Here is the paragraph if interest, as penned by the Post’s Carol D. Leonnig:

The [plaintiffs] assert that Blackwater officials kept a Filipino prostitute on the company payroll for a State Department contract in Afghanistan, and billed the government for her time working for Blackwater male employees in Kabul. The alleged prostitute’s salary was categorized as part of the company’s “Morale Welfare Recreation” expenses, they said.”

Newly unsealed court records from a False Claims Act law suit filed by former employees also allege the company faked invoices to hide charges for other expenses not allowed under the contracts, such as alcohol or spa services, the Post reported.

The plaintiffs, husband and wife Brad and Melan Davis, said the private security contractor also charged the government twice for services, according to the Post.  The Justice Department has not joined the lawsuit against the company, the Post said.

Thanks to the dedicated GPO workers who braved poor roads and spotty public transportation service, Defense procurement officials — and the civilian agencies they buy from — have clear and final guidance on how to carry out interagency contracting deals.

Today’s Federal Register includes the final version of an interim rule published in July. The rule, which was mandated by the 2008 Defense authorization bill, allows DoD to buy goods and services from non-Defense-agency contracts only if:

• The non-Defense agency promises to follow DoD procurement rules.
• DoD’s undersecretary for acquisition, technology and logistics agrees the interagency purchase is in the department’s “best interest.”

The rule applies to purchases over the $100,000 simplified acquisition threshold.

Although most D.C. federal offices were closed this week, GPO reports more than 200 of its workers “braved the elements to print important materials for the White House and Congress.” Among the key publications they ensured went out on time, the Economic Report of the President, the Congressional Record and the Federal Register, according to a Feb. 11 GPO news release.

The State Department headquarters in Washington, D.C. will be the first to benefit from what GSA calls “a new national template for food service requirements to provide healthier and more sustainable food options in federal dining facilities across the country.”

The contract creates a healthier and more sustainable cafeteria by using “locally grown produce and market baskets, menu options that are prepared using healthy cooking techniques, and a nutrition education program that will help federal employees to make better food choices,” according to a Feb. 10 GSA news release.

I.L. Creations of Maryland, Inc. won the contract and will serve approximately 6,500 employees and more than 1,000 visitors each day, GSA said in the news release.

GSA and the administration have clearly picked up the lesson learned by Cookie Monster.

There are white out conditions out there, so that decision seems more than prudent. Stay off the roads folks.

Normal service may resume tomorrow, Yackley said, but no decisions have been made yet. Some retail locations are opened in D.C. and Maryland, but Yackley advised Postal Service customers to call before venturing out.

In case you are excitedly celebrating this rare hat-trick closure and can’t remember the exceptions and caveats, here is the rundown, verbatim from OPM’s site:

• Nonemergency employees (including employees on pre-approved leave) will be granted excused absence for the number of hours they were scheduled to work. This does not apply to employees on leave without pay, leave without pay for military duty, workers’ compensation, suspension, or in another nonpay status.
• Telework employees may be expected to work from their telework sites, as specified in their telework agreements.
• Emergency employees are expected to report for work on time.
• Employees on alternative work schedules are not entitled to another [alternative work schedule] day off in lieu of the workday on which the agency is closed.

UPDATE: For workers outside the D.C. area living in locales also affected by the storm moving up the east coast: check with your Federal Executive Boards and office heads about closures. The New York FEB’s inclement weather hotline — 212-246-0748 — is recommending non-essential personnel stay home on Wednesday, but this is ONLY a recommendation for feds in the Big Apple. The message also reminds workers to check with their managers to see what their office’s operating status is for tomorrow. It also reminds workers there are only 39 days until spring. Thank goodness.

Acting administrator Stephen Leeds administered the oath to Martha Johnson over the phone  because of the snow that pummeled the D.C. area Friday and Saturday, the spokeswoman said.

The storm forced the closure of D.C. federal offices yesterday and today, and in doing so also forced GSA to cancel Johnson’s swearing in ceremony and a town-hall meeting with employees planned for today.

