SmallGovCon Week In Review: December 19-23, 2016

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With Christmas just two days away, it is time for  many of us to focus on family and friends and enjoy a few days off. I hope that you have an enjoyable holiday season and are able to surround yourself with those that mean the most to you. Before we take a little break for the holidays we are happy to bring you this final 2016 edition of SmallGovCon Week In Review. (We won’t be publishing a Week in Review next week, but will be back with more in 2017).

As we head into the final week of 2016, we take a look at two separate fraud cases where million dollar fines have been assessed, more predictions of how the incoming Trump Administration will affect government contractors, 2017 is shaping up as a competitive year in IT contracting, and much more.

  • The Trump transition and campaign websites provide some insight about the acquisition agenda that the new administration will pursue, as well as other policies that may impact government contractors and federal acquisition personnel. [Washington Technology]
  • A Rhode Island business will pay $1 million dollars to resolve civil allegations that it violated the False Claims Act by submitting, or causing the submission of, claims for reimbursement for funding earmarked for minority, women-owned, or small business that it was not entitled to receive. [The Valley Breeze]
  • Two Arkansas business owners are accused of falsely claiming to be a service-disabled veteran owned business in order to collect more than $15.5 million in federal contracts. [Arkansas Online]
  • According to one commentator, the GSA is taking steps to make multiple award schedules more expensive for contractors. [Allen Federal Business Partners]
  • President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for Army Secretary has some people wondering who? But that may be just what the Army needs. [Federal News Radio]
  • 2017 is shaping up to be a very competitive year for IT contracts across the U.S. military branches and Defense Department. [Nextgov]
  • A handful of defense organizations are crying foul on a proposed regulation that may eat into research funding the Defense Department gives to industry. [Federal News Radio]
  • The National Defense Authorization Act of 2017 directs more limited use of Low Price Technically Acceptable procurements, which may be a welcome holiday gift for federal contractors. [Washington Technology]
  • Jason Miller of Federal News Radio takes an in depth look at three changes to federal acquisition agencies that industry should know about. [Federal News Radio]
  • The federal government maintains a database of every contract action above the $3,500 threshold, but despite this expansive data set, the government does not capture meaningful visibility into what agencies are actually buying. [Federal News Radio]
  • Will a potential Trump hiring freeze on federal hiring result in the hiring of more contractors to compensate for a small internal agency workforce? [Government Executive]