GovPartners Government Contracting News

CBO: Spending Estimates Indicate Sequestration Not Required in FY 2015

Jan 14, 2015

A new report by the Congressional Budget Office says that sequestration is not required for fiscal year 2015 as budget appropriations for defense and nondefense programs do not exceed caps on discretionary budget authority.

CBO said Monday that the enacted defense funding for fiscal 2015 is equal to the limit of $585.8 billion, while the nondefense budget of $513.8 billion is slightly below the cap of $514.1 billion.

The caps have been adjusted to include a total of $86.3 billion for overseas contingency operations, disaster relief, Ebola outbreak emergency requirements as well as Medicare, Social Security Disability Insurance and Supplemental Security Income program integrity initiatives, CBO noted.

The report states that if Congress later adds appropriations that breach the budget caps before the end of the fiscal year, CBO will reduce its estimated limits on discretionary spending for fiscal 2016.

CBO also said that automatic spending reductions included in the Budget Control Act of 2011 will reduce the discretionary budget caps for fiscal years 2016 through 2021, but the amount will still gradually increase from $1.02 trillion in fiscal 2016 to $1.14 trillion in fiscal 2021.Reference Article

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Small companies to take on bigger contracts under SBA proposed rule

Jan 21, 2015

A new rule proposed by the Small Business Administration could help small companies team up to go after larger government contracts.

"Projects in the federal procurement arena have gotten larger, more complex, and it's become more difficult for individual small businesses to pursue these types of projects," John Shoraka, associate administrator of government contracting and business at SBA, said on theFederal Drive with Tom Temin Tuesday.

SBA issued the proposed rule on Dec. 29, nearly a year after Congress passed the fiscal 2013 Defense Authorization bill changing certain provisions in the Small Business Act.

John Shoraka, associate administrator of government contracting and business development, SBA

"Generally, if a contract is set aside for small businesses, the business that wins has to do 51 percent of the project. Unfortunately, the small business can't do all of that 51 percent, and so it then prohibits the small business from participating. What this allows is that if your subcontractors are similarly situated — in other words, if they're also a small business — together you can count against that 51 percent," Shoraka said. Read Full Article.

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Tags: Sba Small business goals

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TNC's...The New Cab?

Jan 22, 2015

It's that time again, sign up to attend GovPartner's quarterly panel discussion!

This breakfast event will be held Wednesday, February 4th at Clyde's in Tysons Corner, Virginia at 8:30 a.m. The location is 5 minutes walk from the Greensboro Metro Station.

The theme of this event is "TNC's Transportation Network Companies... The New Cab?" The focus is to bring together parties from local government, traditional taxi companies, and TNC's to have a discussion of the pros and cons of TNC's and their place in the transportation industry.

Our panel includes Nick Ramfos, Director of Alternative Commute Programs for the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments; Tony Simon the Chief Operating Officer for Reston Limousine; Aaron Brandenburg an Economist and Statistical Information Manager for the National Association of Insurance Commissioners; and Professor Matthew W. Daus the President of International Association of Transportation Regulators and Windels Marx Partner.