SmallGovCon Week In Review: April 17-21, 2017

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I was fortunate enough to spend the beginning half of my week speaking at the 2017 SAME Small Business Symposium in Bremerton, Washington. It was a wonderful event and it was nice to be able to see so many familiar faces (and make some new acquaintances). I am back in the office to wrap up the week and bring you yet another SmallGovCon Week In Review.

In this week’s edition: former President Obama’s “mandatory sick leave” Executive Order may remain on the books after all, IDIQ contracts made up about one-third of all federal contracting spending over a four-year period, contractors react to President Trump’s “Buy American, Hire American” Executive Order, and much  more.

  • Why won’t many small firms won’t sell to the government?  FCW provides some answers. [FCW]
  • Surprise: an Obama Executive Order mandating sick leave for federal contractor employees, once considered primed for reversal by the Trump administration, may be here to stay. [Bloomberg BNA]
  • The DoD is parsing out exactly how it will split one of its biggest and most infamous sections after Congress mandated the division last year. [Federal News Radio]
  • Between 2011-2015 the sometimes-controversial contract type known as indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity accounted for an annual $130 billion of agency awards. [Government Executive]
  • Quantum computing is about to disrupt the government contracts market. [Bloomberg Government]
  • The White House previewed an Executive Order that will make it tougher to obtain foreign contracting waivers and H-1B visas, which the administration claims will boost manufacturing and skilled labor at home. [Federal Times]
  • Insider threats present a real danger to federal agencies, and those threats have inspired the GSA to issue a Schedule 70 special item number for Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation products and services. [FCW]
  • President Trump’s “Buy American” order is drawing mixed reviews from government contractors. [Government Executive]
  • The SBA released a notice of termination of the class waiver to the nonmanufacturer rule for rubber gloves. [Federal Register]