GAO Headquarters, Photo: CoolCaesar Contrary to media reports from last week, the Government Accountability Office says it does have the authority to hear bid protests for large civilian indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity task orders. GAO’s statement is the result of a complex series of legal arguments the agency’s managing associate general counsel for procurement law, Ralph White, [...]

  Bruce Carlson serves as the director of the National Reconnaissance Office, a position he has held since June 2009. NRO, launched in 1961, is the agency responsible for designing, building, launching and maintaining U.S. intelligence satellites and is one of the 16 member agencies of the intelligence community. Before he was appointed NRO director, [...]

Vice Adm. William Landay serves as the director of the Defense Security Cooperation Agency, a position he has held since August 2010. The DSCA is the agency responsible for foreign military sales, and as its director, Landay provides leadership, management and oversight of programs for sales, training and humanitarian assistance involving sales of foreign arms [...]

The Defense Department has announced Richard T. Ginman will take over as director of the department’s acquisition policy shop. Ginman replaces former Defense Procurement and Acquisition Policy Director Shay Assad, who was named two weeks ago to a special position specifically focused on Pentagon pricing Ginman most recently served as deputy director for program acquisition [...]

Chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) introduced a bill yesterday to streamline the tracking of federal spending by establishing an independent tracking body and a single digital platform for collection. The Digital Accountability and Transparency Act, or DATA Act, would create a single online storing-house for federal spending data [...]

The House Appropriations Committee will cut nearly $9 billion from the Defense Department’s base budget, including a $6.8 billion cut in Pentagon procurement, Defense News reports. Defense News reports House appropriators will allocate $530 billion for the Pentagon’s base budget, a cap the panel imposed in May. The committee has authority over $539 billion of [...]

A number of government-contracting trade organizations say the government often makes changes to federal procurement regulations without including adequate public comment, according to a recent Federal Times report. For example, the Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council has issued several interim rules over the past few months, which allows the Federal Acquisition Regulation to be changed immediately [...]

The White House is freezing the number of new federal websites — .gov domains — to cull the bloated roster of often unnecessary government websites as part of an effort to cut government waste. There are nearly 2,000 top-level, federal .gov domains, a new White House blog post points out, with smaller sub-sites and microsites [...]

Robert “Bob” Butler is the deputy assistant secretary of defense for cyber policy, a position he has held since 2009. In this role, he is responsible for providing policy advice and support to the defense secretary and other senior defense officials by creating and recommending strategies to improve the department’s cyber posture. Previously, Butler served [...]

  Rear Adm. Greg Smith is the deputy chief of staff for communication for U.S. and NATO International Security Assistance Forces in Afghanistan, a position he has held since 2009. Smith is responsible for all communication activities in theater, including public affairs, military information support operations and traditional communication. He was promoted to rear admiral [...]