GovConJudicata Weekly Debrief (7/26–30)
This week's Weekly Debrief covers the DUNS to Unique Entity ID transition, whistleblowing in the U.S., the Pentagon's steps to scope military hunger issues, Space Force's small satellite launch, and a record $146 billion in small business awards in FY20.
GSA
"The Biden administration is moving forward with the transition from a nearly 50-year-old structure used to identify organizations doing business with the government to a new number with a new format, giving procurement officials in and out of government nine months to finish recoding and testing their systems."
Oversight
"Each year, National Whistleblower Day is observed on July 30 to commemorate the first American whistleblower protection law, a resolution passed by the Continental Congress in 1778 after ten whistleblowers reported wrongdoing and abuses committed by a superior officer in the Continental Navy. Since the beginning of the United States, whistleblowers have been an integral part in government oversight and accountability."
Defense
"The Pentagon is taking new steps to chronicle, understand and address hunger within service member households. After new academic reports surfaced showing nutritional deficiencies within the force and issues with food security in military families, the Defense Department said it is now gathering data and analyzing relevant statistics to scope the problem."
"The U.S. Space Force launched a new experimental satellite July 29 that will test the possibility of installing large, deployable weather sensors on small satellites."
Small Business
"In the fiscal year 2020, the federal government awarded a record $145.7 billion in prime contracts to small businesses. This is a $13 billion increase from the previous fiscal year which comes out to 26.01% of the overall federal contracts. If that wasn’t impressive enough, there was also another $82.8 billion in subcontracts given to small businesses."
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