An audit released by the Deputy Assistant Inspector General (DAIG) for Acquisition Audits on February 3, 2012 questions the Multiple Award Schedule  (MAS) Program Industrial Funding Fee (IFF).

In 2009, the Court of Federal Claims granted a contractor's motion for summary judgment in a segment closing case involving Cost Accounting Standard 413, concluding that the contractor had no remaining liability to the government following its transfer of pension asset surpluses to predecessor companies. [DIRECTV Group Inc. v. United States, Fed. Cl., No. 04-1414C, 10/14/09)]. In January 2012, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed this decision. [The DIRECTV Group Inc. v. United States, Fed. Cir., No. 2010-5031, 1/26/12] (Attached below)

In a year when the president and congress seem unable to work together and Washington has been mired in partisan gridlock, the two sides have found a common cause that they and all Americans can agree on.   Congress recently passed, and the president signed the Veterans Opportunity to Work to Hire Heroes Act of 2011(VOW to Hire Heroes Act).  The act provides tax credits and other incentives for employers to hire veterans. 

Rep. Jeff Miller (R-FL), Chairman of the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs said “I am committed to reducing the veterans’ unemployment rate to below 5 percent over the next two years. They kept their vow to us, now it’s our turn to vow to help them.”