Small companies have received more than 29% of Recovery Act contract dollars awarded through mid-February, according to Maine Sen. Olympia Snowe, ranking Republican on the Small Business Committee, far exceeding the 23% governmentwide goal for small business contracting.

“This begs the question, if the federal government can not only meet but exceed these requirements for stimulus funds, why can’t these goals be met yearin and year out?” she said at a March 4 committee meeting. “Does the U.S. economy truly have to teeter on the precipice of collapse to get the wheels of bureaucracy moving for small business procurement?”

A leading contractor organization, the Professional Services Council, urged the Obama administration not to adopt the High Road Procurement Policy. That policy would give preference to contractors that pay higher wages and benefits.

The PSC said the 1965 Service Contract Act already requires contractors to pay local prevailing wages. The group said it is up to the Labor Department to see that the law is administered properly.

PSC Executive Vice President and Counsel Alan Chvotkin added that since the vast majority of services contracts are awarded on a low-bid basis, offering wages above the SCA rates becomes almost impossible.

The watchdog groups Project on Government Oversight and OMB Watch sent a letter to President Obama supporting the policy. Labor unions also back it.

The White House’s procurement policy chief, Dan Gordon, confirmed that the administration is considering High Road, but said nothing has been decided.

The Defense Department has issued an interim rule requiring contractors that provide essential services to submit a continuity of operations plan. “This action is necessary to ensure that essential contractor services are not interrupted by crises such as those caused by hurricanes, tornados, earthquakes, blizzards, floods, or pandemic influenza,” DOD said in its notice in the March 5 Federal Register.

The plan will be required only for those services that are considered essential by the installation commander or equivalent. DOD said the services could include installation, garrison and base support.

The interim rule, DFARS Case 2009-D017, was effective March 5. Comments are due May 4.

President Obama has directed federal agencies to use specialized commercial auditors to recover improper payments on federal contracts and programs.

The president’s memo says agencies should hire contractors to conduct payment recapture audits. Accounting and fraud specialists use technology to search federal program records for suspect payments. The contractor keeps a portion of any money recovered. The White House said a pilot program run by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services proved the value of such audits.

The administration expects the audits will recover at least $2 billion over the next three years.

Two top GSA acquisition officials have announced their retirements.

David Drabkin plans to join Northrop Grumman as director of acquisition policy. He most recently served as acting chief acquisition officer at GSA and earlier worked at the Defense Department.

Jim Williams is retiring as commissioner of the Federal Acquisition Service, which runs the GSA schedules program. He served as acting GSA administrator last year. Williams told colleagues he has not set his future plans.

A former NASA official, Liam P. Sarsfield of Deale, MD, has pleaded guilty to steering contracts to favored companies in return for cash payments, the U.S. attorney in Jackson, MS, announced.

Prosecutors said Sarsfield, as deputy chief engineer at NASA headquarters, designed statements of work and wrote sole-source justifications on contracts worth nearly $1 million. The two contractors paid him a total of more than $270,000, according to court documents.

In a related case, the U.S. attorney said a former NASA chief of staff and White House liaison in the Bush administration, Courtney Stadd, is awaiting trial on fraud and conspiracy charges.