When President Obama signed this year's supplemental appropriations bill, he delivered a big win for the good government community, as a little known transparency amendment attached to the bill became law. The amendment, introduced by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), will require the General Services Administration (GSA) to make most of the Federal Awardee Performance and Integrity Information System (FAPIIS) publically available.

Last week, the Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR) Independent Panel, a four-year old body created by Congress to provide an "alternate view" of the Pentagon's periodic internal assessment, released its report on the 2010 QDR. Simply put, the panel, whose membership includes a majority of individuals in the defense contracting industry, said, "Yes, please" in response to the government's question about how to allocate its limited resources.

On Tuesday, the Office of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction (SIGIR) released a devastating report on the Department of Defense's (DOD) control of Iraqi reconstruction funds. SIGIR reviewed the Pentagon's control of the funds from 2004 to 2007 and found that DOD could not account for 96 percent of the $9.1 billion it received during that time.