spending | The Contracting Education Academy

March 29, 2021 By cs

Small number of states dominate DoD spending

A huge portion of U.S. defense spending is going to contractors and military personnel based in just a handful of states, according to data recently released by the Pentagon.

Defense Department contract obligations and payroll spending in the 50 states and the District of Columbia totaled $550.9 billion in fiscal year 2019. Of those outlays, 73 percent was spent on contracts for products and services, while the remaining 27 percent paid the salaries of department personnel, according to the Office of Local Defense Community Cooperation’s latest report on defense spending by state.

“California, Virginia and Texas topped the list of recipients for overall defense spending,” said a press release accompanying the study. They received $181.3 billion, about one-third of the total allotted to all 50 states plus D.C.

The top five, which also included Florida and Maryland, received about 43 percent of the total, while the top 10 received approximately 59 percent, according to the data.

The top 10 states were: California, $66.2 billion; Virginia, $60.3 billion; Texas, $54.8 billion; Florida, $29.8 billion; Maryland, $26.1 billion; Connecticut, $19.7 billion; Pennsylvania, $18.1 billion; Washington, $17.8 billion; Alabama, $16 billion; and Massachusetts, $15.8 billion.

That adds up to a whopping $324.7 billion.

Keep reading this article at: https://www.nationaldefensemagazine.org/articles/2021/2/25/small-number-of-states-dominate-defense-spending

To read the Office of Local Defense Community Cooperation’s full report go to: https://oldcc.gov/sites/default/files/defense-spending-rpts/OLDCC_DSBS_FY2019_FINAL_WEB.pdf

March 11, 2021 By cs

GAO: DoD has to get a handle on future services spending

As the Defense Department looks to buy more services, it’s going to need to come up with action plans to better account for spending in future years, according to a recent Government Accountability Office report.

Timothy DiNapoli, GAO’s director for contracting and national security acquisitions, wrote in a report to Congress that while DoD has identified areas to improve, it has yet to develop clear plans that manage spending services acquisitions over future fiscal years.

“DoD’s October 2020 report discusses the actions DOD has taken, or intends to take, to improve its management of service acquisitions, including actions to address many of the issues we have identified in our past work,” the Feb. 22 report states. “However, DoD’s report does not address our open 2016 recommendations intended to better position DoD to make informed decisions regarding the volume and type of services that should be acquired over the [Future Years Defense Program].”

GAO, which has flagged service contract spending as a high-risk issue since 2001, evaluated the Defense Department’s October report to Congress and found that DOD made strides but failed to lay out a full plan to incorporate spending on services in the future.

Keep reading this article at: https://fcw.com/articles/2021/02/22/dod-service-contracts-gao.aspx

January 26, 2021 By cs

Just what you’d guess: Federal discretionary spending is up

The government contracting industry is a complex marketplace.

No other industry is as dependent on the successes and failures of federal policy, regulation, and Congressional leadership.

Our ecosystem lives or dies by it. Elements of the sector ebb and flow depending not only on the needs wants, whims, and votes of American citizens but also the global stage, all of which command our ~$1 trillion competitive landscape pipelined through Federal discretionary spending.

Vendors enter into the fray with dollar signs in their eyes, and at a glance, they’re right to be excited about the potential. But those of us in-the-know understand working with the federal Government isn’t an opportunity to print money, and what is considered a steady investment still has its ups and downs.

Here’s an examination the state of federal discretionary spending (procurements and grants) over the last ten (10) … yes 10 … years, as we close out the decade not with a whisper – but with a boom.

Keep reading this article at: https://thepulsegovcon.com/article/a-decade-in-federal-discretionary-spending/

December 7, 2020 By cs

Projections on contract spending for 2021 are murky

Though the Defense Department’s actual numbers won’t come out until January, federal contract spending for fiscal 2020 is projected to land somewhere upwards of $600 billion — an $89 billion increase over 2019. Around $30 billion of that increase was COVID-related spending.

With a vaccine still on the horizon, and a presidential transition now underway, projections on contract spending for 2021 are murkier than usual. That said, Kevin Plexico, senior vice president for Information Solutions at Deltek, said there are a few things that can be expected.

First, the topline budget caps are already set for next year due to the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2019. They provide for modest increases in discretionary spending, which tends to lead to increases in contract spending. It’s worth noting as well that 2021 is the final year subject to the restrictions of the Budget Control Act.

Second, President-elect Joe Biden has presented a seven-point pandemic response plan, which includes testing and tracing, as well as potentially $25 billion for vaccine development and distribution. It’s likely to include significant spending on personal protective equipment as well, and it’s possible he could invoke the Defense Production Act toward this end.

Keep reading this article at: https://federalnewsnetwork.com/contracting/2020/11/what-contractors-can-expect-in-2021/

November 19, 2020 By cs

What a Biden administration will mean for contractors

For federal contractors, much will change under a Biden administration.

Some changes will return the familiar. Some wags are already calling the next presidency a third Obama term. That may or may not be accurate, much less fair to Biden.

One thing is certain, the government won’t retreat one dollar from its $500 billion-a-year contracting appetite. Beyond that, the pH of the procurement waters will change.

The agency to watch, if you’re a contractor, and by extension a contracting officer, is the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs. This Labor Department unit is the source of many policies that apply to contractors, starting with ensuring contractors follow what used to be called employment standards. Mainly that contractors don’t, in their own employment practices, violate equal opportunity laws and regulations.

Administrations use it as one of the levers of power the general public doesn’t see, unlike, say, the Environmental Protection Agency or Justice Department. Its policies apply to contracts and contractors.

Keep reading this article at: https://federalnewsnetwork.com/tom-temin-commentary/2020/11/what-a-biden-administration-will-mean-for-contractors/

A huge portion of U.S. defense spending is going to contractors and military personnel based in just a handful of states, according to data recently released by the Pentagon.

As the Defense Department looks to buy more services, it’s going to need to come up with action plans to better account for spending in future years, according to a recent Government Accountability Office report.

The government contracting industry is a complex marketplace.

Though the Defense Department’s actual numbers won’t come out until January, federal contract spending for fiscal 2020 is projected to land somewhere upwards of $600 billion — an $89 billion increase over 2019. Around $30 billion of that increase was COVID-related spending.

For federal contractors, much will change under a Biden administration.

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