POLICY CORNER Defense authorizations may be vehicles for contract reform legislation: As the House and Senate consider their versions of the FY09 defense authorization bills, hill staffers speculate that either bill could be used as a vehicle for recently passed contract reform legislation.  The Coalition will keep members posted on this as Congress moves to pass the defense authorization. House passes three contract reform bills:  The House recently passed new contracting legislation including H.R. 5712, the Close the Contractor Fraud Loophole Act, H.R. 3033 which would mandate the creation of a government wide database on contractor performance and misconduct, and H.R. 3928 which would require companies to disclose the names and salaries of their most highly compensated officers if more than 80 percent of their annual revenue came from federal contracts and they held contracts worth more than $25 million in any fiscal year.  Advance notice of proposed rule on contractor employees' conflicts of interest issued:  An advance notice of proposed rulemaking was recently posted in the Federal Register.  The notice seeks comments on how service contractor employees' personal conflicts of interest need to be addressed and if greater disclosure of contractor practices will help promote ethical behavior.  The Coalition will be submitting comments on this and encourages members to provide feedback on how this will affect them. Join a Coalition policy committee! Interested in helping shape procurement policy? Take an active part in the Coalition's advocacy efforts by participating in upcoming Committee meetings. Participation in Coalition Committees is reserved for Coalition members only. For more information, please visit the Committees page which can be found under Policy.

UPCOMING COALITION EVENTS For more information or to register for any of the following events, please visit the Events page.  Spring Conference The Spring Conference will be held on Wednesday, May 28, 2008 at the Hilton McLean in Tyson's Corner.  The theme of this year's conference will center around an outlook for the rest of FY2008 and forecast for FY2009.  Speakers will focus on procurement legislation, the federal budget, legal updates, and GSA's relationship with other federal agencies. Golf Tournament 2008 This year, the golf tournament will be held on Thursday, October 9, 2008 at an all-new location in MD at Whiskey Creek in Ijamsville (just 35 miles north of D.C).  The course will be completely dedicated to our tournament for the afternoon so please wait for details. Fall Conference & EIPs This year's Fall Conference and Excellence in Partnership Awards Dinner will be held in late October.  For more information, please go to the events page of our website or contact Kathy Lamb, Director of Events & Membership Support. MEMBERSHIP CORNER Did you know that over three quarters of the top 50 GSA schedule contractors are members of the Coalition for Government Procurement?  According to a recent ranking of schedule contractors compiled by Federal Sources, Inc. and published in the Federal Times, Coalition members are the number one companies in almost every schedule industry segment.  Nine of the top 10 schedule contractors are Coalition members, with that figure jumping to 10 out 10 for the IT schedule.  Now is a great time to join the Coalition!

In addition to the Friday Flash and Off the Shelf you can read about the latest in procurement news in Federal Computer Week and Federal Times. Recent references to the Coalition in the News include: “The FAS organization is moving in right direction,” said Larry Allen in a discussion of the FAS reorganization with Federal Times. Visit the Media page for a full list of references to the Coalition in the news.