Mergers and acquisitions of government contractors have slowed dramatically this year. The Washington Business Journal reports overall deal volume was down about 30% percent from 2007.

One banker said the value of many companies has dropped in the current tight capital markets, but the business owners are not ready to believe that. “There could have been more [deals] if sellers were willing to accept [market] changes,” Gregory Van Beuren, managing director for BB&T Capital Markets Windsor Group in Reston, VA, told the newspaper.

The Journal reported about 70 deals involving contractors have been announced nationwide this year, down from 100 or so in each of the past three years.

There has been no shortage of M&A activity among business associations. The Information Technology Association of America and AeA -- formerly the American Electronics Association – announced they will merge by the end of the year.

The two groups have about 2,000 member companies. The new organization will be known as the Technology Association of America. Less than a year ago ITAA merged with the Government Electronics and Information Technology Association.

"There has been an alphabet soup of 10 to 15 different groups saying, 'We're the voice of IT,'” ITAA President Phil Bond told C-SPAN. “We've been busy consolidating some of those to say, on the big issues, there is one group that really speaks."

Bond will be president of the new association, responsible for public policy, lobbying and communications. The current head of AeA, Chris Hanson, will be CEO.

House Democrats chose Rep. Edolphus Towns of New York as the new chairman of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, which has jurisdiction over procurement matters.

Republicans named Rep. Darrell Issa of California as the panel’s ranking minority member.

Towns has served on the committee for 26 years. In a statement, he said he will concentrate on "constructive oversight of the executive branch and private sector, contracting reform, the rights and duties of federal employees, and voting representation for the District of Columbia."

Towns succeeds Rep. Henry Waxman, D-CA, who will become chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee in next year’s Congress.

Rep. Issa lost no time in claiming Waxman’s mantle as the opposition “junkyard dog” snapping at the administration’s heels. “Government Reform and Oversight has absolutely no limit as to the aspects of our government that it can look into and should look into,” he told the Washington Post.

Louisiana Sen. Mary Landrieu will chair the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship in the next Congress. Democratic leaders named her to succeed Sen. John Kerry, D-MA, who will become chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee.

GSA’s inspector general has created an online form for its contractors to report evidence of wrongdoing on federal contracts.

Under a rule that took effect Dec. 12, contractors are required to report “credible evidence” of any violation of the civil False Claims Act or a violation of criminal law involving fraud conflict of interest, bribery, or gratuity violations in connection with the award, performance, or closeout of a contract or any related subcontract.

GSA says contractors using the electronic form will receive an email confirming that the report has been received. The form is at http://oig.gsa.gov/integrityreport.htm.

SBA has granted a waiver of the nonmanufacturer rule for Control Cable and Conductors, NAICS 335931, Product Service Code (PSC) 6145, Trailers and Heavy Duty Truck Tractors, NAICS 333924, PCS 2330 and Line Hardware (Insulator Strings) Manufacturing, 335932, PSC 6145.

SBA has determined that there are no small business manufacturers of these classes of products.

The waiver is effective Dec. 22.