The military services will be putting more officers in acquisition posts under provisions of the 2009 Defense Authorization Act.

The law calls for action to ensure that some generals and flag officers gain experience in acquisition, and that promotion opportunities be opened for that career path. The Senate Armed Services Committee report on the legislation recommended that at least 12% of generals and flag officers should work in acquisition, Federal Computer Week reported.

The Gansler Commission, an outside panel that examined Army contracting last year, said lack of promotion opportunities had discouraged officers from choosing an acquisition career.

The Senate report said, “Without increasing the number of general officers serving in these positions, DOD is unlikely to reverse the ongoing decline in its acquisition workforce and revitalize its acquisition and contracting practices.”

GSA Advantage, the online shopping and ordering system for GSA schedule contractors, saw sales grow 24% during fiscal 2008, to $558 million.

GSA launched a new version of the website during the year, which allows state and local government personnel to order cooperative purchasing and disaster recovery products.

The Federal OSDBU Directors Interagency Council elected NASA’s Glenn Delgado as its chair for fiscal 2009.

Mauricio Vera of the Agency for International Development will serve as vice chair and Valerie Hayes of HUD is secretary.

The council is an informal organization of Federal small business program officials that meets monthly. For more information, go to www.osdbu.gov.

SBA is consider a waiver of the nonmanufacturer rule for control cable and conductors, NAICS code 335931 product service code 6145; trailers and heavy duty truck tractors, NAICS code 333924 product service code 2330; and line hardware (insulator strings), NAICS code 335932 product service code 5975.

The agency knows of no small business that provides these products. Comments are due Oct. 27.