ALLEN FEDERAL FORECASTS ADDITIONAL CR, POSSIBLE MARCH APPROPRIATIONS MEASURE

Congressional appropriators acknowledge that there will be at least one more short-term CR before there’s a chance of passing an appropriations measure for the remainder of FY’18.  There is insufficient time to come to an agreement on different spending levels and write up the new language before the current vehicle expires.  That said, many elected officials believe that they are now through the worst of it and that deals for increased DOD funding, some sort of immigration reform, and other priorities can now be made.  That could be good news for contractors if true because it would likely mean that a final FY’18 appropriations measure would pass in March, meaning that federal customers would essentially have half of the fiscal year to spend money on new projects.  That would be slightly better than last year when there was essentially on 4 ½ months.  There is always the possibility that today’s optimistic outlook could be undone, principally over immigration issues.  If that were to happen, the best that could be hoped for would be some sort of DOD appropriations measure while all other agencies could operate under a full-year CR.  Stay tuned.