The Federal Times had an interesting piece last week on the contracting industry's reaction to a recent notice in the Federal Register seeking input on "how best to amend the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) to enable public posting of contract actions." Despite the FAR Councils' stated efforts to post contracts "without compromising contractors' proprietary and confidential commercial or financial information," industry executives are beside themselves over such a monumental change. Not surprisingly, their arguments against the idea don't hold much water.

Massey Energy is back to work, endangering the lives of miners with its reckless attitude toward safety. Inspectors from the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) have continued to find safety violations at the Upper Big Branch mine in West Virginia where 29 miners were killed in an April explosion, according to The Wall Street Journal.

The new chairman of the Administrative Conference of the United States (ACUS) last week discussed potential research priorities for the conference. Chairman Paul Verkuil outlined for the House Judiciary Committee’s administrative law panel several issues ACUS may address when it is reconstituted.

Last month, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) proposed new "inherently governmental" guidelines, which determine how federal agencies outsource services to private contractors, and asked for feedback from the public on the proposed measures. OMB Watch has collaborated with CREDO Action to spur public participation in the comment process through a petition drive. In addition to advocating for a broader definition of inherently governmental, the comment we suggest for submission targets the outsourcing of certain functions to private security contractors.