The Office of Management and Budget will require new training and tougher certification standards for acquisition personnel in civilian agencies, the newspaper Federal Times reported.

The acting head of OMB’s Office of Federal Procurement Policy, Robert Burton, said civilian-agency personnel will have to meet the same certification standards as those in the Defense Department starting in 2007. DOD’s training and certification are widely considered to be the best in government.

The Federal Acquisition Institute, which trains civilian-agency workers, has moved to the Defense Acquisition University’s campus at Fort Belvoir, VA, so the two organizations can coordinate their training.

Burton said the governmentwide certification program will make it easier for acquisition professionals to move from one agency to another, broadening their career choices and perhaps dissuading some of them from leaving federal service.

The Housing and Urban Development Department has chosen Electronic Consulting Services Inc., a small disadvantaged business in Fairfax, VA, to operate the Federal Housing Administration’s Office of Single Family Client Management Center.

The contract is worth $25 million over four years. ECS and its subcontractor, Aspen Systems Corp. of Rockville, MD, will handle more than 1 million contacts annually.

A Texas highway construction firm has agreed to pay $3 million to resolve claims that it violated the Disadvantaged Business Enterprise contracting requirements on federally funded projects, the Justice Department announced Dec. 14.

The government accused Williams Brothers Construction Co. of Houston with false claims involving the illegal exercise of control over two concrete-supply companies, DDS Aggregates of Austin and ANT Enterprises of Houston. Williams Brothers also settled claims that it violated the law by claiming DBE contracting credit for lease expenses incurred by the two companies for equipment owned by an affiliate of Williams Brothers.

Williams Brothers is a prime contractor on numerous highway construction contracts in Texas. The company also agreed to hire a monitor to watchdog its compliance with the Transportation Department’s DBE regulations.

Two Army Reserve officers have been arrested in an investigation of alleged bribery, money laundering and fraud by U.S. government officials and contractors in Iraq.

Lt. Col. Michael Wheeler of Amherst Junction, WI, and Lt. Col. Debra Harrison, of Trenton, NJ, are charged with rigging bids and purchasing military-grade firearms for their own use.

An expatriate American businessman, Philip Bloom, and a civilian employee of the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq, Robert J. Stein of Fayetteville, NC, were arrested earlier as a result of the same investigation. (SAA, 12/2)

The Defense Department named a civilian employee at Buckley Air Force Base, CO, Elizabeth A. Bryant, its Small Business Specialist of the year. Bryant was credited with doubling her unit’s small business contract awards since fiscal 2002.

The department also presented individual achievement awards to Reinette Alecozay of Randolph Air Force Base, TX, Small Business Contracting Professional of the Year; and the entire Army Maneuver Ammunition Systems Team, Small Business Program Manager of the Year.

The Air Force and Defense Intelligence Agency received top honors as the overall outstanding small business programs. The Army and the Defense Threat Reduction Agency were named for outstanding small disadvantaged business programs

The General Services Administration has named Annie Wiggins Everett as acting regional administrator for GSA’s National Capital Region. She replaces Donald Williams, who resigned.

Everett had been the deputy regional administrator. She has more than 30 years of federal service.