No one yet has a clear view of how the crisis will end. It is obvious we are facing this crisis because of having a weak president; weak leadership in the House of Representatives; divided government; and the fact that the two parties are, according to historians, more polarized than at any time since Reconstruction (1865 – 1876).

The effect of the shutdown on the proposal services industry has been dramatic. In spite of the fact that a little procurement business is being done, activity in the industry has dropped by more than 50%. Many of the bidders vying for a piece of the $20 B NASA SEWP contract are still working on their proposals, especially the late entrants to the competition. There is on-going work on federal solicitations that were released before the shutdown as well as on international, state and local solicitations. But activity on the whole will not speed up until congress can make a decision on an appropriation, most likely by a continuing resolution (CR), for at least part of FY 2014.

This situation is a prima fascia indictment of our current federal political process and the wilful, destructive behavior of many individual national politicians.