Workforce
Layoffs canceled at federal contractor oversight office, but questions remain about agency restructuring
Employees at the Labor Department’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs received a notice that they will get new job assignments rather than be laid off.
Tech
GSA adds global AI providers to the schedule
ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini are now available to agencies through a single source for buying artificial intelligence capabilities.
Oversight
Whistleblower bill for contractors gains bipartisan support with Grassley’s backing
Supporters say the legislation would close “loopholes” in existing whistleblower protections for federal contractors.
Management
Trump administration narrows effort to nix project labor agreements for federal construction contracts
The move to narrow the rollback of a Biden-era order mandating contractors negotiate with unions before major construction projects came after a federal judge blocked the White House’s first attempt.
Management
SBA to audit 8(a) contracting program
The Small Business Administration cites the guilty pleas of a former contracting officer and industry executives in a decades-long bribery scheme.
Management
Lawmakers demand review of VA’s AI-driven contract cuts
Sens. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., and Angus King, I-Maine, said the use of AI to identify agency contracts for termination “adds an entire new level of unease connected to the decision-making, security, governance, and quality control of the entire process.”
News
Former USAID official, three contractors plead guilty in $550M bribery scheme
Their decades-long conspiracy involved rigged contracts, NBA tickets, mortgage payments, securities fraud and cash.
Management
AI-driven contract cuts at VA spark concern
Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., the ranking member of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, said DOGE’s use of an AI tool resulted in the “wholesale slashing” of VA contracts.
Workforce
Agencies’ effort to unwind project labor agreement requirements ‘flatly contradict’ order establishing them, judge says
The Trump administration had sought to neutralize a Biden-era executive order requiring contractors to negotiate with unions ahead of major construction projects with broad exceptions, something specifically barred by the underlying order.
Workforce
Federal contract employees who alleged discrimination forced to wait as enforcement agency is dismantled
Layoffs are scheduled to take effect at the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs on June 6. Between the reduction in force and separation incentives, the agency’s workforce is expected to shrink by about 90%.
Management
Trump administration releases first wave of acquisition regulation changes
This set of revisions would significantly shrink the Federal Acquisition Regulation, as well as empower contracting officers and acquisition teams to use their "business judgment" in pushing innovation.
Management
‘Biohazard’: Forest Service employees warn cuts having devastating, and disgusting, impacts
DOGE is holding up contracts across government and it's affecting everything from firefighting to toilet cleaning.
Management
The president’s procurement order offers a real opportunity. Let’s not squander it
COMMENTARY | Real change in government procurement can happen, but it’s going to require learning from lessons of the past.
Exclusive
Management
Trump officials explain his plan to make government acquisition great, for once
COMMENTARY | Three senior Trump officials explain why revamping the Federal Acquisition Regulation, and the $1 trillion in government spending it governs each year, is now a top priority.
Management
Trump orders major changes to rules covering $1T in federal spending
The Tuesday mandate — which aims to streamline the way government buys goods and services — was accompanied by a second order requiring agencies to predominantly use commercial products, rather than custom-built.
Workforce
Federal contract oversight employees contemplate resignation offer, as agency faces layoffs and mission realignment
Employees at the Labor Department’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs had less than two weeks to decide whether to opt into the second round of the deferred resignation program.
Workforce
DOGE guts HHS small business office
Only the Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization executive director remains to advocate for small businesses at the Department of Health and Human Services, which obligated $39 billion in contracts last year.
Management
Agencies may have to pay more for late contractor invoices due to Trump payment system overhaul
Stakeholders warned that the late payment issue could prompt companies to avoid doing business with the federal government.
Management
Musk visits and asserts growing influence at GSA
Musk has former employees installed at the government’s HR shop, and several have appeared at its acquisition, tech and real estate agency as well.
Transition