The government’s work will continue at least through Nov. 16. With half of federal departments missing their small-business contracting goals in fiscal 2006, agency officials and legislators said the solution may be punishment. 
As more federal acquisition experts retire, agencies are struggling to fill the knowledge gap. By using a little-known provision in the General Services Administration Modernization Act of 2006, managers can pull retirees back into contracting jobs without any pension penalties. NASA said it received so many orders in the first five months of its new governmentwide acquisition contract that it lowered the fee it charges agencies to place orders. The Defense Department has a 136-page book about bad behavior, titled “Encyclopedia of Ethical Failure,” which delivers its message with a sense of humor.The Small Business Administration’s program to develop businesses in underutilized business districts is riddled with holes, leaving it open to fraud, Rep. Nydia Velazquez (D-N.Y.), chairwoman of the House Small Business Committee, said Sept. 19. 
Sun Microsystems notified the General Services Administration last week that it was canceling its GSA multiple-award schedule contract, effective Oct. 12. The decision came suddenly, just as GSA Administrator Lurita Doan sought help from an outside party to deal with a long-running contract pricing dispute between Sun and GSA.The General Services Administration is stuck at the starting gate with its latest major information technology contract, Alliant. General Services Administration officials say they are looking for ways to support security convergence through the agency’s existing contract schedules.Sun Microsystems, mired for months in a battle with the General Services Administration and the agency's inspector general over pricing policies and audit practices, announced Friday it would cancel its Multiple Award Schedule contract as of Oct. 12.Lurita Doan, administrator for the General Services Administration, has asked the President’s Council on Integrity and Efficiency to help sort out a conflict between GSA's inspector general and Sun Microsystems, saying the case is just one example of a disturbing trend.
Departments operating under a continuing resolution in fiscal 2007 will likely continue to do so in fiscal 2008, as a fight between Congress and the White House over spending limits intensifies. The Senate has approved only one appropriations bill, and its Appropriations Committee has not yet approved the Defense Appropriations Bill. The House passed all 12 appropriations bills before the August congressional recess.In the past three years, the market for assisted acquisition services moved, but the General Services Administration didn’t. Now the agency is trying to catch up.Lawmakers will delve back into the Clinton years for some historical perspective on an issue of immediate concern to Congress and the Bush administration: the idea of White House aides delivering political briefings in agency offices. The General Services Administration decided to cut back its assisted acquisition service to build a more economically viable business line that will break even by the end of fiscal 2008, the agency announced today.Agencies sometimes paid significantly more than necessary for the same type of debris removal and demolition work because they didn’t share contracting information, an audit has found. 
The success of the Air Force’s consolidated quarterly purchases of information technology from a few select vendors caught Kevin Carroll’s attention. Carroll, the Army’s program executive officer for enterprise information systems, began using the Air Force contracts to take advantage of the large discounts available through that service’s strategic sourcing program.