Nearly halfway into FY’24 events are unfolding that can have a major impact on a company’s federal business.  Here are three things to watch for this week.

1.  Congress has only two legislative days to implement the first FY’24 appropriations bills.  Surprise, the Congressional week is not the same as everyone else’s. While there are five days before March 1^st, only two of those days are when the House of Representatives will be in session.  This leaves little room for error as Congress tries to finalize spending bills for the VA, FDA, Agriculture and some additional civilian agency operations.  If they can’t finalize the measures they will either have to pass a short-term CR or face the prospect of the impacted agencies shutting down.

2. Government contracting continues anyway:  The General Services Administration continues to progress on its Alliant3, Polaris, and ASCEND contracts even as it evaluates offers on OASIS+.  NASA continues to move ahead on SEWP VI and NIH is planning its CIO-CS product-based IT contract for later this year.  Agencies extend existing projects and use non-appropriated funds to start new ones regularly.  The government is open and conducts at least some business.

3.  Contractors and their customers will be able to see more clearly soon:  One thing that is nearly certain is that companies and their federal customers will know what they’re looking at for the rest of the fiscal year very soon.  Either there will be appropriations for all or some, there will be temporary shutdowns for civilian agencies, or civilian agencies will see months-long CR’s, with carveouts for specific projects.  Whether you will like what you see is one thing, but at least you will know and be able to proceed accordingly.