Recently in Federal Category

Source: Janine R. Wedel and Linda Keenan, Huffington Post, August 19, 2010

This is the third installment of a Shadow Elite series, investigating the game-changing effects of government contracting on the most vital government functions.

How far does the crisis of government contracting oversight go? Apparently, it extends deep into some of America's most hallowed ground: Arlington National Cemetery. ..... Just who is responsible? Of course cemetary management is taking the heavy knocks but the Arlington case is also a symptom of a far bigger, government-wide crisis in the capacity to adequately oversee contract work.

Source: Dana Priest & William M. Arkin, Washington Post, July 2010

.... The articles in this series and an online database at topsecretamerica.com depict the scope and complexity of the government's national security program through interactive maps and other graphics. Every data point on the Web site is substantiated by at least two public records.

Among the highlights: -Some 1,271 government organizations and 1,931 private companies work on Top Secret programs related to counter-terrorism, homeland security, and intelligence at over 10,000 locations across the country. Over 850,000 Americans have Top Secret clearances.

Source: By Stan Soloway, Washington Post, Monday, July 19, 2010

The debate over the degree to which federal agencies have hired contractors for work more appropriately performed within the government has become increasingly prominent. It has been further fueled by statutory requirements that agencies consider in-sourcing almost anything they have ever outsourced.

.... The Office of Management and Budget has also directed agencies to conduct meaningful cost analyses before insourcing positions that do not have to be performed by government employees. However, internal documents suggest that the Defense Department is often significantly underestimating the costs of performing work with federal employees because their analyses are limited primarily to immediate wages and benefits, plus a small amount of overhead expense, rather than the entire set of identifiable costs being assumed by the taxpayer.

Source: Matthew Weigelt, Washington Technology,  Jul 08, 2010

The Obama administration continued its course toward tougher contractor oversight with an interim rule requiring contractors to report executive salaries and first-tier subcontracts. The Office of Management and Budget has directed that regulators amend the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) to initiate the subcontract award reporting under the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006, according to a notice in today's Federal Register.

source: GAO-10-559SP, July 1, 2010

....  Increased outsourcing to contractors and grants to states and localities for program and service delivery have given rise to concern about outsourcing important governmental functions and diminishing the government's ability to effectively oversee program and service delivery and to prevent fraud, waste, and abuse. Facing constraints on capacity and budgets, the federal government will need to identify innovative ways to partner with the private sector and other governmental and nongovernmental organizations.

Source: Treasury Inspector General for the Tax Administration, May 18, 2010

Source: Ed O'Keefe, Washington Post, Monday, April 12, 2010; 8:39 AM

Happy Monday! The U.S. Postal Service's current business model "is not viable" and the mail agency should make deeper job and wage cuts, hire more part-time staff and consider outsourcing operations, according to a draft of a government audit acquired by The Federal Eye.

Source: GAO-10-614T April 14, 2010

FPS faces a number of challenges in managing its guard contractors that hamper its ability to protect federal facilities. FPS requires contractors to provide guards who have met training and certification requirements. FPS's guard contract also states that a contractor who does not comply with the contract is subject to enforcement action. GAO reviewed the official contract files for the seven contractors who, as GAO testified in July 2009, had guards performing on contracts with expired certification and training requirements to determine what action, if any, FPS had taken against these contractors for contract noncompliance.

Source: ELIZABETH MALLOY, The Daily Transcript, Thursday, March 11, 2010
 

 A bill that teamed Rep. Brian Bilbray (R-Solana Beach) with a colleague from across the aisle to try and prevent government waste is gaining steam, with a recent endorsement from the president.

Bilbray and Rep. Patrick Murphy (D-Pa.) are working to pass the Improper Payments Elimination and Recovery Act, a bill that builds on past legislation designed to reduce the estimated $98 billion in improper payments made that the federal government pays out to contrators annually

Source: By Michele McNeil, EdWeek blog, November 23, 2009

When your government-funded program is on the chopping block, a rather damning Inspector General audit will do little to bolster your case for continued funding.

 ....... We the People and the Cooperative Civic Education and Economic Education Exchange Program. Both seek to foster civic education in K-12 schools. Both programs are also part of a laundry list of cuts the Obama administration has proposed. The savings, according to the Obama folks, would be $33.5 million. The center is a California-based nonprofit corporation that gets about 82 percent of its revenue from the U.S. Department of Education

Auditors from the Education Department's Office of Inspector General reviewed about $7.4 million of $23 million in grants that the Center for Civic Education charged in a one-year period to the federal grant programs, including We the People. Of that $7.4 million, auditors found $1.2 million of the spending was not allowed under federal regulations, and another $4.7 million couldn't be supported by proper documentation. That's a whopping 80 percent of charges that were either unallowable, or unsupported.