Effect of Government Shutdown on Government Contracts

The possibility of a government shutdown in fiscal year 1996 began to be discussed months before it actually occurred. Testifying before Congress office OMB Director Alice M. Rivlin, predicted that the 'threatened shutdown would be very disruptive and result in a general loss of productivity among the federal work force to include tasks being left undone during the shutdown, and work piled up afterward.' To varying degrees, the prediction proved to be true. President Clinton, referring to the curtailed government services resulting from the shutdowns, called the shutdowns an 'unnatural disaster' which created a significant back-log of work. In fact, letters and packages for 13 closed federal agencies were stored in tractor trailers, to be delivered the first day after the shutdown ended. Personnel and payroll offices spent thousands of hours resolving furlough-related problems, while newspapers reported that the General Accounting Office could easily wind up dealing with furlough related matters into the next century.Air Force Inst of Tech Wright-Patterson AFB OH is the author of 'Effect of Government Shutdown on Government Contracts', published 1997 under ISBN 9781423580522 and ISBN 1423580524.