Federal contract spending will shrink in 2012 to 10% below 2010 levels, according to a forecast by Ray Bjorklund, vice president and chief knowledge officer at the research firm Deltek.

Agencies are squeezing their operations to prepare for dramatically smaller budgets in the years ahead. More than a dozen agencies are seeking permission to offer buyouts and early retirements to cut thousands of employees, the newspaper Federal Times reported.

The Obama administration has told agencies to submit budgets for 2013 with options for a 5% cut in spending or a 10% cut. Budget levels for 2012 have not yet been decided in Congress, and probably will not be settled until after the “super committee” reports in November on its deficit-reduction plans.

“Sometimes you cut so much, there’s not anything left to cut unless to the meat, to actually quit doing things, and I would say we’re at that point,” NASA Chief Information Officer Linda Cureton told the newspaper. “What are we going to stop doing? And those are very difficult questions to ask and answer.”

A joint venture involving a service-disabled veteran-owned company must be listed in the Veterans Affairs Department’s Vetbiz database to be eligible for a VA contract.

The Government Accountability Office issued that ruling in dismissing a protest by Pro South-Emcon Joint Venture for work at the VA Medical Center in Memphis, TN. GAO said it was not enough for one partner in the JV to be registered in the database; the joint venture itself must be listed.

The absence of a listing made the JV ineligible for the contract and ineligible to file a protest, GAO said.

The space shuttle program closed down Aug. 31 after 30 years and 135 flights.

The remaining employees and contractors work for the Space Shuttle Transition and Retirement Office, which will prepare the orbiters for their final mission as museum exhibits. The shuttle program occupied 640 facilities and used more than 900,000 pieces of equipment worth $12 billion, according to the newspaper Florida Today. Closing and disposing of those operations is expected to take two years.

The Federal Highway Administration plans to eliminate rules that required states and municipalities to replace hundreds of thousands of street signs by 2018.

“A specific deadline for replacing street signs makes no sense and would have cost communities across America millions of dollars in unnecessary expenses,” Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said.

The National Association of County Engineers said the cost could run into the billions. Tiny Delaware estimated it would have to spend at least $60 million.

The federal government said larger, more reflective signs are needed to improve visibility.

FHWA proposed to keep the deadlines for installing signs that are considered critical to safety, including “One Way” signs at intersections with divided highways or one-way streets and “Stop” or “Yield” signs at all railroad crossings without automatic gates or flashing lights.

Communities will be allowed to upgrade other signs as they wear out.