A record crowd of more than 2,000 is expected for the OSDBU Procurement Conference April 23 in Upper Marlboro, MD.

More than 350 exhibitors have signed up, said Kevin Boshears, OSDBU director at the Treasury Department.

Attendees can arrange one-on-one meetings with agency buyers. Several seminars on contracting issues are also set.

Maryland Lieut. Gov. Michael Steele will be the keynote speaker.

For details, go to go to http://www.treas.gov/offices/management/dcfo/osdbu/outreach/conference/counsel.html.

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A $31.8 million accounting error led to the outsourcing of about 650 jobs in the Defense Finance and Accounting Service, the Defense Department’s Inspector General said.

IG Joseph Schmitz said DFAS should review the A-76 competition to determine “why a re-competition should not be held.”

The contract to process pension and annuity payments for DFAS was awarded to ACS Government Services Inc. in September 2001. If renewed for the full 10-year term, it would be worth $346 million.

The audit said DFAS’s in-house cost to provide the services was overestimated by $31.8 million; without the error, the government employees might have won the competition.

Schmitz said two previous IG audits failed to find the error. The third audit was conducted at the request of Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH).

As a result of the flawed audits, Schmitz issued new policy guidance prohibiting the IG staff from auditing their own work.

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House Government Reform Committee Chairman Tom Davis (R-VA) said he will rely on savings from procurement reforms and agency reorganization to meet budget limits set by the House.

Davis’s committee would have to make $39 billion in cuts to programs under his jurisdiction to meet the budget approved by the House in the early morning hours of March 21. He said he will not cut federal employees’ pension programs.

“Our committee has a clear plan for reducing waste, fraud and mismanagement in the federal government—a plan that will result in huge savings year in and year out,” Davis said in a statement. “Achieving savings through procurement reform and agency reorganization makes a lot more sense than making drastic cuts in benefits to federal employees.”

The House and Senate have passed differing versions of the fiscal 2004 budget. The Senate voted to trim President Bush’s proposed tax cuts.

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Rep. Albert Wynn (D-MD) has reintroduced legislation to revive the contractor responsibility rule, known to its critics as the “blacklisting” rule.

The regulation enacted by the Clinton administration required contracting officers to consider a company’s record of compliance with tax, labor and employment, environmental, antitrust, and consumer protection laws before awarding a contract. It was rescinded by the Bush administration in December 2001.

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The brother of a former Pentagon supervisor has pleaded guilty to his part in a scheme to defraud the government of $1.7 million through phony credit card purchases.

The U.S. Attorney in Alexandria, VA, announced the plea by Brian Tivnan of Sammamish, WA.

Tivnan’s sister, Kathleen Brassell, pleaded guilty in November to using her government purchase card to make more than 500 payments for goods and services that were never delivered. She was sentenced to 37 months in prison and ordered to repay the money.

Tivnan admitted that Brassell made the payments to a company he owned and they shared the money. He faces up to 10 years in prison for theft of government property.