In a widely-publicized draft executive order that was circulated to business heads in April, President Obama appears to be considering bringing political contributions made by companies to the contracting table. The draft E.O. would require any prospective contractor bidding on federal work to disclose to the agency any donations made to political candidates or causes in excess of $5,000. The draft met swift and almost unanimous opposition upon hitting the streets, and a hearing before the House Oversight Committee was quickly called to refute the proposal.

In a February hearing of the Senate Subcommittee on Contracting Oversight, panelists addressed the effectiveness of contract auditing practices in preventing contract waste and fraud. The hearing, taking place two years after a major breach at the Defense Contract Audit Agency (DCAA), addressed methods to improve oversight of both defense and civilian contracts—and raised the possibility of creating a dedicated federal contract audit agency

Federal contractors are fighting a proposed rule that would withhold portions of a contractor’s payments for non-compliance with established business, financial, and accounting system protocols. While the proposal marks the second time DoD has proposed such a rule, the defense industry fired back, saying the proposal still isn’t clear. It is likely defense officials will have to do another rewrite before the rule is ever adopted in acquisition regulations.

The General Services Administration (GSA) announced last month the GreenGov Supply Chain Partnership and Small Business Pilot, a voluntary collaboration between government and industry to create a greener supply chain. The program is a move toward GSA’s stated goal of providing contracting advantages by 2013 to companies that voluntarily report their supply chain greenhouse gas emissions.