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Texas, Virginia and California top states for defense contract spending

Harry October 29, 2024

DoD’s nationwide contract obligations, payroll expenditures, and grant awards totaled $609.2 billion in fiscal year 2023; this is equivalent to 2.2% of the United States GDP. About 59% of that went to ten states, including Texas, Virginia, California, Connecticut and Florida. The top three states by defense grant spending are California, Maryland and Michigan. The top three states by defense contract spending are Texas, Virginia and California. More than $431 billion was used in product and service contracts and more than $167 billion in Department of Defense personnel salaries.
Federal agencies will be able to accept mobile driver’s licenses when the REAL ID Act goes into effect next year, thanks to a new rule. The Transportation Security Administration will allow REAL ID Act waivers for state-issued mobile driver licenses. TSA finalized this rule late last week. The REAL ID Act sets minimum standards for ID cards. Starting next May, federal agencies must only accept IDs that meet the standards. But since standards for mobile driver’s licenses do not yet exist. TSA is allowing waivers so they can continue to be accepted at airport security checkpoints and other official purposes. Eleven states currently issue mobile driver licenses.
President Joe Biden is directing defense and intelligence agencies to accelerate their adoption of artificial intelligence. A new national security agreement was signed last week. Biden is directing officials to examine potential procurement changes that could accelerate AI development and deployment. Biden also wants national security agencies to consider how nontraditional companies can more easily participate in government technology projects. According to the declaration, a joint working group will have until next May to make recommendations to the Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council.
The Department of Defense has issued more than 80 task orders under the Joint Warfighting Cloud Capability contract. While the Department of Defense intends to accelerate JWCC Next soon, the next phase of JWCC is still in the early discovery phase. Alee Long, JWCC program manager at the Department of Defense, said advice and assistance offerings provided by cloud service providers are underutilized by mission partners. “I don’t think we’re communicating that that our CSPs offer that counseling and support service. There are other things that I think we need to continue to educate and communicate about. Last month, Defense Department officials said JWCC Next would bring in more cloud providers.
Agencies have new guidance to determine what recent changes to utility protections will look like in practice. The final rule issued by the Biden administration earlier this year clarified that career federal employees cannot be made at-will employees without their express consent. This was intended to protect federal employees from the possibility of a return of Schedule F in a future presidential administration. Now new guidance from the Office of Personnel Management details how organizations should ensure the rules are followed. The guidance explains, for example, which specific positions the protections apply to and what employees’ appeal rights are if they are reclassified without their consent.
Federal union leaders continue to ask the Labor Department to return to the bargaining table on return-to-duty changes. Most bargaining unit employees at the Labor Department will have to work in the field at least half the time starting in December. Acting Labor Secretary Julie Su announced the coming changes earlier this month. But the American Federation of Government Employees, which represents those feds, is asking Su to reconsider and look at options for employees who aren’t a fit for everyone. In a letter to Su last week, AFGE said most affected employees “strongly oppose” the upcoming return-to-office changes.
The Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) is hiring a performance improvement officer to lead long-term workforce planning efforts. The leadership-level position will be responsible for measuring progress on MSPB’s efforts to increase workforce inclusion and diversity. The performance improvement officer will also be expected to serve as a bridge to MSPB’s broader efforts to improve the agency’s performance. MSPB is accepting applications for the senior position through USAJobs.
The Small Business Administration is proposing a major change in the way agencies purchase task order contracts. The SBA requires agencies to apply the rule of two for most multi-award task order contracts. If this regulation is finalized, agencies would have to set aside task orders if they expect two or more small firms to bid competitively for the work, the SBA said in the new proposed rule. The proposed rule would implement OFPP’s January memo calling for an expansion of this authority. This requirement will not apply if agencies address supply chain and national security risks in addition to GSA program purchases. Comments on the proposed rule are due by December 24.
The General Services Administration (GSA) is adding 182 more small businesses to its OASIS-Plus awards list. After selecting more than 750 small firms under three socioeconomic pools last month, GSA said 182 8(a) firms made the cut to take part in the professional services multiple award contract. The majority of firms in 8(a) fall into one of two categories: management and consulting services or technical and engineering services. More awards to 8(a) firms may be on the way, as GSA says it is constantly evaluating proposals. The agency will also open an on-ramp in fiscal 2025 to continue bringing in companies of all sizes.