A trillion-dollar budget deficit looms, but you'd never know it by how happy the government is to spend money and how equally happy politicians on both sides of the aisle are to give it away to their constituents. Nothing like some good old-fashioned vote buying on the part of all those incumbents, right? Those little pigs are bringing the bacon home in fine style.
I was the supply department head at a mid-sized Navy hospital back in the day and had to obligate more than $4 million in funds the last month of the fiscal year after a "money dump" (one similar to this event) occurred. I put my civilian purchasing clerks on overtime the last four weeks and we began spend, spend, spending so as not to see any of that money go back to the government. Got it all obligated at a 99.58% rate, too. Had to hit at least 98% or the skipper would've been PO'd at me. Now, imagine that to about the 20th power and this is what we're going to be looking at the remainder of this FY.
"A government spending spree of potentially historic proportions will play out over the final seven weeks of fiscal 2018, as federal agencies look to spend $140 billion more than they thought they’d get before Congress passed and President Trump signed the omnibus spending bill.
Without a budget agreement in place, agencies spent cautiously through the first two quarters of fiscal 2018 before the omnibus—signed six months late in March—obligated an additional $80 billion for defense and $63 billion for civilian agencies.
Federal agencies, now flush with cash, must obligate that money before the fiscal year ends on Sept. 30 or lose it to the Treasury Department. Analysts believe the federal market will see a monumental effort among procurement officials to spend as much on contracts as possible.
“If agencies are going to spend the extra money in fiscal 2018, it’s going to have to be at a much higher percentage in the fourth quarter than it has been historically,” David Berteau, president of the Professional Services Council, told Nextgov.
"Politics is just show business for ugly people."
I was the supply department head at a mid-sized Navy hospital back in the day and had to obligate more than $4 million in funds the last month of the fiscal year after a "money dump" (one similar to this event) occurred. I put my civilian purchasing clerks on overtime the last four weeks and we began spend, spend, spending so as not to see any of that money go back to the government. Got it all obligated at a 99.58% rate, too. Had to hit at least 98% or the skipper would've been PO'd at me. Now, imagine that to about the 20th power and this is what we're going to be looking at the remainder of this FY.
"A government spending spree of potentially historic proportions will play out over the final seven weeks of fiscal 2018, as federal agencies look to spend $140 billion more than they thought they’d get before Congress passed and President Trump signed the omnibus spending bill.
Without a budget agreement in place, agencies spent cautiously through the first two quarters of fiscal 2018 before the omnibus—signed six months late in March—obligated an additional $80 billion for defense and $63 billion for civilian agencies.
Federal agencies, now flush with cash, must obligate that money before the fiscal year ends on Sept. 30 or lose it to the Treasury Department. Analysts believe the federal market will see a monumental effort among procurement officials to spend as much on contracts as possible.
“If agencies are going to spend the extra money in fiscal 2018, it’s going to have to be at a much higher percentage in the fourth quarter than it has been historically,” David Berteau, president of the Professional Services Council, told Nextgov.
"Politics is just show business for ugly people."