Sequester or shutdown?

Unless House and Senate negotiators can reach a budget deal soon, prepare for either another government shutdown or round two of sequestration.

House Budget Committee Chair Paul Ryan (R-WI) and Senate Budget Committee Chair Patty Murray (D-WA) are said to be drafting a deal that would keep the government open beyond Jan. 15.

The latest reports are of a possible $1 trillion budget that would restore about $80 billion cut under the sequester. The increase in spending would be split about evenly between defense and nondefense spending, said Politico. There would be fee hikes, but no new taxes.

If the talks fail, Republicans have said they would advance a $967 billion continuing resolution.

More information:
Politico article http://goo.gl/OX3FOj

Two-time proteges

The Energy Department’s mentor-protege program is supposed to help inexperienced small contractors, but in reality many of the proteges have past experience, according to a new audit by the Office of Inspector General.

One of the proteges at Savannah River had already received $110 million in contracts. A protege at Hanford had previously received $102 million in contracts.

From January 2010 to December 2012, DOE had over 100 mentor-protégé agreements in place.

“We identified 13 protégés that, prior to entering the program, appeared to possess the capabilities typically developed by small businesses through participation in the program,” the IG wrote.

In addition, six mentor-protégé agreements had durations that appeared excessive, including three lasting over 10 years. Four protégés graduated from one DOE site and entered into agreements at another site.

The IG recommended that DOE strengthen policies and controls, and department officials agreed to do that.

More information:
IG report http://goo.gl/CT9ekU

Too many rejections?

Federal performance metrics that reward a speedy turn-around on processing new applications to GSA Schedules may be contributing inadvertently to more rejections.

Metrics may be creating pressure to reject rather than to initiate a possibly lengthy discussion to resolve issues, according to Jennifer Aubel, principal consultant with Centre Consulting.

“I have talked with GSA sources about this, and the trend seems to have been developing over several years,” Aubel told Set-Aside Alert. She described her observations in a recent blog post.

GSA officials were not immediately available to comment.

More information:
Centre Consulting blog http://www.centreknowledge.com/

Supply chain risk

The Defense Department’s new interim rule on supply chain security may be tricky for contractors.

The rule likely will be “controversial” and “difficult for contractors to manage,” raising issues about compliance, communication and due process, wrote attorneys from Morrison & Foerster LLP.

More information:
Morrison & Foerster LLP release http://goo.gl/sR6XO4