Although both the House and Senate are scheduled to begin their August recess next week, that doesn’t mean nothing’s happening now.  Contractors definitely need to pay attention to what Congress is doing as it will impact their future business.

1.  Increased Possibility of a Government Shutdown:  House Freedom Caucus members turned up the heat on this issue this week with Rep. Bob Good (R-VA) saying, “We should not fear a government shutdown; most of what we do up here is bad anyway…”  Good went on to say that he believes that many Americans would hardly notice a partial shutdown.  Experience has shown, however, that a shutdown would significantly impact national security and other critical operations, and result in increased spending as it is not cheap to turn government agencies “on” and “off”.

2.  The Senate May Finish Its Version of the 2024 NDAA:  The 2024 defense authorization bill has been on the floor all week and the chamber seems poised to pass its version before it leaves town.  This means that August will be a very active time for informal discussions on reconciling differences between this measure and the one passed by the House earlier this summer.  Each measure contains significant new acquisition hurdles for government agencies and contractors.

3.  FISMA Reform Legislation May Actually Pass This Year:  The Senate is also working on a bi-partisan measure that would align and update federal information security standards.  Contractors will definitely feel the impact of a final measure as agencies will pass many new requirements on to industry.  In the meantime, it looks like the proposed rule on DOD CMMC standards may also be sent out for comment in September, requiring companies to stay focused on all things related to security.  None of this is exactly light summer beach reading, but it is important that companies understand the challenges that lie ahead.