The expanding cost of contracting

Many of us have forgotten that the weeks before a presidential election were usually devoted to hectic campaigning. But the rest of the government was quiet. Every representative was back home running for reelection, as were one-third of the senators. Age-old traditions imposed an embargo on most any governmental conduct that might influence the election. No more! Like brass band concerts on the village green, those practices and traditions are relics of a lost world.

As this is being written, the U.S. Senate is in the process of confirming a hastily named Supreme Court justice, Congress is stumbling toward inaction on a COVID-19 relief bill, and the White House is issuing Executive Orders (EOs) that have thrown government contractors into complete turmoil.

Executive Order 13950, Combating Race and Sex Stereotyping, issued on September 22, 2020, purports "to combat offensive and anti-American race and sex stereotyping and scapegoating." In that effort, the EO requires government agencies and government contractors to alter their employee diversity training to excise “divisive concepts” it asserts “perpetuate racial stereotypes and division” and “reinforce biases and decrease opportunities for minorities.”