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 It™s been a busy week for the Trump administration, with further federal budget alterations, official appointments and executive orders. The changes implemented by President Trump and his administration will likely have a profound effect on the GovCon industry.
On March 16th, the Trump administration published a preliminary budget proposal for fiscal 2018, focusing on discretionary spending only. The proposal outlines many of the adjustments that President Trump would like to make to the federal government™s budget and spending. Trump™s desire to increase defense spending has been covered widely, and the proposal released on Thursday provides an outline of how the Trump administration plans to reconfigure the federal budget to allow for increased defense spending.
In order to reach President Trump™s targets of a $603 billion defense budget (a $54 billion, or 10%, increase), the construction of a border wall between the U.S. and Mexico, and bolstering school voucher programs, the administration will cut the discretionary funding of 19 executive departments and agencies. Of the 19 executive departments and agencies, the Environmental Protection Agency, the State Department and the Agriculture Department will experience the largest cuts, at -31%, -29% and -21% respectively.
On Wednesday, the Senate confirmed former senator Dan Coats as director of national intelligence. Coats, an inductee for the 2017 Wash100, will oversee the 16 agencies that comprise the U.S. Intelligence Community.
President Trump has also tapped Rob Joyce, head of the National Security Agency™s Tailored Access Operations division, to serve as the White House cyber coordinator. In this capacity, Joyce will oversee cybersecurity policies and federal initiatives.
On Tuesday, President Trump signed an executive order requiring federal agencies to merge function and cancel unnecessary agencies, components and programs as part of a government-wide reorganization effort. The executive order asks agencies to draft a reorganization plan and submit it to the Office of Management and Budget within 180 days. The OMB will send the final reorganization plan to Trump after evaluating public comments about the plan.
The policies and executive orders that the Trump administration proposed and executed this week could shrink the federal workforce to a size not seen since the end of the second World War.
GSA & OASIS NEWS
Under the proposed fiscal 2018 budget, the GSA can expect an increase in their discretionary budget to the tune of $200 million. This increase would bring the total discretionary budget of the GSA to $500 million, which is a substantially larger amount than the GSA had access to under the Obama administration.
The GSA™s OASIS contract, valued at $60 billion, is expected to have at least one more on-ramp in 2017, according to BGOV. It™s anticipated that OASIS will also have the potential for on-ramps to subpools requested by agencies. OASIS project manager Todd Richards has also said to expect more opportunities for small businesses to make use of OASIS.
The future is looking very bright for both the GSA in general and its OASIS contract.
THIS WEEK’S TOP GOVCON STORIES
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