Bush Signs Funding Bill; Memo Tells Agencies How To Live With It President Bush has signed the bill funding most federal agencies at 2006 levels for fiscal year 2007. The law includes more than 100 pages of exceptions to the budget freeze, to accommodate critical needs. The Democrat-controlled Congress passed the $463.5 billion interim funding measure for 2007 rather than revisit the individual appropriations bills that were not acted upon in last year’s Congress. Only the appropriations for defense and homeland security were enacted last year. The Office of Federal Procurement Policy sent a memo to all agencies on how to conduct business under continuing resolutions such as the current one. “The extended duration of CRs in recent years serves as an important reminder of the additional attention required by acquisition officials to ensure compliance with the Anti-Deficiency Act (ADA) and the avoidance of major disruptions of essential government services,” OFPP Administrator Paul Denett wrote. The Anti-Deficiency Act prohibits spending money unless it has been appropriated by Congress. Denett said agencies should notify contractors that the government’s obligations under a contract are dependent on availability of funds. “Since this is an area of special importance to small businesses, agency contracting and small business personnel should be ready to answer questions from the small business community regarding the availability of funds and the government’s obligations under a CR,” he said. He urged agencies to pay greater attention to advance planning, use of competition, and effective contract management to stretch the available dollars farther.