Shay Assad, the Pentagon's director of defense procurement and acquisition policy, is urging the armed services to follow acquisition rules when handling contracts tied to congressional earmarks. In an Aug. 10 memo to the services, U.S. Transportation Command, U.S. Special Operations Command and defense agencies, Assad notes the Defense Department inspector general recently found DOD did not always heed federal and Pentagon rules when awarding contracts with funds earmarked in the fiscal year 2005 budget. A June 30 DOD IG...