The current appropriations problem is only superficially different from similar problems in the past.  There is of course a set of new actors with the Tea Party army, who have come into the House of Representatives on a holy mission to reduce government spending through any means necessary.   However, looked at structurally, the problem retains a very familiar profile: One party controls the House, while the other party controls the Senate, and both groups have a different philosophy / agenda. 

Now that Congress has approved another Continuing Resolution (CR) extending the operation of the federal government until April 8, we are hopeful the picture will soon be clarified. 

One of the most knowledgeable people in our industry concerning the national political process is Alan Chvotkin, executive vice president of the Professional Services Council (PSC). Chvotkin predicts that, when the current CR expires, there will be an added 1-week CR, and then a final compromise will be reached. He believes that this amount of time will be needed, not so much because the politicians are intransigent, but more because of the complexity in reconciling the disparate agendas of the GOP-controlled House and the Democratic-controlled Senate.  He further predicts we will have a final appropriation by the end of April. The form it will take will be an appropriation for the DoD services / agencies; and a Continuing Resolution (CR) for the civilian agencies lasting until the end of the fiscal year. 

Whatever the outcome in the appropriations battle, we are already looking at a year in which it is likely that there will be less total proposal activity than last year.  This is because the volume of proposal releases has been delayed while the contracting officers are waiting for the appropriations.  The net effect is that there will not be enough time remaining in the fiscal year to push all of the programs through the procurement funnel.  Even with their “petal to the metal”, there is only so much capability for the civil servants to process procurements. So proposal activity, which could have been approximately the same volume as last year, will likely end in being less this year because of the delay in the appropriations.