The Pentagon will continue to award hundreds of millions of dollars in acquisition, services and other types of contracts despite a government-wide shutdown, but don’t expect to hear about them.

The Defense Department will not publicly announce contracts during the shutdown, Lt. Cmdr. Nate Christensen, a Pentagon spokesman, wrote in an email.

But that should not stop the military services and defense agencies from signing pacts for equipment, supplies and other items.

The Pentagon will do “one big announcement” of the contracts awarded during this period when the shutdown ends, Christensen wrote.

So how is this possible? It is because the money being used to sign the deals was appropriated by Congress in prior years.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.federaltimes.com/article/20131001/DEPARTMENTS01/310010020/DoD-award-contracts-throughout-shutdown-won-t-announce-them