On the Hill
President's State of the Union Address set for January 27: The President will address both houses of Congress on Wednesday night January 27th in the traditional annual State of the Union Address. He will give his evaluation of the current condition of the nation and lay out the framework for his FY2011 budget and legislative plan. The White House is scheduled to release the FY2011 federal budget on Monday, February 1st. This address fulfills the President's constitutional responsibility to report "from time to time" to the Congress "on the State of the Union." President George Washington gave the first address on January 8, 1790. This address will mark the 221st time Presidents have reported to Congress (either in person or in writing). The Congressional Research Service has historical information on the history of the State of the Union Address.
Defense Budget and Financial Management News
GAO recommends changes to national security planning and budgeting: In a speech to the National Defense University, the General Accountability Offices' (GAO) Acting Comptroller General, Gene Dodaro, urged DoD to work in a more collaborative way with other agencies, particularly State and the Agency for International Development (AID), to meet the changing "complexities" in the national security environment. Dodaro was critical of existing planning and budgeting processes that reflect individual agencies' concerns rather than a collective, interactive approach to meeting national security goals. He cautioned that the current fiscal environment facing DoD and other agencies make the need for stronger partnerships, interactive planning, and mutually-addresses solutions even more important today. The complex nature of emerging threats to US security "transcend the scope and authority of any one agency" he said. Dodaro also criticized DoD's business management failures, lapses in cost control, and its stove-piped approaches to planning and budgeting. He said they have produced inefficiencies and program and budget mismatches. Regarding DoD's financial management improvement efforts, Dodaro thinks the current prioritization of efforts identified by the DoD Comptroller is reasonable, but a long-term commitment by senior leadership is essential to success. He also encouraged DoD to continue its efforts to address GAO-identified contracting and asset management weaknesses. On Interagency planning cooperation, he listed four opportunities where agencies can improve their collaboration efforts: 1) develop and implement overarching and integrated national security strategies; 2) formalize coordination mechanisms; 3) develop well-trained workforces; and 4) share and integrate security information across agencies.
Rule would allow payments withhold from contractors with business systems problems: A DoD draft ruling published in the Federal Register this week, would amend the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS) to add a new contract clause requiring contractors to certify that they have no major business systems defects. The ruling defines business systems are comprising: accounting, estimating, purchasing, earned value management, and material management systems. This clause would be added to cost reimbursement, incentive type, time and materials, and labor-hours contracts, as well as fixed-price contracts with progress payments, and some military construction contracts. It a contractor has business systems deficiencies documented by Defense Contract Audit Agency (DCAA) auditors, and does not provide DoD within 45 days with a plan to correct those systems, contract officers could withhold 10 percent of contract payments. This withhold could rise to 50 percent if it is determined that a contractor has deficiencies in multiple systems and to 100 percent if defects could lead to improper payments or represent an unacceptable risk of loss to the government. DoD will take comments on this proposed ruling until March 16, 2010.
DoD names John James to shut down NSPS: DoD has named John H. James as the Director of the National Security Personnel System (NSPS) Transition Office. James is currently serving as the executive director for logistics, maintenance, and industrial operations at the Naval Sea Systems Command. His new job will be primarily to: 1) close down the NSPS (repealed in the FY2010 Defense Authorization Act); 2) direct the transition of former NSPS employees to other pay systems; and 3) design a new DoD-wide performance management and bonus distribution system for civilian employees. He has said that he would work closely with employee union representatives during the transition a development of a new system.
