New fiscal year off to a slow start

October marks the start of the federal fiscalyear, and as in every year since 1994,Congress and the president have failed togive agencies their annual spending authorityon time, opting instead to dole it outpiecemeal. This time they are doing so in the form of a45-day continuing resolution that expires Nov. 16.Come to think of it, thisyear is shaping up like a mirrorimage of 1995, the year inwhich the Republican-controlledCongress played chickenwith a Democratic president.Back then, Congresspassed a continuing resolutionthat expired in mid-November, and PresidentClinton swore ? in hopes offorcing Congress to pass theappropriations bills ? that hewould not sign a second. Mostpeople agree that Congress'failure to pass those bills, thus shuttingdown the government, hurt theRepublicans in the 1996 election.This time the shoe is on the otherfoot politically, and it is anyone'sguess how it will all play out.Any management guru will tell youthat the first priority when running alarge organization is completing theannual plan and budget on time. Yetone of the largest operations in theworld has violated this basic businessconcept annually for more than adecade. This bad habit is institutionalizedto the point that must-passappropriations bills attract so manypolitically motivated amendmentsthat instead of must-pass theybecome must-punt. This year, theprocess has devolved ? as it did in1995 ? into a punting game up anddown Pennsylvania Avenue.I can only imagine how frustratingthis must be for government managers.The public holds themaccountable for mission results via a535-member board of directors ?435 in the House, 100 in the Senate? who, because they can't restrainthemselves during the democraticbudget-making process, set the worstpossible example for agency managers.They ignore the considerableeffort expended to comply with all thecapital planning and investment controlactivities ? already done at thispoint for 2009 ? while arbitrarilyforcing them to live according to theprior year's plan.Yet it does no good for a governmentemployee ? whether politicallyappointed or career civil servant ? tocomplain, lest the fiscal-law accountingpolice descend to dissect suspicious-looking transactions. Yes,amazingly, at the operational levels,this all boils down to accounting.I teach sellers of technology toaddress in the following order threechains of command present in alltransactions of significant size: theprogram people, who have therequirements and own the missionand the budget, and the finance people,who must sign off through thecomptroller's chain of commandbefore the third group, the contractingofficers with the actual spendingauthority, can start the procurement.All three groups must be satisfied fora deal to get done.This means that cross-walking andmapping are the order of the day forgovernment customers as they try toaddress mission realities while constrainedby a short ? sometimes outof-date ? fiscal leash.Of course, this is exactly the kind ofthing those of us in business developmentand sales are called on to do aswe serve our government customersand the interests of our companies.It's just that now, with oversight focuson both fiscal law and procurementlaw enforcement, there are a host ofprocess requirements to keep in mindas we seek to address the concerns ofthe various stakeholders who are partof any large opportunity and, at thesame time, try to realistically predictthe outcome for our company's financialprognosticators.One thing is sure: This first quarterwill be slow, and the slow pace willprobably extend, as it did last year,into January and February. Last year,we didn't get the final omnibus continuingresolution until Feb. 15,which was 10 days after the president's2008 budget was submitted toCongress.