A report yesterday from Bureau of National Affairs (subscription required) cites several unnamed congressional sources saying the House plans to revive a statutory pay-as-you-go budget law in June. Statutory pay-go would require budgetary offsets for increases in permanent spending programs or tax cuts. Expect the measure to move through the lower house quickly, but resistance in the Senate, where lawmakers have questioned the effectiveness of the budget tool, is casting doubt on the measure's future.

In a report released last week, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) found that the Past Performance Information Retrieval System (PPIRS), a database on contractors consulted by federal agencies to award contracts, is woefully deficient in the value of information it provides.

Last week, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced its intention to scrap a two-year-long, $19.5 million project to create a new tax-filing website. The agency's Chief Information Officer cancelled the new website due to "the lack of a comprehensive enterprise strategy that considered industry best practices or advancements in portal technology, and budget challenges due to the significant expenditure requirements necessary to replace existing equipment." That's government speak for, "We let this project get out of hand by not employing proper oversight, and so, now the stuff we were going to buy to utilize our newfangled website won't work with it." You can read the rest of the agency's explanation in their report. Guess those new heights of customer service IRS was striving towards will have to wait a few years.