With permanent repeal of the estate tax stalled in Congress, Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ) is circulating a proposal that would “mend it, not end it,” according to published reports.

Kyl’s proposal would collect the tax only on estates worth more than $15 million for individuals and $30 million for couples. The tax rate on inheritances above that level would be 15%, the same as the rate on capital gains and dividends.

Under current law, the tax will be phased out by 2010, but would be reinstated the next year. Efforts to make the repeal permanent have run into opposition because of rising budget deficits.

Army chief of staff Gen. Peter Schoomaker has told the Army Materiel Command he wants soldiers to be able to order desert camouflage uniforms and other supplies as easily as if they were shopping online at Lands’ End.

Gen. Paul Kern, commander of the Materiel Command, announced the new marching orders at the Industry Advisory Council’s Executive Leadership Conference 2003 in Hershey, PA, Oct. 20, Government Computer News reported.

Kern said industry help would be needed to help integrate the logistics network into the Defense Department’s Global Information Grid, a department-wide network.

By law, federal agencies’ directors of small and disadvantaged business utilization are supposed to report directly to the agency head or deputy head. But the General Accounting Office says 11 of the 24 largest agencies are violating the law. The agencies not in compliance are Agriculture, Commerce, Education, HHS, Justice, State, Interior, Treasury, EPA, Federal Emergency Management Agency and Social Security Administration.

The Defense Department is exempt from the requirement by law; DOD’s OSDBU reports to a deputy undersecretary, two levels below the deputy secretary, GAO said.

Senate Small Business Committee Chair Olympia Snowe (R-ME) and the committee’s ranking Democrat, John Kerry (MA), wrote to the offending agencies urging them to comply with the law.

“Immediate access to the agency head or the second in command is critical to an OSDBU’s ability to advocate effectively for small and disadvantaged business participation in federal contracting,” Snowe and Kerry wrote. “Any effort to reduce the stature and standing of the OSDBUs would be contrary to congressional intent and detrimental to the small-business community.”

Arrowhead Global Solutions, an 8(a) firm, has won a $30 million satellite communications contract with the Federal Aviation Administration.

Arrowhead, of McLean, VA, will provide satcom systems to airports in the Northwest for the next 10 years. It is the company’s first prime contract with the FAA.

The Defense Finance and Accounting Service will not cancel a contract with Affiliated Computer Services of Dallas, although the agency admits the contract award was a mistake.

ACS won an A-76 competition to replace 530 government employees in Cleveland who process checks for military retirees. Later, investigators discovered that ACS had won because a DFAS consultant made an accounting error. The incident became a rallying cry for federal employee unions opposing job competitions.

DFAS said it would cost $1.9 million to throw the contractor out and bring the federal employees back. Instead, DFAS Director Thomas Bloom said in a statement, “We will continue to review the contractor’s performance and evaluate our options annually.”

The contract is worth nearly $355 million if options are exercised for the full 10 years.