NDAA moves forward

The House has approved the $633 billion National Defense Authorization Act compromise bill, which includes $552 billion for national defense and $81 billion for foreign military operations.

The House previously passed its own bill, while the Senate action was delayed by hundreds of amendments. Leaders of both chambers put together the slimmed-down compromise bill.

The House bill dropped “FITARA,” the federal CIO authority and information technology management provisions advanced by Rep. Darrell Issa, R-CA.

At presstime, the defense bill was headed to the Senate, where the prospects for quick approval were fairly strong but not certain.

EAGLE II Protests

More than two dozen companies are protesting the Homeland Security Department’s recent awards of the unrestricted portions of its EAGLE II IT services multiple-award contract.

Twenty-seven unsuccessful bidders have filed bid protests with the Government Accountability Office, according to Federal News Radio. The protesters include Unisys, Raytheon, CGI Federal, Lockheed Martin, SRA, Northrop Grumman and SAIC.

DHS announced the awards to 15 large firms on Sept. 30, the day before the government shutdown.

The shutdown delayed debriefings to the unsuccessful bidders.

More information:
Federal News Radio article http://goo.gl/23sCKv

Air Force: job cuts

The Air Force is planning to cut 900 civilian positions in 2014 and leave 7,000 vacant slots unfilled, Federal News Radio reported.

Leaders of the military agency also have notified managers that they should assume flat budgets, said Federal Times.

More information:
http://goo.gl/wib38O
http://goo.gl/OyEg0W

Design/build contracts

A bill that would overhaul design/build contracting for federal construction projects gained support in a recent House hearing.

Rep. Sam Graves, R-MO, chair of the House Small Business Committee, introduced the Design-Build Efficiency and Jobs Act of 2013 to make it easier for more firms to bid on construction.

The current process requires detailed plans upfront, which vendors say is onerous for small firms. The proposed bill would require agencies to reduce the number of bidders before asking for final, detailed proposals.

The American Institute of Architects endorsed the bill earlier this year, saying that it would remove impediments to bidding.

The median cost for preparing designs for a federal construction bid is $260,000, the AIA said.

More information:
House Oversight Committee hearing: http://goo.gl/pR33Rj
AIA release: http://goo.gl/dZ2zWD