This week, the dust cloud coming to US shores could bring some negative impacts to certain parts of the country, but it could also result in more vivid sunsets and sunrises. There’s often a silver lining but it can take a while to figure out what it is sometimes.

There were also some big impacts and silver linings in the world of federal government contracting this past week. These included an increase in the ceiling of the 8(a) STARS II GWAC, some rumblings from the Pandemic Oversight Committee and how it will track spending, and updates on how the CMMC application process will work for future cyber assessors.

Happy Juneteenth to our SmallGovCon readers! And Happy Father’s Day as well. The next few days can be a time to reflect on the state of our nation. And to say thanks to a father or father figure.

If you need a new podcast to check out, my colleague Haley Claxton was recently featured on an episode of the The Big Bid Theory podcast. The episode just came out and is full of helpful information about set-asides for small business contractors. Give it a listen!

This week saw some interesting federal contracting stories as well, including that the Pentagon wants to give contractors more time to remove Chinese technology from the supply chain, a number of settlements and prosecutions related to contracting fraud, and the SBA announced that it was again opening up its Economic Injury Disaster Loan program.

Happy Friday and welcome to another addition of the SmallGovCon Week in Review. As always, there are some interesting updates from the world of federal contracting this past week.

Hope everyone is having a nice Friday.

This week saw some intriguing updates in the government contracting world. For one, GAO released its snapshot on government spending for fiscal year 2019, revealing that discretionary government spending increased about $20 billion versus 2018, going to $586 billion. Otherwise, trends for 2019 were similar to 2018. DOD spending was about 65% of the total, while services across all agencies made up about 60% of spending. More insights are included in the article listed below.

In other news, the CMMC accreditation body will soon release assessor training requirements, SBA has an online MBA program for  veteran small business owners, and Oklahoma contractors will pay a $2.8 million settlement for False Claims allegations involving fraudulent small business set-aside contracts.

As we end May and roll into June, rainy weather has descended on the Midwest. But there’s always sunshine around the corner. In our case, around the corner will be this weekend as the Kansas City region is scheduled to have sunny skies.

This week saw plenty of interesting stories in the federal contracting world, including a false claims settlement related to misrepresenting use of a small disadvantaged business, a new Department of Labor office aims to help federal contractors comply with rules, and the federal government moving to virtual sales meetings.

Happy Memorial Day! I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday weekend as we remember those who have sacrificed for our country. Memorial Day was first observed in 1868. At that time then Congressman and former general James Garfield remarked of those that had died for our country: “For love of country they accepted death, and thus resolved all doubts, and made immortal their patriotism and their virtue.”

While we remember their sacrifice, there was also much news in the world of federal contracting. This week saw stories, among others, of the ramifications of the STARS II contract hitting its ceiling, a new approach for multiple award contracts, and the Air Force’s plan to roll out “Skyborg” drones.

This week on the blog we continued to bring you coverage of COVID-19 related issues, including some timely updates on SBA’s extension of the deadline to return funds under the Paycheck Protection Program.

But there was much more federal contracting news this week, including articles about a fill-in for the 8(a) STARS II vehicle, restructuring of government IT procurement units, and a proposed new COVID-19 relief bill that could help federal contractors.