganization] I’ll still have an SBA administrator in my Cabinet who’s advocating directly just for small businesses.”

As pointed out by the Washington Post’s Fact Checker, SBA is now an independent agency that reports directly to the president, so nobody is between him and the agency’s administrator, Karen Mills.

Contrary to what the president said, his acting OMB Director, Jeffrey Zients, told reporters the SBA administrator would lose her seat at the Cabinet table if the reorganization plan is adopted. In a Jan. 13 media briefing Zients said she would report to the secretary of the new department, not the president.

We’ll see who is right.