The Minority Business Development Agency plans to close all five of its regional offices in a budget-cutting move, according to published reports.

MBDA’s 2013 budget proposal calls for shuttering offices in Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, New York and San Francisco and recalling the staff to Washington. President Obama’s 2013 budget allocates about $29 million for MBDA, down from $30 million this year.

Several members of Congress, who were briefed on the plan, opposed it. Rep. G.K. Butterfield, D-NC, told the website Politics365, “To just have a hub in Washington that services the whole country will not be an efficient use of that office.”

While military budgets are shrinking, the Army plans to double the number of uniformed acquisition personnel over the next two years. The increase is part of an effort to put more military personnel in contracting positions, which have been almost exclusively staffed by civilians, and to deploy them with units engaged in contingency operations.

The Army is inviting applications from officers eligible for promotion to captain to transfer to functional area 51 and sergeants and staff sergeants to military occupational specialty 51C.

“You are the procurement guy for the guys in the field,” said Maj. Anthony Maneri of the Army Acquisition Corps.

Two men have pleaded guilty in the Army Corps of Engineers contracting scandal and agreed to cooperate with investigators, the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia said.

Michael A. Alexander, a former program manager for the Corps, admitted to bribery and conspiracy as part of a scheme that allegedly involved more than $20 million in bribes and kickbacks. Prosecutors say they will ask that he forfeit $1.25 million in proceeds from his crimes.

The president of an 8(a) company, Robert McKinney of Alpha Technology Group, pleaded guilty to bribery and agreed to forfeit $245,000 in proceeds. No sentencing date has been set for the two.

Three others are awaiting trial: another former Corps program manager, Kerry Khan; his son Lee Khan; and Harold Babb, former director of contracts for Alaska 8(a) firm Eyaktek. All have pleaded not guilty and have been held in jail since they were arrested in October.

A former executive of 8(a) firm Northern Datacom, Alex Cho, previously pleaded guilty to paying kickbacks and reportedly recorded conversations with some of his alleged co-conspirators. Another former Nova Datacom executive, Theodoros Hallas, has pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. (SAA, 10/7/2011)

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has asked for $7 million for a project called “Avatar” that aims to develop walking battlefield robots, Wired magazine reported.

DARPA told the magazine that “the Avatar program will develop interfaces and algorithms to enable a soldier to effectively partner with a semi-autonomous bi-pedal machine and allow it to act as the soldier’s surrogate.” The robot would be used for dirty and dangerous jobs such as clearing rooms and recovering battlefield casualties.

No word on whether it will be blue.