Trump administration contracting freeze puts vendors out of business
In today’s Federal Newscast, the Trump administration’s contracting freeze has caused several contractors to go out of business.
Eric White
- The Trump administration’s contracting freeze has caused several contractors to go out of business. The Professional Services Council, an industry association, said it’s aware of almost a dozen small firms who were forced to close shop because agencies are not paying their invoices in a timely manner. David Berteau, the president of PSC, told reporters yesterday that the executive order is causing the government to delay payments and freeze contract actions. Berteau said while contractors who did work for USAID have suffered publicly, there are several other agencies who also are not paying invoices in a timely manner, which could incur prompt payment penalties.
- New details emerge about the General Services Administration’s plans to revamp the schedules program. GSA is targeting as many as 577 schedule holders for removal in the next six months. These are companies who have either not met their sales quota in the last year or have performance or compliance issues. Additionally, GSA is planning on removing 31 Special Item Numbers under the schedules program, including several that average less than $25,000 in sales annually. These include 11 in the professional services category and seven in the office management area. Federal News Network has learned that GSA expects to save more than $15 million a year through these and other consolidation efforts, which are part of several ongoing initiatives GSA is pursuing to right-size, consolidate and make the schedules program more efficient.
- A federal judge ordered Trump administration officials who were a part of the now-infamous Signal group chat to preserve all texts they exchanged on the app from March 11 to March 15. U.S District Judge James Boasberg also ordered the defendants to file a status report by Monday laying out the steps they took to preserve those texts. The order applies to all cabinet-level officials that were in the group. Nonpartisan watchdog American Oversight filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration officials seeking to halt “any further destruction” of federal records. The order applies to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, and Secretary of State and Acting Archivist Marco Rubio.
- The Signal leak dominates the confirmation hearing of the top four Pentagon nominees. While Trump administration officials maintained that no classified information was shared over Signal, Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) requested an investigation into the facts and circumstances of the incident. Michael Duffey, the nominee to be undersecretary of defense for acquisition and sustainment, was asked if he would commit to participating in the investigation since he is currently working as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s deputy chief of staff. “I would participate. I would follow department procedure.” Senator Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.) said that questioning about the Signal incident was “faux outrage.”
- The Trump administration is directing agencies to abolish their labor-management forums. Agencies have until the end of April to be in compliance, according to a memo from the Office of Personnel Management. Agencies and federal unions have used labor-management forums for years as a tool to address employee concerns and improve the workplace. In many cases, unions said the forums can lead to savings in both time and costs. OPM’s new memo comes after an executive order from President Trump rescinded a previous Biden administration order on labor-management forums. The Trump administration said the elimination of the forums will stop wasteful spending.
- Department of Health and Human Services employees who took a buyout are getting a less generous deal than what the agency offered. HHS offered early retirement and payments worth up to $25,000 dollars to employees who agreed to leave the agency. It told employees who took payment they’d also get eight weeks of paid administrative leave. But employees who took the deal say they’re still working and haven’t been told when they can go on leave. HHS is giving these employees until late April or early May to separate from the agency. Those deadlines mean employees would currently get about three to six weeks of paid leave.
- The Department of Veterans Affairs is getting a new second-in-command. The Senate confirmed Paul Lawrence, President Donald Trump’s pick to serve as deputy VA secretary. Lawrence served as the under secretary for benefits under the first Trump administration. VA Secretary Doug Collins said he needs a confirmed deputy secretary before starting the process of nominating new under secretaries of health and benefits.
- Democratic lawmakers are looking to add stricter requirements for agencies before they can relocate any of their offices. The COST of Relocations Act would mandate agencies to conduct and publish a detailed cost-benefit analysis before permanently relocating offices. The Democrats’ bill comes after the Trump administration directed agencies to submit plans for relocating buildings outside the D.C. area. In Trump’s first term, the relocation of two Agriculture Department components led to half of the workforce leaving. Democrats said the COST of Relocations Act would prevent similar occurrences from happening again. The bill was introduced yesterday in both the House and Senate.
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