Sen. Jim Webb's office is saying that the Defense authorization act will include provisions to set up a commission to investigate wartime contracting. The bill is expected to pass later this week. It'll be very interesting to what kinds of recommendations and findings the commission produces. The Defense bill will also reform a number of contracting administration rules. In other contracting news, the state department's inspector general is stepping down under suspicions of blocking investigations into Blackwater's ties to smuggled weapons in Iraq. As it turns out, his brother sits on Blackwater's advisory board and was heavily involved in getting the company to do government security work.