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T-Mobile is ditching a once-inescapable part of wireless life: the contract. The company had been offering contract-free plans as an option alongside two-year contracts, CNET reports; now, according to the T-Mobile website, contract plans are a thing of the past. An example of a new plan: For $50 a month, you get unlimited talk, texting, and web, plus 500MB of high-speed data. Unlimited high-speed data will run you $70 a month. But that's not the full picture: You've also got to pay for your phone without the subsidies normally associated with contract plans, which knock pricey phones (new models can...

Today a special investigation by The Daily Caller reveals that a State Department contract specialist participated in awarding more than 43 federal contracts worth $52 million in taxpayer-funds to Sterling Royale Group, a company owned and operated by her husband and daughter. If you think THAT’s something, may I remind you of this story that apparently was scrubbed from the MetroActive website where it first appeared, and was deemed by World Net Daily as one of the Top Ten Most Ignored Stories of 2007.

Hispanic lawmakers unhappy with Charlotte contractsBy ANNA PALMER | 8/3/12 1:20 PM EDT Hispanic lawmakers are peeved at the Democratic National Convention Committee for not hiring more Latino-owned businesses for next month’s convention. Upset over the lack of contracts, Hispanic lawmakers exchanged heated words Wednesday with a top DNCC official in a closed-door meeting on Capitol Hill. Afterward, Rep. Joe Baca (D-Calif.) suggested that DNCC Chief Executive Steve Kerrigan should be fired if things don’t improve. If the situation isn’t rectified, “there will be a recommendation that the person who is in charge will not be in charge,” Baca told...

Civil marriage is at once a deeply personal commitment to another human being and a highly public celebration of the ideals of mutuality, companionship, intimacy, fidelity, and family … Because it fulfills yearnings for security, safe haven, and connection that express our common humanity, civil marriage is an esteemed institution, and the decision whether and whom to marry is among life’s momentous acts of self-definition.” The words above come from the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ­decision that made the state the first to authorize gay marriage. They are also part of a longer passage read last month at the Newport,...

A $348 million contract to maintain the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad was awarded this week by the U.S. Department of State to PAE Government Services, which will be tasked with delivering operations and maintenance services for the 104-acre compound. An unspecified portion of that amount will be devoted to providing a residence manager, two cooks, two waiters, and four housekeepers to serve the U.S. ambassador and deputy chief of mission. It also remains unclear how much will be spent on lawn maintenance, though The Peacock Report -- U.S. Trade & Aid Monitor's predecessor site -- reported back in 2005 that...

When a public school district ends the year in red ink, the Michigan Department of Education sends an 18-question form as part of the mandatory deficit-elimination plan the district has to complete. The first seven questions on the form all have to do with union contracts and the status of negotiations, and if there were any projected savings from negotiations. The eighth question? "What factors caused the school district's deficit?" Perhaps it's a subtle hint from the state to try and get the school districts to see what needs to be addressed. “It appears that the state is subtly recognizing...

MADISON — The dark fiscal clouds are starting to lighten in Wisconsin’s largest school District. But Milwaukee Public Schools‘ fiscal picture could be a lot brighter, had its teachers’ union chosen to open up its labor contract with MPS and agree to some salary concessions. Tweaking the deal could have saved scores of positions, opening up the opportunity for more teachers in the classroom, more programs to bolster the academic achievement of a school system that has seen its share of failure, and perhaps offering relief to Milwaukee taxpayers. Life is all about choices, and the Milwaukee Teachers’ Education Association...

Want to win a contract to operate concessions on federal property? Be ready to explain how your business promotes Obama administration desires like “climate friendly strategies” and the first lady’s “Let’s Move!” anti-childhood obesity effort. Proposal documents obtained by The Daily Caller reveal that the National Park Service favors those who promote these Obama White House priorities when deciding which concessioners they will allow to operate businesses on federally owned property. (Snip) These guidelines tell bidders that the National Park Service is “interested in supporting the goals of the First Lady’s Let’s Move! Initiative.”

