Halloween is almost here and government contracting is (mostly) returning to normal following the shutdown.

In this week’s SmallGovCon Week in Review, the Washington Post discusses three major small business IDIQs on tap for early 2014, Set-Aside Alert examines the possibility of a second shutdown, Federal News Radio has a piece on the prevalence of “low price” acquisitions, and much more.

• Federal IT spending is expected to decline this year.  [Federal Times]
• Some contractors are concerned about a possible second shutdown.  [Set-Aside Alert]
• Contractors can no longer recover costs for defending against legitimate whistle-blower suits.  [FierceGovernment]
• Three small business IDIQs–two re-competes, and one new–will be coming up in early 2014.  [Washington Post]
• The shutdown forced government contractors to make many adjustments.  [GovExec]
• Contractors are seeing the effects of an increase in low-price, technically acceptable procurements.  [Federal News Radio]
• An Inspector General report hits the IRS for failing to ensure that its contractor employees have paid their taxes.  [Washington Post]