OMB on Fiscal Challenge: Strategic Analysis A Must

Don't use one of these to cut the budget.

If there is some good news out of the Office of Management and Budget fiscal 2013 budget guidance asking agencies to propose cuts, it’s this:

These 5 and 10 percent reductions from the 2011 enacted level should not be achieved by proposing across-the-board reductions.

It’s a point OMB Director Jack Lew reiterated in his blog post commenting on that guidance:

We do not believe in making across-the-board cuts; rather, we believe that we should cut what is wasteful or not essential and invest in what is critical to long-term growth and other priorities

Hopefully agencies will take a “don’t have to tell me twice” mentality toward these cuts and look strategically at where they can cut ineffective or low priority programs so they can “double down” on the programs brining the most value to their missions.

PSC has long said that we recognize that austerity is here and we’ll all feel some pain, but that doesn’t mean arbitrary cuts should take place. While cutting across the board is the easy path, such practice ultimately is an abdication of rigorous analysis that often leaves mission-essential programs underfunded while keeping ineffective programs intact. Strategic analysis is a must and is smart budgeting. It’s great to see that OMB agrees.

An Inside Look at Suspension and Debarment

As we get ready to print the September issue of PSC’s quarterly magazine, Service Contractor, we couldn’t wait to share an exclusive article by two Air Force attorneys—Deputy General Counsel Steve Shaw and Associate General Counsel Todd Canni.

The article explains why the Wartime Contracting Commission’s interim recommendations for governmentwide changes to the suspension and debarment system, which would make these discretionary actions automatic in some circumstances, should not be adopted. In debunking many myths about suspension and debarment perpetuated by the Wartime Contracting Commission’s interim recommendations, Shaw and Canni explain why alternatives to suspension and debarment are actually a more effective technique for getting results.