GovCon Insights September 20, 2018: Government Enters The Spend Zone

Money, Money, Money

With the federal government’s fiscal year coming to an end in a few days (Sunday, September 30, 2018), much of the attention over the last several days has been on the federal budget (planning stop gap measures to keep the government running to early December and beyond), and what money remains to be spent by government agencies.

First and foremost on everyone’s mind was the potential threat of a government shutdown.

It had appeared that the Trump administration was going to make funding construction of a wall on the US-Mexico border an issue. However, the administration and congressional leaders backed-off that threat, and have begun passing a series of minibus spending bills designed to keep the government running until early December.

For more insight, read: No Government Shutdown: Congress Passes Minibus Spending Bill To Keep Government Running Until December

A couple of our GovCon Snapshots have focused on the issue of spending, specifically, the pace of spending and the ability of federal government buyers to spend all the money Congress has appropriated – or risk losing it back to the U.S. Treasury.

By many estimates, agencies still have tens of billions of dollars remaining to spend over the next 7 to 10 days. This is setting up a crazy finish for government decision-makers and businesses. For more insight, read: Federal Government Spending: Defense and Civilian Agencies Need To Spend $200 Billion By September 30. 

Of course, one of the challenges (and there are many) for government and business is that federal procurement is not always a quick and easy process (is it ever?). And though money from the government needs to be obligated before the end of the year, the way some agencies spend money could mean that despite the flow of spending issued by Congress, actual spending – and actual revenues for government contractors – may be more spread out. There may not be quite the roller coaster one might expect. To learn more, read: Defense Contractors: Delayed Contract Awards Slows Payments, Revenue Gains For Businesses

We do know that the civilian and military branches of the government are trying to use the money to address core needs. A great example of this is the $162 million to help modernize the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Maine (See: Defense Spending Includes $162 Million For Portsmouth Naval Shipyard In Maine).

Quick Bits of Contracting News

General Dynamics Awarded $481 Million for Continued Development of U.S. Navy’s Next Ballistic-Missile Submarine (Government Contractors)

Air Force Seeks IT Contractors for National Capital Region (ExecutiveBiz)

Accenture Federal Services Wins $2.5B SEC IT Support IDIQ (GovCon Wire)

Pentagon Launches New Cyber Strategy (Executive Gov)