GSA is considering adding ancillary Repair and Alteration (R&A) services to the GSA Schedules program. According to the Federal Acquisition Regulation, R&A services are a subset of construction services under NAICS subsectors 236 and 238.

Currently, GSA says a customer that buys new office furniture and computers may have to conduct a separate procurement to hire contractors to renovate office space and install computer and network cable.

The agency asked for comment on whether ancillary R&A services should be added to existing schedules or whether a new schedule should be created for that category.

GSAR notice 2005-N02 was published in the Aug. 22 Federal Register. Comments are due by Oct. 21.

Beginning in September, federal information technology employees can work temporarily in the private sector and business employees can work in government agencies.

The Office of Personnel Management issued a final rule Aug. 15 for the IT Exchange program created under the E-Government Act of 2002. It is designed to allow government and business to share information and skills.

Federal employees at the GS-11 level or higher are eligible. The exchange assignments can last from three months to two years.

The Office of Management and Budget has ordered agencies to conduct credit checks before issuing government credit cards to new employees.

The policy, effective Oct. 1, is the latest move to tighten controls over purchase and travel cards.

Domenico Cipicchio has been named acting director of defense procurement and acquisition policy. He had been deputy to Deidre Lee, who left the post this month to join GSA’s new Federal Acquisition Service.

Cippicchio is sponsoring a public meeting Sept. 21 to discuss ways to streamline the contract closeout process for DOD contracts. The meeting will run from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m. at the Marriott Crystal Gateway in Arlington, VA. For details, go to www.acq.osd.mil/dpaptest/specificpolicy/contract_closeout.htm.

Senate Small Business Committee Chair Olympia Snowe (R-ME) has introduced legislation to increase the size of loans available through the SBA’s flagship 7(a) program.

The bill would raise the maximum size of loans from $2 million to $3 million. Snowe said the increase is needed because of rising real estate and equipment costs, especially for manufacturers.

The bill would increase the amount of money available through the program next year to $18 billion, from the currently authorized level of $17 billion.

In recent years SBA has been concentrating on making smaller loans, especially those under $150,000, in an effort to serve more businesses.

GSA has created a Small Business Advisory Committee. “Specifically, the committee is to develop proposed solutions that will allow GSA to make it easier for small businesses to participate in federal contracting, identify problem areas currently restricting small business participation, and provide direct feedback on the impact of new legislation and regulations on small business as they are introduced by the government,” the agency said in a Federal Register notice Aug. 12.

The committee’s first meeting will be held Sept. 1 in Phoenix.

Some conservative Republicans in Congress are fighting legislation that would give Native Hawaiians the same tribal status as Alaska Natives and American Indians, Congressional Quarterly reports.

Senate Republican leaders have scheduled a vote Sept. 7 to cut off debate and proceed to an up-or-down vote on the Native Hawaiian Recognition Act. It provides for creation of a native governing entity that would be treated as an independent nation, as Indian tribes are.

The House passed a similar bill in 2000, but the report says some Republican conservatives are moving to block consideration of the bill this year.