ExecutiveGov covered several important news stories in the past week concerning the federal government.
This release will look at two of the most important articles that were published, specifically the government executives that were focused on in the stories.
The first story focused on comments by Pentagon Comptroller Robert Hale on how the Defense Department is handling sequestration.
Hale gave a Pentagon audience a status update on the department’s process for putting civilian workers on furlough, where the department is currently in a 45-day waiting period to start the furloughs.
Unless Congress acts on sequestration, civilian workers will go on up to 22 days of unpaid leave through Sept. 30, averaging one day per week.
After sending letters to employees not subject to furlough, the department will then prepare for the furloughs, Hale said.
—
In another story, Frank Kendall, the Pentagon’s top acquisition official, also described the Pentagon’s actions to manage sequestration and its impacts on the contracting workforce.
Kendall, defense undersecretary for acquisition, technology and logistics, told an audience at a Newseum conference he is concerned the GovCon sector could lose some workers because of the sequester.
McAleese & Associates and Credit Suisse sponsored the event, which focused on uncertainty surrounding the defense budget.
Kendall also told the audience that it is difficult to form a definition of what is technically acceptable, as part of low price technically acceptable source selection.
“In some cases we will pay more for more value,” Kendall said.
Deputy Defense Secretary Ashton Carter also addressed the forum and said the total sequestration figure over 10 years comes to about $487 billion.
The Pentagon’s fiscal 2013 cut is estimated at around $46 billion, which it must implement over the remaining six months of the fiscal year, ending in September.
Carter also predicted an increase in merger-and-acquisition activity within the GovCon sector.
http://www.executivegov.com is one of more than five news media properties in Executive Mosaic’s online portfolio, which complements its full-length print magazine, GovCon Exec.
EGov focuses on vital government executives whose job it is to make policy decisions which shape the opportunities of GovCon companies and executives.
This leader oriented reporting results in important topics such as sequestration, getting coverage that is comprehensive, timely and executive-focused.