After last year's omnibus spending package passed by Congress and approved by President Donald Trump, over $200 billion remains to be spent by defense and civilian agencies before the end of fiscal 2018, which ends Sept. 30, Nextgov reported Tuesday.
"It is not impossible for this to happen, but it is unprecedented for that high of a percentage to be obligated to contracts for a fiscal quarter," Professional Services Council President David Berteau told Nextgov. "You'd have to spend almost 50 percent of the yearly total in three months."
Spending is going to accelerate because the appropriations must be spent or returned to the Treasury Department and "procurement officials scrambling to find ways to spend the money," according to the report.
Just 52 percent of federal government decision-makers were "very confident" they would exhaust their 2018 budget in time, a Government Business Council survey of about 400 officials revealed, per the report.
Among the reasons given for being unable to spend the appropriations were "lack of personnel," "internel gridlock," or "lack of sufficient time."
About $300 million of the omnibus had been obligated through August, but the budget was signed six months late in March and had added $80 billion for defense and $63 billion for civilian agencies, which left the shortened time span and increased dollars.
Spending has already accelerated, dropping $36 billion since July 1, The Pulse reported, citing the Federal Procurement Data System.
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