Ten stories you've been following

. The industrytook time out fromcompetition to honor some ofits star players at the annualGreater WashingtonGovernment Contractor of theYear awards gala. Also on theprogram was the naming ofNorman Augustine, formerLockheed Martin Corp. chairman,to the GovCon hall offame. The companies receivingawards included the TauriGroup, Danya International,Stinger GhaffarianTechnologies and Booz AllenHamilton Inc.. GartnerResearch presented a parade ofgrim messages and recommendationsabout the fallout of theWall Street meltdown at itsannual Symposium/ITxpo. Costreduction, risk managementand compliance will dominateinformation technology in thecoming year.Cisco Systems Inc.and its reseller immixGroupcouldn't negotiate a newGeneral ServicesAdministration schedule contractbefore the current contractexpired. The snag wasoverpricing ? GSA says it isn'tlow enough, according to anindustry source.. A disputebetween a subcontractor andprime contractor has landed incourt. Bollinger Shipyards wants$12 million to settle claimsrelated to the remaking of theDeepwater cutters that wererejected by the Coast Guard.Bollinger was a subcontractor to Northrop Grumman Corp.and was hired to extendcutters from 110 feet to123 feet. The Coast Guardasked for a refund.. UnisysCorp. has picked EdwardColeman to be the company'snew chairman andchief executive officer.Coleman is known as aspecialist in turning companiesaround. Hisappointment came theday after Unisys Federalpresident Greg Baroniresigned from the company.He was replaced byTed Davies.U.S. defense spending hitits highest point in adecade at $678 billion infiscal 2008 and most likelywill be followed by adecline during the next 10years, according to a forecastby the InformationTechnology Association ofAmerica.. TheOffice of PersonnelManagement terminated a 10-year, $290 million contractwith Hewitt Associates to modernizethe federal employeesretirement system. The companyfailed to deliver a functioningbenefits calculator as part of theRetireEZ contract. Hewitt officialssaid they were disappointedwith the decision, adding that thecompany delivered on its contractobligations..Two U.S. companiesare finalists for the GlobalSecurity Challenge. The winnerof the competition will benamed in London Nov. 13. TheDefense Department will givethe winner a $500,000 grant.TRX Systems Inc., of CollegePark, Md., which makes a personnel-tracking system for firstresponders, and BrainFingerprinting Labs Inc., ofSeattle, which developed a technologyto help interrogations,are the two U.S. companiescompeting.. Tencompanies will competeagainst one another fortask orders to modernize theinformation technology systemsat the Food and DrugAdministration. The 10-year ITfor the 21st Century contract isworth $2.5 billion..Congress put on the brakes temporarilyfor Homeland SecurityDepartment projects such as theU.S. Visitor and Immigrant StatusIndicator Technology program,Deepwater, Secure BorderInitiative and the AutomatedCommercial Environment.Congress is concerned aboutmanagement issues and includeddetailed instructions in the continuingresolution that DHS mustmeet before money is released infiscal 2009. Requirementsinclude submitting additionalinformation on expenditures, lifecycle planning, costs, personnel,schedules and budgets.