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How government contracting is still suffering from the shutdown

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The longest government shutdown in U.S. history ended in January 2019, but businesses that contract with the federal government are still seeing damaging effects for themselves and their employees months later, according to witnesses who testified at a May 6 House Oversight and Reform Committee hearing.

“Everyone thinks the shutdown ended on the 25th [of January]. The shutdown ended on the 25th for government employees.  The shutdown didn’t end for our employees until we got a letter from the contracting officer authorizing us to come back to work,” said Roger Krone, CEO of Leidos.

“Where it may have been 35 days for government employees, it could be another 14 days or more for contractors.  Because the contracting officer had to come to work, get through the pile of paper, figure out what contracts were under a stop work order, and then prioritize those and authorize the contractors to come back.”

Federal employees were guaranteed back pay for the time they were forced to stay home from work or work without pay during a shutdown.  But contractors received stop-work orders or were unable to access the resources necessary for their contracts, and never received compensation for that time they were unable to go to work.

Continue reading at the: Federal Times

GSA releases new IT modernization RFI in post-shutdown procurement deluge

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The General Services Administration released two pre-cursors to major acquisitions last week with the release of the draft solicitation for the $8 billion back-office cloud procurement and a request for information to expand the Centers of Excellence initiative.

The Customs and Border Protection, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and GSA launched a major cloud and IT modernization effort by announcing an industry day on Feb. 26 in Washington, D.C.

And the Office of Personnel Management is exploring how to create a central portal for the Federal Employee Health Benefits Program.

These are just a few of the more than 4,700 requests for proposals, RFIs and awards released on FedBizOpps.gov in the week after the partial government shutdown ended, opening up the acquisition floodgates.

Keep reading this article at: https://federalnewsnetwork.com/reporters-notebook/2019/02/gsa-releases-new-it-modernization-rfi-in-post-shutdown-procurement-deluge/

How some contractors successfully weathered the shutdown

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The 35-day government shutdown cost thousands of small- and mid-size businesses nationwide that supply services or technology to the federal government $2.3 billion in revenue and forced tens of thousands of layoffs.

As once-furloughed federal employees and contractors begin the slow business of reopening government, the cold reality is that another shutdown looms if a spending deal is not reached before Feb. 15.

It’s a time of “uncertainty” for contractors, according to David Berteau, who represents hundreds of companies as head of the Professional Services Council, and some contractors “may be in a holding pattern” while they wait and see whether the government shuts down again. In the interim, Berteau is advising contractors to proactively seek backed government invoices for money owed, sniff out new solicitations and bid on as many opportunities as they can.

Yet amid all the doom, gloom, and wall-to-wall news coverage, the longest government shutdown in history brought about pockets of optimism, innovation and strategy and teachable moments the contracting community that could serve thousands of businesses and 1 million-plus individual government contractors moving forward through future shutdowns or trying times.

Nextgov spoke with two small government contractors about their strategies for handling the shutdown and lessons learned.

Keep reading this article at: https://www.nextgov.com/cio-briefing/2019/01/how-some-contractors-successfully-weathered-shutdown/154568/

OMB asks agencies to prepare for ‘orderly reopening’

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The Trump administration’s management chief on Friday directed the federal agencies that have been closed during the 35-day partial shutdown to prepare for “an orderly reopening.” 

Though Congress had not yet officially passed legislation to end the shutdown as of mid-Friday afternoon, Office of Management and Budget Deputy Director for Management Margaret Weichert in a memo to agency heads directed them to take steps in anticipation of reopening. Priorities include recalling furloughed employees, “restoring pay and benefits for employees” and ensuring access to equipment and information technology systems, she said.

Keep reading this article at: https://www.govexec.com/management/2019/01/omb-asks-agencies-prepare-orderly-reopening/154439/?oref=govexec_breaking_alert

White House wants to reduce the shutdown pain for contractors

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During this week’s continuing shutdown drama, White House acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney has reportedly instructed agencies to identify the hardest hit programs, presumably to add to the growing lists of tasks the Trump administration believes it can legally perform to mitigate the pain.

One move in the works would benefit contractors, according to a draft revision of shutdown guidance from the Office of Management and Budget obtained by Government Executive. It would alter past guidance of both the Trump and Obama administrations to allow non-furloughed agency employees to pay contractor invoices for work on contracts awarded before the Dec. 22 appropriations lapse.