GSA rescheduled the ceremony and town hall for next Tuesday.

The government may be closed for snow, but the White House sees only sunshine and rainbows for its Open Government Initiative.

White House Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer posted a blog entry today showing how agencies are faring in meeting the goals of the president’s Open Government Directive.

According to Pfeiffer, and this stoplight-styled scorecard (think Bush-era President’s Management Agenda), federal agency performance toward meeting their goals has been green like the grass under the two feet of snow covering the White House lawn. And rainbows.

If you count it up, all but four of the 29 agencies scored the highest (green) rating — “meets expectations” — across the initiatives four categories graded to date: high value data, data integrity, open web pages and public consultation.

The agencies that received lower scores for some categories received nothing less than a middling (yellow) rating for making “progress toward expectations.” Not a single agency received the lowest (red) rating, “fails to meet expectations.”

FedLine has no clue what the rainbows for “Overall Rating” mean, but they sure are pretty.

Obama first tapped Johnson, who served as GSA’s chief of staff from 1996 through 2001, to lead the agency in April 2009. After flying through the confirmation hearing in June, a full-Senate vote on her nomination was delayed by Sen. Kit Bond, R-Mo.

Bond placed a hold on her nomination last summer because he wanted assurances that a $175 million plan to  relocate tenants of the GSA-owned Bannister Federal Complex from suburban to downtown Kansas City, Mo. would still become a reality under the new administration.

Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., filed for cloture on her nomination last week following Pres. Obama’s thinly veiled State of the Union criticism of Bond for holding up a nomination to protect a “pet project.”

Obama again criticized Bond for the hold yesterday saying Bond held Johnson over a matter that had nothing to do with her abilities to lead the government’s procurement and real estate agency.

Prior to joining GSA in 1996, Johnson was the assistant deputy secretary for the Commerce Department. Since leaving government in 2001, she has held positions with key government contractors.

From 2002 through 2007, she was a vice president at SRA International. SRA received $1 billion in government business in fiscal 2008, according to USASpending.gov. In 2007, she joined Computer Sciences Corporation, where she served as a vice president. CSC has received $4.5 billion worth of government contracts in fiscal 2008, according to USASpending.gov.

The Senate convenes at noon, and according to the calendar, the cloture vote  on Johnson’s nomination will occur after the chamber votes on the nomination of Patricia Smith to be solicitor for the Labor Department. If cloture is invoked, a final vote on Johnson’s nomination will follow.

Johnson’s nomination has been delayed by Sen. Kit Bond, R-Mo. Bond held up the confirmation vote because he wanted GSA to promise to move a federal complex to downtown Kansas City, Mo.

But contractors may face further insourcing under the proposal. While blocking agencies from competing federal work, the budget’s “general provisions” section requires agencies to take a head count of all contractor employees performing services for the government. The so-called “service contract inventory” must also include the name of the vendor, the type of service provided and the cost of that service.

Businesses may also see fewer federal contracts on the street in fiscal 2011 as the White House renewed its call for agencies to meet the $40 billion contract savings target by the end of that year. To meet this savings goal, the White House encouraged agencies to  buy  in bulk.

Customs and Border protected puppy!

Or at least one lucky pooch that was found nearly frozen to death in the cargo hold of a plane at New York’s JFK Airport on Saturday.

According to the local ABC affiliate there, three CBP officers were informed that two puppies shipped from Mexico froze to death on the flight. Upon arriving on the scene, the officers noticed one puppy was clinging to life. The trio revived the pup and a vet tells ABC the dog is going just fine.

We here at FedLine think this story is a prime candidate for the Daily Squee. Don’t you?

Photo: WABC via Gothamist.

Last night, I reported that Pres. Obama appeared to call out Sen. Kit Bond, R-Mo., for holding up Martha Johnson’s nomination to lead the agency.

Today, the White House blog chose GSA to illustrate the new feature: “The President’s Cabinet Reporting to You.”

