RINGING IN THE NEW YEAR WITH A CR

With all of the action surrounding the end of the year it seems appropriate if we’d start today with a slightly foggy head, a floral-themed parade and lots of football.  Instead, we get government by Continuing Resolution (CR).  This year’s version funds ALL government agencies through December 8th, albeit at an across-the-board .68% reduction.  Despite awareness that this is a terrible way to ensure national security, DOD and DHS are a part of the deal.  The good news is that CR’s happen so often that most agencies plan to operate under one for at least the first quarter of the new year.  It’s afterwards that things start getting interesting.  For contractors, however, your federal customer that relies on appropriated dollars can’t initiate any new starts until they get their regular appropriation.  Customers still want you to perform maintenance and regular servicing, but they can’t sign a full-year agreement for such functions if they’re paying for it with appropriated dollars.  Make sure you protect yourself as much as possible so that you don’t wind up providing products or services for free.  The best bet right now is that maybe – maybe – Congress will pass an appropriations bill by Christmas.  At the same time, however, they must agree to a politically contentious – but necessary – increase in the debt ceiling.  That could well mean that a new CR is passed in December taking us into calendar year 2018.  Stay tuned and Happy New Year!