As a Duke alum living in Kansas, March Madness is particularly exciting for me.  Last night, my defending champion Blue Devils got bounced from the tourney, but KU’s journey continues to the Elite Eight.  The win was especially sweet for me because it came against Maryland–a team whose fans (back when the Terps were in the ACC) kept insisting that Duke was their arch-rival.  I lost count of how many times I had to remind a Maryland fan that Duke already has an arch-rival.

While I await Saturday’s basketball excitement, it’s time for our weekly roundup of what’s new in the world of government contracts.  In this week’s SmallGovCon Week In Review, the Navy has been rocked by a bribery scheme, the DoD enlists a supercomputer to untangle its procurement system, some insightful commentary on recent changes to the WOSB program, and much more.

• A massive bribery operation that ensnared Navy officials and tarnished the institution’s image has resulted in stiff criminal sentences. [Stars and Stripes]
• IBM’s Watson, the famous supercomputer that has bested Jeopardy! champions, has been enlisted to aid the Pentagon’s complex procurement system. [Washington Post]
• The GSA released a new tool that will help small businesses find contracting opportunities. [FierceGovernment]
• Guy Timberlake encourages agencies to not forget about the vested small businesses who have already stepped up to support the Government in his most recent post. [GovConChannel]
• GovBizConnect interviews a Kansas-based government contracts attorney (ahem) on the importance of legal assistance for federal contractors. [GovBizConnect]
• Judy Bradt sheds light on the recent changes to the WOSB program including the addition and removal of NAICS codes and what steps WOSBs should take to avoid overlooking new opportunities. [Global Services]
• The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit has ruled that independent contractors can sue government contractors for discrimination under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. [LegalNewsline.com]
• The Defense Department is taking steps to update how it handle contracts and communicates with industry about them. [Federal News Radio]
• A recent contract that was awarded to digitize personal information including fingerprint records was mostly outsourced to India, risking the privacy of some 16 million people. [New York Times]