According to a report from the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, there was a record amount of 16,906 recommendations made in various inspectors’ general reports that have not been implemented. These recommendations could potentially save taxpayers $67 billion if they were put into action. Committee staff noted that this amount is likely much higher. This report states, “If evidence continues to mount that the administration is dismissive of the work of the IG community, Congress should aggressively incorporate unimplemented recommendations into legislative actions.” There is evidence supporting the correlation between the absence of a permanent inspector general in agencies and a high number of open and unimplemented recommendations. Collectively, The State Department, Homeland Security Department and Agency for International Development, combined with the Interior, Labor and Defense departments have not had a permanent inspector for the past 15 years. These agencies are among the highest in the number of open and unimplemented recommendations.

Yesterday, March 28th, the draft RFP’s for OASIS were released for public review and comment. Furthermore, on the OASIS Industry Community board it was stated that the General Services Administration (GSA) is tentatively planning an industry day on May 13th.

Since the launch of the System for Award Management (SAM.gov) during the end of July 2012, the General Service Administration has received widespread complaints concerning the system. Users have criticized SAM.gov for its frequent system errors, inefficient functions, untimeliness of registrations and most recently – breach in security. The system, which replaced the Central Contractor Registry (CCR) and the Online Representations and Certifications Application (ORCA), was created with the intention of making the registration process easier to track and maintain for both Federal contractors and agencies. However, instead the system has perpetuated the feelings of frustration among not only its users, but also its creators.

As of March 1st, the Sequester has officially begun. Government-wide budget cuts have been implemented and small businesses seem to be the early victim. The situation looks particularly troubling for small businesses that deal with the Department of Defense and related agencies. According to the Small Business Administration, 35% of Department of Defense suppliers are small businesses. In many cases, government agencies are the premier customer for these small firms, making the loss of federal contracts potentially fatal for these companies. Economics expert Dr. Stephen S. Fuller of George Mason University fears the Sequester could be even more devastating for small businesses than many realize. He believes that in addition to the loss of prime contracting opportunities, many small businesses are subcontractors to government agencies such as the Department of Defense. Therefore, the spending cuts will have a trickle-down effect on small businesses that could be equally devastating. Fuller mentions that in addition to this, many small businesses act as suppliers or vendors for prime federal contractors without even knowing it. This ignorance prevents proper strategic business planning for these firms that could lessen the effects of the Sequester. Fuller estimates that approximately half of the projected two million job losses resulting from the spending cuts could come from smaller firms. Small businesses across the country are beginning to brace themselves for the effects of the recent Sequester. Many firms are attempting to diversify their clients amongst different government agencies and further into the private sector. While it still remains to be seen what the true effects of the spending cuts will be on smaller firms, many companies are bracing for the worst. It is also worthy to note that the aforementioned budget cuts will likely effect all businesses including those that do not have federal contracts. The cuts are predicted to have a ripple effect that will show decreases in GDP and increases in unemployment, which foreshadow a recession.

If you have a 58 I GSA Schedule Contract, this could be pretty significant news. It was recently announced that beginning in March 2013, federal buyers will only be purchasing televisions and monitors that are EPEAT registered. EPEAT is the Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool, and GSA describes it as “a multi-attribute, multi-tier environmental and energy efficiency rating system and registry for electronic equipment. The criteria address more than energy efficiency and, in essence, define what it means for products to be environmentally preferable.”

As cybersecurity and privacy issues have become more prevalent in the public sector in recent years, the need to enact new cybersecurity policies has increased. Most recently, Executive Order (EO) 13636 of February 12, 2013 – Improving Critical Infrastructure Cybersecurity, was released by the White House and named important new cybersecurity policies to be implemented.