Trying without success to get your DHS customer to respond to your e-mail or meeting request?  Don’t take it personally.  If your contacts are anywhere near senior management they’re likely planning for a potential shutdown next week (see above).  So, too, are other agencies that may run out of money.  Agencies must adhere to Continuity of Operations Plan (COOP) requirements.  This means meetings about “what if” scenarios that must cover what operations would close, stay open, or be altered during shut-downs of various duration. That’s a lot of current and concurrent discussions behind closed doors.  Pile this on top of federal workers taking “use it or lose it” leave (we’ve seen more than a few out of office responses from people we’ve reached out to), and trying to get anything done can quickly become very frustrating.  Patience can be a true ally right now for contractors.  If you’ve had a good relationship and track record with certain federal contacts, the chances are overwhelming that you still do.  It’s just that they have internal priorities now that restrict their ability to talk with anyone on the outside.  When and if the planning is complete and some return to normalcy is upon us, your relationships should pick up where they left off.  Don’t be at all surprised, though, if DHS, Justice, and State end up with a partial shut-down.  This is the business we’ve chosen.  Stay tuned.