Budget Control Act | The Contracting Education Academy

October 5, 2016 By AMK

DoD research spending took brunt of sequestration cuts

Defense Department spending on research and development has suffered historic declines during the budget drawdown that’s been in progress since 2009, falling much more sharply than the rest of DoD contracts, and reversing the usual pattern in which the military has tended to guard its R&D funding so it has systems ready-to-procure the next time it goes to war.

The insights came via one of the deep dives the Center for Strategic and International Studies regularly conducts into federal procurement data. The center found dollars spent on R&D contracts fell by 53 percent between 2009 and 2015 even while overall contract spending declined by only 35 percent.

Put in terms of its share of a shrinking pie, R&D makes up just 8 percent of Defense contracts now, compared to 11 percent five years ago.

Researchers said the spending cuts had created a significant “trough” in funding for future weapons systems, something top Pentagon officials had warned about in 2013, when the sharpest R&D declines started to take place because of the Budget Control Act.

Keep reading this article at: http://federalnewsradio.com/dod-reporters-notebook-jared-serbu/2016/09/dod-research-spending-took-brunt-sequestration-cuts/

May 13, 2016 By AMK

Issue is speed — not cost — of technology acquisition

Speed of acquiring new technology – rather than lowering cost – is the driving force behind U.S. military acquisition reform, a panel of defense spending experts said Monday.

Speaking at the Center for International and Strategic Studies (CSIS), a Washington, D.C., think tank, William LaPlante, a vice president at Mitre and a former senior U.S. Air Force acquisition official, said the hurdle now is not really cost, but speed.

“If you’re going to fail, fail early” and build in true modularity in the systems — like the Gerald R. Ford carriers (CVN-78). LaPlante said this would be a big step away from the proprietary hardware, software and interfaces called for in existing programs.

Katherine Blakeley, of the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessment, said, the three concerns in defense spending still come down to: What are you getting, how much is it going to cost and when are you getting it. But speed of delivery is taking on new importance as threats change.

Keep reading this article at: https://news.usni.org/2016/04/25/csis-panel-speed-not-cost-is-key-question-in-defense-acquisition-reform

September 30, 2015 By AMK

Midnight shutdown of federal government avoided

Congress has averted a midnight shutdown.

The House of Representatives on Wednesday afternoon, September 30, followed the Senate’s example by easily passing a temporary spending bill, funding the federal government through December 11, 2015.

The stop-gap budget measure passed the Senate by a 78-20 vote. The budget then cleared the House by 277-151.

September 29, 2015 By AMK

Federal contractors worry that a government shutdown would be a ‘nightmare’

Another government shutdown would be a “nightmare” for the federal contracting community, disrupting business, leaving employees wondering about furloughs and cutting corporate profits, according to area business leaders.

They are looking at the looming Sept. 30 deadline, by which Congress has to pass a spending plan, with a mix of angst and dread, while clinging to hope that a crisis will be averted, several executives said at a conference organized by the Professional Services Council, a trade group.

“There is a lot of concern because it’s completely out of their control,” said Alan Chvotkin, the PSC’s executive vice president and counsel.

While much of the attention to a possible shutdown has been focused on the hundreds of thousands of federal workers who would likely be affected, there would also be a major impact on the contractors who often work alongside their government counterparts and are essential to the daily operations of the federal government.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/federal-eye/wp/2015/09/21/federal-contractors-worried-that-government-shutdown-would-be-a-nightmare/

August 28, 2015 By AMK

Cloud of sequestration looms over DC region

Five weeks before another round of deep Defense Department cuts is set to go into effect absent action from Congress, budget analysts and elected leaders throughout the region are renewing concerns about the Washington area’s reliance on Pentagon spending and the need to advance private sector growth in its place.

No state is more reliant on defense spending than Virginia, where it affects nearly 13 percent of the commonwealth’s economic output, tops nationwide, and provides the basis for 11 percent of jobs, third in the nation.

D.C. and Maryland also rank in the top 10 in Defense Department spending among states, with 6.9 percent and 5.8 percent of their output relying on defense respectively, according to a department report released last year.

In some ways Virginia is still reeling from automatic spending cuts known as sequestration that took place in 2013. The state’s gross domestic product had zero growth in 2014, according to a recent Department of Commerce report, third worst among states.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/digger/wp/2015/08/23/cloud-of-sequestration-looms-over-d-c-region/

Speed of acquiring new technology – rather than lowering cost – is the driving force behind U.S. military acquisition reform, a panel of defense spending experts said Monday.

Con­gress has aver­ted a mid­night shut­down.

Another government shutdown would be a “nightmare” for the federal contracting community, disrupting business, leaving employees wondering about furloughs and cutting corporate profits, according to area business leaders.

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Congress has averted a midnight shutdown.