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Daily Archives: March 18, 2013

EOP – Improving the Collection and Use of Information about Contractor Performance and Integrity

Office of Federal Procurement Policy, March 6, 2013

  • “Over the past several years, the Office of Federal Procurement Policy (OFPP) has worked with agency Chief Acquisition Officers (CAOs) and Senior Procurement Executives (SPEs) to improve the value of contractor performance assessments and increase the transparency of data about contractor integrity. Through these efforts, our past performance systems and regulations now support a single repository of this important information, contractor integrity information is now publicly available, and new data management tools have been developed to help agencies improve their reporting. These and other efforts have set a strong foundation for providing contracting officers (COs) important information about contractors when making source selection and award decisions. However, agencies must increase their use of these tools, as under reporting performance information leaves the government vulnerable to poor acquisition outcomes in the future.”
  • 2013 Brown Center Report on American Education: How Well Are American Students Learning?

    “This is the twelfth edition of the Brown Center Report. The structure of the report remains the same from year to year. Part I examines the latest data from state, national, or international assessments. This year the focus is on the latest results from the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) and Trends in… Continue Reading

    New GAO Report – Dietary Supplements

    Dietary Supplements – FDA May Have Opportunities to Expand Its Use of Reported Health Problems to Oversee Products, GAO-13-244, Mar 18, 2013 “From 2008 through 2011, the Department of Health and Human Services’ Food and Drug Administration (FDA) received 6,307 reports of health problems–adverse event reports (AER)–for dietary supplements; 71 percent came from industry as… Continue Reading

    Pew – State of the News Media 2013

    Pew Research Center Project for Excellence in Journalism: “In the news media, a continued erosion of reporting resources has converged with growing opportunities for newsmakers, such as political figures, government agencies, companies and others, to take their messages directly to the public. The public, for its part, is not very aware of the financial struggles… Continue Reading

    CRS – An Overview of the Housing Finance System in the United States

    An Overview of the Housing Finance System in the United States, Sean M. Hoskins, Analyst in Financial Economics; Katie Jones, Analyst in Housing Policy; N. Eric Weiss, Specialist in Financial Economics. March 13, 2013 “The characteristics of the borrower and of the mortgage determine the classification of the loan. What happens to a mortgage in… Continue Reading

    Paper – The Dietary Intake of Wheat and other Cereal Grains and Their Role in Inflammation

    The Dietary Intake of Wheat and other Cereal Grains and Their Role in Inflammation, Karin de Punder and Leo Pruimboom. Nutrients 2013, 5(3), 771-787; doi:10.3390/nu5030771. Published: March 12, 2013 “Wheat is one of the most consumed cereal grains worldwide and makes up a substantial part of the human diet. Although government-supported dietary guidelines in Europe… Continue Reading

    Paper – Dividends as Signaling Device and the Disappearing Dividend Puzzle

    Shapiro, Dmitry and Zhuang, Anan, Dividends as Signaling Device and the Disappearing Dividend Puzzle (March 14, 2013). Available at SSRN “In the paper we provide an extension of the Baker and Wurgler (2012) model where managers use dividends to signal firm’s earning to investors. We introduce heterogeneity among investors and firms; we also introduce investors’… Continue Reading