Are contractors doomed with sequestration — DorobekINSIDER stories you need to know

The stories that impact your life for Monday the 27th of August, 2012

1. Defense Department civilians, and not contractors, would get hit first under sequestration. That’s the main finding of a study from the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Analysis. Federal News Radio says if the budget sequester happens on Jan.2 , 108,000 DoD civilians would lose their jobs immediately. The study said that because contractor funds might already be obligated, sequestration would take longer to hit companies doing business with the Pentagon. In 2013, most contractors will be working on projects whose funding was obligated months or years earlier.
2. In contracting news — private equity firm Thoma Bravo has acquired government contractor Deltek for $1.1 billion all-cash transaction. Deltek leadership will remain in place at the Herndon, Va.-based company. Deltek’s stockholders will receive $13 in cash for each share of Deltek stock. In 2010, Deltek acquired Input, a market research firm, for $60 million, and a year later acquired Input’s main competitor, Fedsources and the Washington Management Group.
3. The Justice Department is teaming up in a lawsuit against the polling site Gallup. The Washington Post reports, the lawsuit alleges the polling company inflated prices for contracts with the U.S. Mint, the State Department and other federal agencies. Gallup general counsel Steve O’Brien, who is named in the lawsuit, told the Associated Press that the government work involved contracts that were fixed price, competitively bid and paid for as agreed.
4. Nine service members will be disciplined after two incidents sparked widespread outrage in Afghanistan. The Wall Street Journal says the two incidents including the burning of copies of the Quran at one of the country’s largest military bases. The punishment doesn’t include criminal charges or jail time, falls far short of Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s calls for a public trial, and it remains unclear how Afghan officials and the broader public will respond to decisions that could be viewed as relatively lenient.
5. The First Lady was on hand to announce the more than 125,000 Veterans and Military Spouses hired through the Joining Forces program. The program and new legislation has helped reduce Veteran unemployement by 20%. Companies like Orion are among more than 2,000 in America who have made commitments on veteran and military spouse hiring through Joining Forces.
6. The Treasury Department has introduced a proposal that would require hiring contractors who make “good faith efforts” to include more minorities and women in its ranks, the Washington Business Journal reports. The proposal would ensure the federal agency is in compliance with the Dodd-Frank act, passed in July 2010, which includes a provision with diversity requirements.
7. People going to the Republican National Convention will have to leave the bananas at home. National Journal reports that baseball, “whole fruit,” or a camcorder are not allowed. They are on the list of 25 items not allowed into the convention security perimeter that was approved by the U.S. Secret Service
8. And on GovLoop… One of the White House digital government initiatives is MyGov — creating a personalized government experience. GovLoop’s Steve Ressler on 7 Ideas on White House’s Project MyGov.