U.S. District Court Judge James E. Boasberg ruled Friday that no tax return preparer may be required to pay testing or continuing education fees or to complete any testing or continuing education while the injunction is in place, backing up his earlier ruling (see Court Rules Tax IRS Doesn't Have Authority to Regulate Tax Preparers). The IRS had asked the judge to suspend his injunction on the tax preparer regulatory regime, arguing that it would disrupt tax season (see IRS to Appeal Ruling Barring Licensing of Tax Preparers).

The Institute for Justice, which had won the case on behalf of three independent tax preparers who sued to stop the IRS's Registered Tax Return Preparer mandatory testing and continuing education regulatory regime, filed a legal brief countering the IRS's arguments (see Tax Preparers Contest IRS Legal Ruling). In Boasberg's latest ruling in the case Friday, he denied the IRS's motion for a stay, asking, "[W]hy should tax-return preparers continue to pay into a system the Court has found unlawful?"

Read more HERE 

WASHINGTON - Military services have outlined a series of spending cuts that will reduce planned raises for military personnel, curtail aircraft maintenance, delay new equipment for soldiers and the movements of aircraft carriers around the globe, documents obtained by USA TODAY show.

These and other cuts will go into effect unless the White House and Congress reach a deal on long-term spending to avoid the process known as sequestration, which calls for $1.2 trillion in spending cuts over the next decade. The cuts will start March 1 if no deal is reached.

The proposed cuts, according to Pentagon officials and military budget documents, include: A proposed 1% pay raise for servicemembers in 2014 instead of the planned 1.7%, Pentagon spokesman George Little said. Reductions in Air Force spending on aircraft maintenance by one-third, the elimination of support for popular military air shows and reduced spending on support for more than 30 weapons systems.

Read more HERE  

The Babcock & Wilcox Co.- led team of Nuclear Production Partners LLC has filed a protest against the National Nuclear Security Administration's recent awarding of a management and operating contract for the U.S. Department of Energy's Y-12 nuclear weapons site in Oak Ridge and the Pantex Plant near Amarillo, Texas. 

A Jan. 18 B&W release states Nuclear Production Partners was notified by NNSA 10 days earlier that it wasn't awarded the contract. 

"NP2 filed the protest in accordance with federal regulations ... (and) the U.S. Government Accountability Office must rule on the protest within 100 days of filing," the release stated. "In the interim, the incumbent B&W-led LLCs will continue to safely and securely manage the Pantex and Y-12 facilities under their current contracts." 

Last week, it was reported that a team headed by Bechtel National Inc. and Lockheed Martin Services Inc. was selected to manage Y-12 and Pantex - two of the nation's key nuclear weapons facilities. The NNSA touted the potential savings to the government by consolidating management of the two production plants ... even though they are in different states and 1,000 miles apart.  More HERE  

by Beverly Majors/Staff

OakRidger.com

The U.S. Department of Energy's Oak Ridge Office has awarded an $181,672,893 protective force services contract to National Strategic Protective Services LLC (NSPS).

DOE's decision takes the contract away from longtime security provider WSI-Oak Ridge, formerly known as Wackenhut, which came under scrutiny after a Y-12 National Security Complex breach in July 2012.

"We are pleased to welcome NSPS as a part of the Department of Energy team in Oak Ridge," Larry Kelly, Oak Ridge Office manager, stated in a Thursday release. "We evaluated the proposals and it was clear to us that NSPS is the right company for this difficult and important job."

In a prepared statement, WSI-Oak Ridge officials said Thursday that "WSI-Oak Ridge is disappointed we were not awarded the Department of Energy's Protective Force Contract to provide protective services to the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the East Tennessee Technology Park and the Federal Office Building Complex."   More HERE 

DOD may not use 2013 funds to enter into contracts with firms that have unpaid federal taxes or federal felony convictions. Contracting officers must include provisions to this effect in all solicitations that will use funds made available by the FY 2013 Continuing Appropriations Resolution (Pub. L. No. 112-175), including solicitations for commercial items.

Specifically, DOD may not contract with a corporation that has any unpaid federal tax liability that has been assessed, for which all judicial and administrative remedies have been exhausted or lapsed and that is not being paid in a timely manner pursuant to an agreement with the authority responsible for collecting the tax liability, where the awarding agency is aware of the liability. DOD also may not contract with a corporation that was convicted of a federal felony in the preceding 24 months and where the awarding agency is aware of the conviction. Contracting officers may make an award despite these restrictions if the DOD suspension and debarment official has considered suspension or debarment of the corporation and has made a written determination that these actions are not necessary to protect the government's interests.

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