The prospective move (OMB did not respond to inquiries on Thursday) also comes as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce organized a letter to President Trump and members of Congress signed by 645 businesses, including small business contractors in 50 states demanding an end to shutdown.

Keep reading this article at: https://www.govexec.com/management/2019/01/white-house-wants-reduce-shutdown-pain-contractors/154412/

See text of the full OMB Jan. 19, 2019 memorandum here: Planning for Agency Operations during a Potential Lapse in Appropriations OMB – Planning for Agency Operations during a Potential Lapse in Appropriations -M-18-05-01.19.2019

Federal contractors may be able to recover costs caused by the government shutdown

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The current government shutdown is now the longest in U.S. history, and many federal contractors are incurring costs as a result of shutdown-related work stoppages and delays. Luckily, many federal contracts contain clauses that provide a potential avenue for recovery of such costs. Further, there are practical steps that contractors can take to increase their chances of recovering shutdown-related costs from the government.

What contract clauses might apply?

Several Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) clauses, including the following ones, could provide contractors with an avenue to recover costs incurred as a result of shutdown-related delays or work stoppages:

  • FAR 52.242-14 (Suspension of Work)
  • FAR 52.242-15 (Stop Work Order)
  • FAR 52.242-17 (Government Delay of Work)
  • FAR 52.243-2 (Changes – Cost-Reimbursement)
  • FAR 52.243-3 (Changes – Time-and-Materials or Labor-Hours)

It is very important to note that these clauses generally impose very short timeframes in which a contractor must provide the government with notice and/or assert its right to an adjustment.

Keep reading this article at: https://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/federal-contractors-may-be-able-to-53396/

E-Verify procedures during the government shutdown

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When the federal government partially shut down on December 22, 2018, so did E-Verify, the online system for verifying a new hire’s eligibility to work.

Employers that are obligated to or have chosen to use E-Verify have probably already received this message from the E-Verify website: “NOTICE: Due to the lapse in federal funding, this website will not be actively managed. E-Verify and E-Verify services are unavailable.”

But what does this notice actually mean for employers?

In a nutshell, the E-Verify system is completely unavailable.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.mondaq.com/article.asp?articleid=772996

DHS pauses most contracting deadlines until after shutdown ends

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The Homeland Security Department’s top procurement official issued a special notice extending due dates for all unamended acquisition deadlines after Dec. 22, the day the department ran out of funding and shut down.

“Given the lapse in funding, there are significant limitations as to the number of employees and the type of work that may continue to be performed in a lapse status,” Chief Procurement Officer Soraya Correa wrote in a special notice to contractors posted Wednesday to FedBizOpps.

The notice gives vendors up to seven days after the shutdown resolves to submit bid proposals if the deadline passes before the department reopens.

Keep reading this article at: https://www.nextgov.com/cio-briefing/2019/01/dhs-pauses-most-contracting-deadlines-until-after-shutdown-ends/154305/

‘Tens of thousands’ of government contractors laid off due to shutdown

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As unemployment filings among furloughed federal employees doubled last week across Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C., the effects on government contractors are beginning to take shape.

The shutdown is costing contractors an estimated $1.5 billion per week and companies that primarily serve the government have already hemorrhaged “tens of thousands of people,” according to David Berteau, who represents hundreds of companies as head of the Professional Services Council.

Those unemployed government contractors are likely to join the 9,000 furloughed federal employees added to unemployment rolls in the capital region during the week of Jan. 5, Berteau said.

“We have tens of thousands of people laid off or not working in the nine cabinet agencies and other agencies shut down,” Berteau said on a call with reporters last Thursday. “Contractors are feeling more and more impact. Each day, we’re getting notices of stop-work orders from our member companies.”

Keep reading this article at: https://www.govexec.com/contracting/2019/01/tens-thousands-government-contractors-laid-due-shutdown/154265

Tips for federal contractors during a government shutdown

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25 days and counting, the partial government shutdown has left many federal employees with an endless weekend and no paycheck.

While those workers grapple with the financial hardship and uncertainty as Congress and the Administration try to reconcile their differences, contractors working under a government contract may be forced to deal with their own issues.

Government contractors may feel the impact of the shutdown in three primary ways: 1) availability of funds, 2) financing performance of the contract, and 3) handling financial responsibility for an idle workforce.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.mondaq.com/article.asp?articleid=773342

See our earlier article on this subject at:

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