Last year was full of drama: war in Iraq and struggles for many major government contractors. Although 2004 will be unique on its own, many events of this new year have been foretold by the events of 2003.
	Small businesses no longer need to register in both the Small Business Administration's Pro-Net database and Central Contractor Registration, the government's database of all contractors. The change went into effect Jan. 1.
	Inaccuracies and omissions limit the reliability of the Defense Department's fiscal 2004 IT budget, according to a recent General Accounting Office report. GAO found a $1.6 billion discrepancy between two key budget reports spanning 73 IT initiatives.
	The Small Business Administration created a new industry category and size standard of 150 employees for value-added resellers that qualify as small businesses, according to a final rule published Dec. 29 in the <I>Federal Register</I>. The new rule is effective Jan. 28.
	The government has announced it has begun acquisition planning for phase 2 of the Strategic War Planning System Modernization. The U.S. Strategic Command operates the system, which builds and maintains classified war plans.
	The Air Force Materiel Command has issued a request for information on how best to manage and support the A-10 aircraft fleet from 2007 through 2028. Among the issues are sustaining the worldwide fleet; structure and component upgrades; systems engineering, safety and integration; avionics upgrades; and other weapon system modifications. Responses are due Feb. 3. More information is at fedbizopps.gov, solicitation no. FA8202-04-R-AAAA.
	The Coast Guard is looking for a commercial high-resolution coastal surveillance radar. The radar will become part of the Coast Guard's Vessel Traffic Service and similar surveillance and safety systems. The radar is expected to last between five and 10 years, and the contractor will not be required to install it. The radar may be operated at unmanned sites, so high reliability is essential, and it must be able to operate continuously in a marine environment. More information is at fedbizopps.gov, solicitation no. Reference-Number-DTCG4404SOURSERADAR. Responses are due by Jan. 20.
For three top-tier government contractors ? the Boeing Co., Computer Sciences Corp. and Electronic Data Systems Corp. ? the new year provides a chance for correction following an unpleasant end to 2003.
Making predictions is easy. Getting them right is ... well, not so easy. Just ask the guys who predicted that the stock market would reach 36,000.But that doesn't mean you can't get a useful sense of directions and trends. For our annual look at the year ahead, the Washington Technology staff talked to experts in government and industry and found widespread agreement on several important issues.
Democratic presidential candidate Joseph Lieberman wants to increase homeland security spending by $16 billion over the Bush administration's plans. Among his proposals, the Connecticut senator said he would create an intelligence-sharing system to provide state and local police departments with instant access to the 58 federal terrorist watch lists.
WorldCom Inc. will not be debarred from government contracting and is now free to pursue any government work, including the option year on one of its biggest contracts, FTS 2001, the GSA announced Wednesday.
With the New Year, Defense Department contractors will be required to mark items delivered to DoD with unique identifiers such as bar codes or radio frequency ID tags. Contractors will also be required to identify the unit cost of all hardware items delivered under a contract.
<font color="CC0000"> UPDATED </font>The General Accounting Office has sustained a Lockheed Martin Corp. protest of an IT services contract award, worth $860 million, from the Department of Housing and Urban Development to EDS.
Strong trends among the federal IT service companies, more signs of a turnaround in the commercial sector and net inflows of money from investors have resulted in good stock performance for both groups.
