DoD Sequestration News 
Top News
- IRS to pay $70M in bonuses, Grassley says
- Small companies won't feel effect of lowered contractor pay cap
- Senators push Tangherlini for assurances GSA is improving
- As VA works to eliminate one backlog, one more might emerge
- BRAC-like commission proposed to hunt down government cost savings
- Sequestration claims another conference: DHS's GFirst cyber event
- Postal Service closing Capitol Hill post offices in 'symbolic' move
- Senators seek cost cuts for F-35 fighter jet
- Fed pens new furlough song
- Web guru Dorris brings new life to government websites
- EPA CIO Jackson returning to private sector
- Navy strikes enterprise licensing deal with Oracle
- Contractors with security clearances lack path to report problems
- NSA leak case gives vendors reason to reevaluate personnel
- 8 contract executives guilty of 8(a) contracting fraud
- Whistleblower suit leads to $12M false claims settlement by SAIC
DoD assures Congress contractors will share in the pain of sequestration
The Defense Department is examining all of its contracts as part of the reductions necessary under automatic budget cuts. Reductions to contractors, not civilians, will make up "the majority" of the cost savings.
Pentagon preparing 2014 spending plan that factors in sequestration
By July 1, the Pentagon will provide the Senate Armed Services Committee its plan for managing reduced fiscal 2014 budget levels, Deputy Defense Secretary Ashton Carter said in a speech Wednesday. The committee had asked DoD to provide a list of spending reductions after the White House submitted a budget proposal for next fiscal year that simply ignored sequestration, ostensibly in the hope that the automatic budget cuts would be canceled or otherwise avoided in 2014.
Tons of cocaine entering U.S. due to sequestration cuts, rear admiral says
Coast Guard Rear Adm. Charles Michel, director of the Joint Interagency Task Force South told the Federal Drive with Tom Temin and Emily Kopp that cuts from sequestration are limiting the resources available to stop large amounts of cocaine from entering the country.
Sequestration slows network modernization that Navy can't wait for
In the initial round of installations, the Navy hoped to outfit 15 ships with the new standardized IT architecture. But fiscal 2013 budget problems will cut the number of ships roughly in half.
DoD furlough decision driven by readiness concerns
Roughly 680,000 DoD civilians will be forced to take one day off per week without pay between July 8 and the end of the fiscal year as a result of the automatic budget cuts, known as sequestration. Jessica Wright, acting undersecretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness, told In Depth with Francis Rose the decision wasn't an easy one.
DoD waging 'continuing war' on unproductive acquisition bureaucracy
The Pentagon will begin tracking how much time its acquisition managers spend performing and responding to oversight in an effort to remove "non-value-added" processes from the procurement system.
Uncle Sam's GPS: Are we there yet?
When you're on a vacation trip or long drive, do your kids keep asking "Are we there yet?!" Now, Senior Correspondent Mike Causey says, suppose you are Uncle Sam and you've told your 1.8 million kids they are going on a sequestration vacation. If they keep asking are we there yet, what do you tell them?
Intelligence Community free from furloughs
In an email to employees, Director James Clapper said that he does not envision furloughs for feds that fall under the National Intelligence Program.
Latest on sequestration and military budgets
On this week's edition of Pentagon Solutions, host Francis Rose looks at the latest information on furloughs at the Defense Department as well as the 2014 budgets for the Army and Air Force.
Hagel makes 'difficult choice,' civilian furloughs to begin July 8
The Defense Department reduces the number of furlough days from 14 to 11. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said it's possible the number could drop further, but he offered no promises.
Sequestration slaps feds, punches contractors
For many federal workers, the threat of sequestration-triggered furloughs seems to be fading, at least a bit. But for some federal contractors, sequestration has meant layoffs, with perhaps more to come, Senior Correspondent Mike Causey says. So how's sequestration treating you?
DOD poised to trim furlough days, add exemptions
Pentagon poised to trim number of civilian furlough days, expand pool of exempt workers
DOD cuts furlough days, adds few exemptions
Civilian employees at the Defense Department will now face 11 days of furloughs beginning July 8. This is the second time the Pentagon has revised its furlough plan. Originally, the Pentagon called for 22 unpaid days off due to sequestration. That number was later reduced to 14. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel made the announcement today at a town hall meeting with employees in Virginia.
DoD's military construction budget appears safe from sequestration cuts
Funding reductions in 2013 appropriations act are sufficient to protect military construction accounts from further sequestration cuts, but funds used for upkeep on existing buildings are severely impacted.
DoD's budget reprogramming won't help with sequestration
Pentagon says it will use its limited budget flexibility to compensate for unexpected war costs, not to blunt sequestration. Services continue to warn Congress about how budget cuts are impacting readiness.
Senate committee wants to know DoD's 2014 sequestration plan
The top lawmakers on the Senate Armed Services Committee have called on the Defense Department to detail how it will cut billions more from its budget if sequestration continues into next year. In a letter dated May 2, Sens. Carl Levin (D-Mich.) and James Inhofe (R-Okla.), the chairman and ranking member, respectively, of the committee, asked Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel to provide a "package of reductions" to the department's proposed 2014 budget.
White House recalculates sequestration cuts for some agencies
The White House budget office is recalculating how to apply automatic spending cuts for a handful of agencies, freeing up almost $4 billion for the Pentagon and another $1 billion or so for other agencies like the Homeland Security Department and NASA.
Sequestration already biting Navy, Marines readiness
Currently deployed units and those behind them are fully trained and equipped, the services say. But those next in line "aren't doing much." The fiscal 2013 budget also may be too little, too late in some ship repair and maintenance efforts.
Tightening budgets force DARPA to alter course for R&D
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has been at the forefront of some of the most innovative technologies ever created — including the Internet. But as budgets tighten, the agency's director says she's trying to figure out how to deal with an increasingly complex threat environment as less money flows into the research and development pipeline.
Army could lose 100,000 soldiers due to sequestration
Army leaders say the belated passage of a 2013 budget helped this year's fiscal picture, but the service still is more than $15 billion short of funds. If sequestration continues, the service will shrink by at least 100,000 soldiers.
