The Obama administration is telling agencies to speed up spending of the remaining Recovery Act funds as a means to stimulate the economy.

In a Sept. 15 memo, Jacob Lew, director of the Office of Management and Budget, said about 15% of Recovery Act dollars remain unspent. Most of the money has been obligated, but not disbursed.

“In light of the current economic situation and the need for further economic stimulus, it is critical that agencies spend these remaining funds as quickly and efficiently as possible,” Lew wrote.

Congress appears headed for another year without enacting appropriations bills. So far none of the 12 individual appropriations bills has cleared Congress for the new fiscal year that starts Oct. 1. Instead, a catch-all omnibus spending bill is likely for 2012.

“I don’t think we have any choice,” Hal Rogers, chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, told the Washington newspaper Politico. The congressional supercommittee is due to make its recommendations for long-term spending cuts just before Thanksgiving and Congress has promised to vote up or down on the package before Christmas. That leaves little time to consider 2012 appropriations.

Some hard-line House Republicans don’t want an omnibus bill, because that would deny them an opportunity to enact additional spending cuts below the level agreed to in August.

The Department of Homeland Security has spent more than $10.6 billion through its EAGLE multiple award IT contract. DHS said 573 task orders for IT services have been issued under the contract since its creation in 2006.

Awards for the follow-on EAGLE II, a partial set-aside, are pending.

DHS said its set-aside IT hardware contract, First Source, has attracted 14,908 delivery orders worth $1.8 billion.

GSA is revising its report card for multiple award schedule contractors. The report card is used to grade contractor performance.

The report card ratings—Exceptional, Very Good, Satisfactory, Marginal and Serious Concerns—will not change. The new 25-question form will be used starting in 2012. The new form is available at https://vsc.gsa.gov/reportcard/reportcard.pdf.

A major organization of defense contractors is launching a lobbying and public relations campaign to oppose deep cuts in the military budget. The Aerospace Industries Association warns of “devastating job losses, national security threats and infrastructure implications that would result from budget cuts put in motion by this summer’s debt-ceiling deal.”

The campaign, called Second to None, “will be a sustained effort, in states, cities and towns, as well as in Washington, to caution the American people and our leaders of risks associated with cutting defense further,” said Marion Blakey, AIA chief executive. “This involves all AIA members big and small—from the largest prime contractors to the smallest suppliers, all AIA members will have a voice in the campaign,”

Congress and President Obama have agreed on $350 billion in defense budget cuts over the next 10 years, with the possibility of more to come.

SBA has removed more than 4,000 firms from the HUBZone program over the past two years because they did not meet eligibility requirements. In the same time period, more than 1,000 firms have been dropped from the 8(a) program, and more than 50 from the service-disabled veterans contracting program.

The agency said it is devoting more attention to policing its contracting programs after the Government Accountability Office found evidence of fraud and abuse.

Joe Jordan, SBA associate administrator for government contracting and business development said that in fiscal year 2011, the agency has suspended, proposed for debarment or debarred more than 30 firms and individuals for procurement misconduct.

SBA’s Office of Advocacy has released new reports on small business financing. The Finance FAQ shows where small businesses obtain their financing, including 15 graphs illustrating types of startup and expansion financing, as well as trends in bank lending, interest rates, venture capital, initial public offerings, SBIC funding, and SBA loans.

Another report finds that, even during the financial crisis, credit unions may have provided some extra business lending in response to reductions in business lending by banks.

The reports are available at www.sba.gov/advocacy.

The House Small Business Committee has launched an online communications tool to hear from the public. The website, at www.smallbusiness.house.gov/openmic, encourages comments from small business owners about government policies. Chairman Sam Graves, R-MO, said the comments will help guide the committee’s work.