The clock is ticking for Congress to get a budget complete for Fiscal 2014. As they negotiate what looks like another continuing resolution, Fiscal 2015 is the next project in your agency’s budget shop. Robert Shea is principal at Grant Thornton and former associate director for Administration and Government Performance at OMB.

The days of the three-martini lunch and the flask of scotch in your desk are long gone or they’re supposed to be. But some people are wondering if getting a little loose with the help of some well-timed cocktails could improve employee performance at your agency.

More than 6,000 civilian jobs may be on the chopping block at the Pentagon, according to some internal planning documents there. But some cynics on Capitol Hill think that plan may be less than it appears to be. Gordon Adams is professor at American University and Distinguished Fellow at the Stimson Center and former associate director for National Security and International Affairs at OMB.

The next step for the OASIS contract is a protest hearing. US Falcon dropped its protest of the final solicitation to the contract. The company filed its protest with the Government Accountability Office. But the contract still faces a protest at the agency level.

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Company drops protest of GSA’s OASIS RFP

Agency-level protest of GSA’s OASIS contract moves forward

The Army Reserve has what it calls a classic out-of-balance problem. It has far more entry-level enlisted personnel and officers than it need and too few midgrade soldiers. Federal News Radio’s Jared Serbu has more on how the Reserve is trying to manage its personnel on what officials call “shifting sands.”