Sept. 30, 2016 is the end of the federal fiscal year, and agency spending often accelerates in the months leading up to the end of the fiscal year.

Agencies fear losing unspent, budgeted dollars in future fiscal years; that may be why there’s often a speed-up in spending before the fiscal year ends. An Onvia report, in fact, shows that at the federal level, 16.5 percent of government spending occurs in the last month of the fiscal year — more than double what one would expect if spending were spread evenly across all months.

Federal Publications Seminars (FPS) is presenting a free webinar, “Race to the Finish,” that will show contractors how to position themselves to maximize federal sales before Sept. 30. The webinar will also cover how organizations can help their government and industry partners manage taxpayer dollars to acquire the goods and services that help agencies achieve their missions this fiscal year. The webinar takes place July 14 from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. Go here for details on the webinar.

FPS is partnering with Bloomberg and Bloomberg Government analysts on the webinar. Webinar presenters will discuss how to maximize opportunities and avoid the pitfalls in the annual race to the finish. Presenters include:

Daniel Snyder, Government Contracts Analyst, Bloomberg Government
Brian Friel, Founder, One Nation Analytics LLC

FPS’ content acquisition manager, Becky Fillinger tells GPN that an engaged and educated federal workforce benefits the U.S. government, the fifty states and the individual employees. She says that the Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey (FEVS), administered through the Office of Personnel Management offers some useful insights. In 2015, more than 400,000 employees participated in the survey. She says the feedback given in the report helps each federal agency develop strategies and tools for driving continuous improvement.

Fillinger says one key driver for the engaged workforce is ongoing Training and Development. The survey, says Fillinger shows this to be true across generations, supervisory status, military status, agency tenure, telework status and those in mission-critical occupations. In the survey responses, says Fillinger, “Employees specifically asked for targeted opportunities to improve their skills and knowledge necessary to perform their jobs.”

FPS offers 250+ public classroom and 200+ online courses, hot topic webinars (5-7 per month) and custom in-house instruction for government employees and the government contractor community they serve.  The firm has been involved in training for 60 years and continues to expand its offerings.

“With the fiscal year winding down, why not invest in training and development opportunities for your contractors and employees?  It’s never wasteful to invest in the skills and knowledge of the federal workforce,” Fillinger told GPN. She says that the same OPM report concluded that engaged and educated employees are more innovative, more productive, more committed, more satisfied and less likely to leave.

FPS offers hundreds of classes on government procurement and related topics.  Some could be of interest to state and local administrators, but most are federally oriented.

“Procurement professionals appreciate career development opportunities as much as any profession,” Fillinger says. “Staying current via training and development leads to lower staff turnover, greater employee engagement, more accurate decision-making and budget savings.”

In the video, learn more about FPS’ seminars on government contracting.

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