1. Rule change to provide more contracting opportunities for vets
   By Robert Brodsky

The Veterans Affairs Department wants to put companies owned by veterans at the top of the pecking order for agency contracting opportunities.

VA published a proposed rule change on Wednesday in the Federal Register that would establish a set-aside program for veteran-owned and service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses.

“Supporting service-disabled veterans who own businesses contributes significantly in restoring their quality of life while enhancing transition from active duty to civilian life,” the rule stated. “Such acquisitions maintain the socioeconomic well-being of the nation and carry out VA’s strategic goals.”

Full story: [1] http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=40788&dcn=e_wfw

---

2. White House names Williams acting GSA administrator
   By Elizabeth Newell

The White House on Tuesday designated Jim Williams acting administrator of the General Services Administration, effective Aug. 30.

Williams, currently the commissioner of GSA’s Federal Acquisition Service, was nominated to succeed Lurita A. Doan as GSA administrator on June 25, but the Senate has yet to confirm him. After a heated July 25 confirmation hearing in which Williams was grilled on his involvement in a controversial information technology contract, Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, blocked the nomination, which cleared the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on July 30.

Grassley has expressed concern that Williams did not properly protect taxpayers in the renewal of a contract with Sun Microsystems, an IT company with which GSA renewed a contract over the objections of some contracting officers. Doan, and now Williams, had taken heat for allegedly influencing contracting officers to renew the award. The GSA inspector general determined the firm broke an agreement with the government that would have offered the agency discounts based on reductions given to private buyers. The Justice Department later sued Sun for fraud.

Full story: [2] http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=40775&dcn=e_wfw

---

3. GSA to bolster contracting with service-disabled veterans
   By Elizabeth Newell

The Veterans Entrepreneurship Task Force signed an agreement on Tuesday with the General Services Administration to help the agency reach its goal of spending 3 percent of contracting dollars with companies owned by service-disabled veterans.

Under the memorandum of agreement, VET-Force will use its network of veterans to expand training and information on federal opportunities for these firms.

VET-Force is composed of more than 200 organizations and affiliates — many small businesses — representing thousands of veterans. It was organized in 1999 to lobby for the Veterans’ Entrepreneurship and Small Business Development Act, which became law, and provide assistance to veterans who are starting businesses.

Full story: [3] http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=40779&dcn=e_wfw

---

4. McCain pledges to expand health care options for veterans
   By Elizabeth Newell

Presumptive Republican nominee John McCain on Monday repeated his pledge to provide veterans with the option of seeking medical care outside the Veterans Affairs health system if they do not have convenient access to a VA facility.

In a speech before the National Convention of Veterans of Foreign Wars in Orlando, Fla., the Arizona senator said a veterans’ care access card is necessary for low-income vets and those with injuries or illnesses incurred during military service.

“This card will provide those without timely access to VA facilities the option of using high-quality health care providers near their homes,” McCain said. “For many veterans, the closest VA facility isn’t close enough.”

Full story: [4] http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=40768&dcn=e_wfw

 

---

5. Changes to Army’s modernization program come amid congressional concern
   by Megan Scully

In late June, the Army announced that it was rewriting the plans for its massive Future Combat Systems program to focus its near-term efforts more heavily on infantry brigades that have been in high demand in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The decision marks a significant shift for the $160 billion FCS program, the most expensive and ambitious technological undertaking in the Army’s history.

Rather than first fielding so-called spinout technologies to heavy brigades, as had been long planned, the Army now wants to get those technologies to deploying infantry brigades beginning in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2011 –three years earlier than previously scheduled.

Full story: [5] http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=40789&dcn=e_wfw

---

6. Defense continues to lead the pack in federal travel spending
   By Elizabeth Newell

After a rare decrease in travel spending in 2006, agencies got back on track in 2007, with expenditures jumping $700 million to $14.8 billion, according to the Office of Management and Budget. The Defense Department continues to lead the pack in travel spending and was responsible for $543 million of the $745 million spending increase last year.

The relatively stable spending at Defense in 2007 belies the pendulum swings of the past few years. A $2.2 billion rise in Defense travel expenditures in 2005 was followed by a $1.8 billion drop in 2006. This year’s upswing was caused more by moderate increases across agencies than by major changes in the military sector. The Homeland Security Department, the distant second in travel spending, saw expenditures rise $121 million. The third-place Justice Department spent $18 million more on travel in 2007 than in 2006. The State Department increased spending by $34 million to edge into the top five, nudging out the Agriculture Department, which spent $12 million less than it did in 2006.

Agencies spent $3.5 billion on flights in 2007, up about $200 million from 2006, according to the General Services Administration. They spent $2.5 billion on hotel rooms, also up $200 million. Spending on car rentals dipped $11.6 million to about $411 million.

Full story: [6] http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=40760&dcn=e_wfw

---

7. Air Force seeks steady ground in wake of high-profile blunders
   by Megan Scully

The Air Force is finding itself on an unsteady course as it recovers from a string of public embarrassments surrounding the security of its nuclear arsenal that led to the ousting of its top civilian and military leaders in June.

While it tries to correct deficiencies in the handling of its nuclear weapons, the service is grappling with other problems and is facing uncertainty as it charts its path for the future.

For one, Air Force officials are clinging to the hope that the next administration keeps alive its prized F-22 Raptor fighter jet program for the foreseeable future. The service has made no bones about wanting to buy 381 of the fighter jets — nearly 200 more than currently planned.

Full story: [7] http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=40790&dcn=e_wfw

---

8. Quote of the Week:

“You won’t see any more traffic lights in government after January 20, 2009.”

– Paul Light, Paulette Goddard Professor of Public Service at New York University’s Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service, on the fate of the Bush administration’s [8] traffic-light scoring system measuring agencies’ compliance with the president’s management agenda.