DOD prepping for possible government shutdown

The Defense Department has issued guidance to help military personnel and Pentagon civilians prepare for a possible government shutdown on Oct. 1.

While military personnel who are on active or reserve duty will continue to report for work, only “the minimum number of civilian employees necessary to carry out excepted activities will be excepted from furlough,” according to the “lapse in appropriations” guidance the Pentagon issued today.

If Congress does not pass a stopgap continuing resolution before the beginning of the fiscal year on Oct. 1, the federal government will shut down. Some hard-right Republicans, meanwhile, have said they will not support a CR unless it meets specific demands of the Freedom Caucus.

The Pentagon, meanwhile, “will continue to defend the nation and conduct ongoing military operations,” the guidance document states. “It will continue activities funded with any available budgetary resources that have not lapsed, as well as excepted activities such as those necessary for the safety of human life and the protection of property.”

Any defense contractor performing under a contract that awarded prior to the lapse in appropriations will be allowed to continue working but “new contracts (including contract renewals or extensions, issuance of task orders, exercise of options) may not be executed, nor may increments of funding be placed on incrementally funded contracts or to cover cost overruns, unless the contractor is supporting an excepted activity,” according to DOD.