September 24, 2014

There is a continuing resolution (CR) to carry government spending into the period after September 30th, 2014.   This means the procurement people will be timid about releasing RFPs in the fall.  They already have the “top line” numbers for FY 2015.  These numbers are slightly higher (1-2%) than 2014.  However, the numbers are not appropriated down to the individual groups in the government.  It is likely we won’t see appropriations until after the federal elections in November.  Analysts predict the GOP has a 60% chance of taking control of the Senate.  If the GOP DOES NOT take control of the Senate, then we will have appropriations probably in December.  If the GOP DOES take control of the Senate, then appropriations will likely not come until February.  That is because the new GOP Senators will not take office until January, and it will take a few weeks for them to do the work on the appropriations.  So the net net is, if the Dems hold the Senate we likely have appropriations in December.  If the GOP takes the Senate, we have appropriations in February.  And this causes a slow down over the normal situation in RFP releases until the appropriations are known and the agencies can make their plans.