Budget | The Contracting Education Academy

September 20, 2018 By cs

‘Unprecedented’ government spending spree picks up speed

The federal government is primed to spend as much as $300 billion in the final quarter of fiscal 2018 as agencies rush to obligate money appropriated by Congress before Sept. 30 or return it to the Treasury Department.

The spending spree is the product of the omnibus budget agreement signed six months late in March coupled with funding increases of $80 billion for defense and $63 billion for civilian agencies. The shortened time frame left procurement officials scrambling to find ways to spend the money.

Through August, defense and civilian agencies obligated some $300 billion in contracts. But to spend all the money appropriated to them by Congress, they may have to obligate well over $200 billion more in the final quarter of fiscal 2018, which ends in two weeks.

Keep reading this article at: https://www.nextgov.com/cio-briefing/2018/09/unprecedented-government-spending-spree-picks-speed/151347/

April 10, 2018 By cs

Pentagon’s delayed report on services contracts draws union ire

The massive National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal 2018 contained language requiring the Pentagon to provide more detail on its spending plans for $144 billion in services contracts.

But in the Trump administration’s fiscal 2019 budget released in February, the document that provides the most comprehensive information on services contracting was missing. The omission was spotted by specialists at the American Federation of Government Employees, who pointed out that last year’s submission carried more detail, while this year’s was limited to an “advisory and assistance services” document with simple line items.

“DOD has ignored the contract services budget requirement in its FY 2019 budget request,” the union said in a statement to Government Executive. “Instead, the department only submitted information on “Advisory and Assistance” contracts, which constitute a small fraction of one percent of overall DOD service contract spending. With the Trump Administration perceiving DOD as a piggy bank for non-Defense priorities, this continued lack of accountability for at least $144 billion per year in spending requires immediate congressional attention . . . to protect taxpayer dollars.”

Keep reading this article at: http://www.govexec.com/defense/2018/03/pentagons-delayed-report-services-contracts-draws-union-ire/147098/

March 23, 2018 By cs

Pentagon managers defend $1 billion price tag of largest audit ever

The top financial managers at Pentagon this week assured senators that the nearly $1 billion audit now underway at the Defense department will be worth the price.

Defense Undersecretary and Comptroller David Norquist—under questioning by Senate Budget Committee members seeking efficiencies and defense budget reforms—said the price of $367 million in contract audit costs just in fiscal 2018 is about 1/30th of 1 percent of the Pentagon’s budget. That is “less than what Fortune 100 companies such as General Electric, Proctor & Gamble and International Business Machines Corp. pay their auditors,” he said.

“I anticipate the audit process will uncover many places where our controls or processes are broken,” he told the committee. “There will be unpleasant surprises. Some of these problems may also prove frustratingly difficult to fix. But the alternative is to operate in ignorance of the challenge and miss the opportunity to reform.”

Keep reading this article at: http://www.govexec.com/defense/2018/03/pentagon-managers-defend-1-billion-price-tag-largest-audit-ever/146549

February 9, 2018 By cs

After last-minute drama, Congress passes a government funding bill

It was an unexpected nail-biter: After a short “technical” shutdown, Congress early Friday passed a measure that would raise spending levels by $300 billion over the next two years.

The vote came hours after appropriations expired at midnight, shuttering agencies for the second time in three weeks after Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., derailed the Senate vote in a protest over ballooning deficit spending. The Senate finally passed the legislation early Friday with wide bipartisan support on a 71-28 vote.

The House convened at 4 a.m. and finally took up the legislation shortly after 5 a.m., passing the bill on a 240-186 vote.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.govexec.com/management/2018/02/after-last-minute-drama-congress-passes-government-funding-bill/145860

January 11, 2018 By cs

Why care that Congress does not pass appropriations bills on time?

The federal government’s fiscal year began on Oct. 1, 2017. As of the date of this post, that was 101 days ago. There is still no budget for the full year, just a continuing resolution (CR) that expires on Jan. 19.

So what is a CR? The Government Accountability Office (GAO) defines it as: “An appropriation act that provides budget authority for federal agencies, specific activities, or both to continue in operation when Congress and the president have not completed action on the regular appropriation acts by the beginning of the fiscal year.” In recent years, we could also define it as “business as usual.” Some folks look at that and say “no problem.” They think that government spends too much anyway, so slowing down government spending is a good thing.

That might make sense if operating the government on continuing resolutions and last-minute omnibus spending bills actually saved money for the taxpayers. Sadly, the opposite is true. Not having a funded budget on Oct. 1 means agencies have to do countless workarounds, many of which cost money. Here are just a few examples of the problems created by the lack of timely appropriations.

Keep reading this article at: https://federalnewsradio.com/commentary/2018/01/why-care-that-congress-does-not-pass-appropriations-bills-on-time/

The federal government is primed to spend as much as $300 billion in the final quarter of fiscal 2018 as agencies rush to obligate money appropriated by Congress before Sept. 30 or return it to the Treasury Department.

The massive National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal 2018 contained language requiring the Pentagon to provide more detail on its spending plans for $144 billion in services contracts.

The top financial managers at Pentagon this week assured senators that the nearly $1 billion audit now underway at the Defense department will be worth the price.

It was an unexpected nail-biter: After a short “technical” shutdown, Congress early Friday passed a measure that would raise spending levels by $300 billion over the next two years.

The federal government’s fiscal year began on Oct. 1, 2017. As of the date of this post, that was 101 days ago. There is still no budget for the full year, just a continuing resolution (CR) that expires on Jan. 19.

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