NSA leak aftermath

The push is on to tighten controls on federal contractor access to top-secret national security information in the wake of the highly-controversial leak of documents about National Security Agency communications surveillance programs.

The person claiming to be responsible for the leak was an employee for Booz Allen Hamilton. He no longer is employed there.

The disclosure has prompted lawmakers, industry leaders and union leaders to call for more scrutiny of private workers with access to sensitive security information.

About 500,000 private contractors have access to top-secret intelligence, according to the Washington Post.

FAS interfered: IG

Federal Acquisition Service managers circumvented contract officers and pushed them to award contracts, according to a new report from the General Services Administration’s Office of Inspector General.

Based on complaints from contractors, the FAS “overrode contracting officer determinations without proper justification, pressured contracting officers to extend or award contracts, and reassigned contracts to different contracting officers,” the IG report said.

The report reviewed contracts from fiscal 2011 with Oracle America Inc., Carahsoft Technology Corp. and Deloitte Consulting totaling about $900 million.

“Improper FAS management intervention in Multiple Award Schedule contracts resulted in inflated pricing and/or unfavorable contract terms, and undermined the authority of contracting officers,” the IG concluded.

More information: IG report http://goo.gl/z6vAE

Subcontracting bill

Rep. Sam Graves, R-MO, who chairs the House Small Business Committee, introduced legislation (HR2232) to create incentives for more federal subcontracting dollars to go to small businesses.

Currently, the federal government has a goal of awarding 23% of prime contracts, and 35.9% of subcontracts, to small businesses. Prime contractors agree to award a certain number of dollars to small companies through first-tier subcontracts.

“The dollars awarded to any small business subcontractor help the federal government to meet its 35.9% subcontracting goal, but the prime contractor can only count the subcontracts it awards to the contract specific goal. Unfortunately, this often means that there aren’t as many opportunities for small businesses as lower tier subcontractors,” Graves said in a statement.

His bill would credit prime contractors for a larger share of subcontracting dollars that trickle down to small firms, rather than just for the first tier subcontracts.

More information: Graves’ statement http://goo.gl/tXbhz

DOD wasted $1B

Pentagon officials made $1.1 billion in improper payments in fiscal 2011, according to a new report from the Government Accountability Office. Improper payments are any payments that should not have been made or were for the wrong amount.

Of the total, $287 million was for improper payments related to travel, and $2.1 million was for improper travel payments for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

More information: GAO report http://goo.gl/QCrS6

OPM revolving fund

The Office of Personnel Management’s $2 billion Revolving Fund has “serious problems” that should be investigated, OPM’s inspector general told a House panel.

Patrick McFarland asked the House Oversight and Government Reform’s Subcommittee on the Federal Workforce, Postal Service and the Census for more funding to perform more oversight.

OPM charges fees to federal agencies in exchange for providing services, including personnel background investigations and various human resources services. The fees go into the revolving fund. Much of the work is performed by contractors.

“As you know, my office has been alarmed for many years about serious problems within the Revolving Fund programs,” McFarland told the subcommittee in a June 5 hearing.

More information: hearing documents http://goo.gl/rd8yz

Inventory of programs

The White House has compiled the first comprehensive inventory of federal programs, which are now described in 24 executive agency reports on the Performance.gov website.

The reports are meant to provide details on each program, what it does and how it aligns with the agency’s goals and objectives.

For example, the Small Business Administration’s inventory describes 32 programs, including HUBZone, size standards and international trade.

The next phase of development includes making it possible for users to search and sort by program, the website states.

More information: federal program inventory http://goo.gl/JtkfC