Coincidence? Or a sign of how the White House views the government’s procurement and real estate arm?

Here is what Obama said in tonight’s State of the Union address regarding the hold up of several of his nominees:

The confirmation of well-qualified public servants should not be held hostage to the pet projects or grudges of a few individual Senators.

And here are two links to our past posts about the hold Bond has on Johnson’s full Senate confirmation. Both note the hold is directly related to Bond’s desire to move a federal complex owned by GSA to downtown Kansas City, Mo.

So what do you think? Did Obama just give Johnson a shout-out of support? Discuss it in the comments section below.

Brita is the staff director for the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, Subcommittee on Economic Development, Public Buildings, and Emergency Management. The subcommittee has oversight of GSA’s Public Building Service and federal real property management.

She replaces Barney Brasseux, a GSA career veteran, who recently retired.

This announcement fills one gap in the agency’s leadership team which has seen an unusual amount of turnover in recent weeks.

Just before Christmas, Stephen Leeds took over the role of acting administrator from Paul Prouty, who decided to return home to Colorado and to his career post as GSA’s Region 8 Public Building Service commissioner.

Earlier this month, Danielle Germain, the agency’s chief of staff, resigned to head up the Collaboration Project at the National Academy of Public Administration. In making the move, Germain said the hold Sen. Kit Bond, R-Mo., has maintained on Martha Johnson’s confirmation to lead GSA was a factor in her decision. Bond’s hold on the final approval of Johnson’s nomination means the agency has been without a permanent administrator since 2008.

Army officials are investigating whether Trijicon, the company that makes (and scripturally inscribes) the sights, violated any procurement rules by including the markings on the aiming devices. The Army told AP the company didn’t break rules that prohibit proselytizing by U.S. troops in Afghanistan and Iraq.

I blogged about this earlier this week and wondered whether the company did anything legally wrong, since it didn’t appear the contract permitted or prohibited the etchings. I’ll leave the ethical pondering to you dear readers.

Already, defense officials in New Zealand said their troops’ Trijicon equipment will be scrubbed of the references to avoid inciting religious tensions. Australian defense officials are still debating what to do, AP said.

The agent’s government-owned car spun out of control and smashed into a concrete barrier on the busy highway after he was cut off and hit by a tractor trailer during rush hour, the Post reported. The rear wheels of the truck flattened the front of the agent’s car, but the agent was not hurt and declined medical care, according to the report.

Naval Facilities Engineering Command Contracting Officer Eugene Diaz, right, accepts the big check (and the real one), in 2008.

If you answered yes to either of those questions you might consider submitting a nomination for the 2010 Ida Ustad Award for Excellence in Acquisition.

The General Services Administration’s annual award recognizes an indivdual government employee who improved government contracting to deliver “more effective and efficient services to the American taxpayer,” GSA said in a Jan. 20 news release.

And by “recognize,” I mean GSA cuts that person a check for $5,000!

Nominations for the award, which is named in honor of GSA’s former deputy associate administrator for acquisition policy, are now open. But act fast, they close Feb. 16.

Nominees must be government employees in the GS-1102 (contract specialist) series and work for agencies covered by the Federal Acquisition Regulation. Applications must be approved by the nominee’s “head of contracting activity” (aka the nominee’s boss).  The winner will be announced in May at the 2010 GSA Expo in Orlando, Fla.

For more information click here.

Photo: U.S. Navy’s Flickr stream.

The site has lots of nifty new tools right on the home page, such as a series of rotating charts that show various trends for both Recovery Act and fiscal 2009 spending.

My personal favorite is the fiscal 2009 chart (if you follow the link, click on “trend”) that shows month-by-month spending levels for the fiscal year. This may come as a surprise, but most government spending happens in September, just as the fiscal year is ending. It’s shocking, I know. But it is also fun to see these old truisms presented in graph form.

As a side note, FPDS-NG also announced that you can now track Haiti relief contracts via the database by searching “Haiti Earthquake 2010.”