The U.S. government yesterday took the next step towards partly financing environmental cleanup projects in China. As U.S. Trade & Aid Monitor previously reported, the U.S. Trade & Development Agency (USTDA) last month issued a Scope of Work related to a series of groundwater remediation initiatives in China—projects for which that nation intend to infuse (USD) $5.5 billion of its own money through 2020 (Monitor, March 16). Nonetheless, USTDA awarded a $44,000 contract to Ascendant Program Services, LLC, a Bethesda, Md.-based infrastructure consulting firm, to embark upon a "definitional mission," or DM, to China. (Contract award #USTDA-CO201261140). Despite the seemingly...

EDITOR'S NOTE: The U.S. Trade & Development Agency (USTDA), an independent White House agency, in recent weeks awarded several contracts and separately launched multiple initiatives in nations including Colombia, Egypt. Nigeria, South Africa, Vietnam, and Turkey. U.S. Trade & Aid Monitor posts these news briefs to encourage readers to ponder -- and comment on -- the question: are these relatively small expenditures a worthwhile investment of U.S. taxpayer dollars to promote global U.S. trade, or are they unjustifiable transfers of wealth from the taxpayer to businesses and to U.S. client states? We leave it up to the reader to decide....

The first round of Palestinian infrastucture contracts worth upwards of $750 million were awarded this week by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). The Infrastructure Needs Project Phase II (Solicitation #RFP294-2010-108), as the USAID endeavor is known, will help the Palestinians build or improve public works initially in the West Bank and, "if conditions permit, in Gaza" at a later time. Task orders could be awarded under this indefinite quantity contract (IQC) for initiatives including: • Transportation networks such as primary and secondary roads, bridges and/or other transportation infrastructure; • Water systems including the supply, storage, treatment, transmission and/or...

In Mauston, it’s easier for the School District to fire teachers. In Jefferson County, seniority no longer determines who is laid off or promoted. In Waukesha County, road maintenance workers can’t count on overtime pay when they work odd hours. In New Berlin, teachers work longer days and can wear school sweatshirts on only a limited number of days. Across Wisconsin, school districts and local governments are replacing union contracts with policy manuals that give public administrators a clear upper hand for the first time in 50 years under a state law that essentially ends union rights for most public...

U.S. Could Infuse $300 Million Into Upcoming Elections -- OverseasBy Steve Peacock, U.S. Trade & Aid Monitor (Nov. 11, 2011)Nearly $300 million in contracts could be awarded to help the U.S. provide “technical leadership in the field of electoral and political processes” in foreign nations. The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) will use private contractors to provide “rapid-response, one-time only” assistance as well as “iterative,” or repeated, goods and services, according to an updated solicitation (#SOL-OAA-11-000037) that U.S. Trade & Aid Monitor located via a routine search of the FedBizOpps database. USAID currently is carrying out such assistance projects...

It’s over: the cast members of The Simpsons have agreed to new two-year deals with series producer 20th Century Fox TV and, with them locked in, Fox has renewed the veteran series for two more seasons. Both sides reportedly made concessions from their original demands, with the cast abandoning their quest for a piece of the series’ lucrative back-end and the studio upping their previous final offer for a 45% salary reduction. (The number I had heard and reported earlier in the day was for a cut in the range of 30% from the actors’ current paychecks of $440,000). The...

DoD Prepares Follow-Up to $15 Billion Global Counterdrug ContractsA privately contracted, five-year global counterdrug program valued upwards of $15 billion is one year away from expiring—and the U.S. Dept. of Defense (DoD) wants to assess the capabilities of potential prime contractors in advance of the August 23, 2012, expiration date. The DoD Counter Narco-Terrorism Program Office (CNTPO) on Aug. 2 issued a Special Notice (Solicitation # W9113MCNTPO) announcing its intentions to “issue a follow-on procurement” to perpetuate that endeavor. The U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command/Army Forces Strategic Command, on behalf of the CNTPO, in 2007 issued a multiple...

Training of Pakistani intelligence and military personnel in the use of electronic surveillance and analysis equipment potentially could take place on U.S. soil, according to an Army planning document that U.S. Trade & Aid Monitor has located. The document asserted that the Army at this point only is conducting a market survey of firms capable of providing such training; however, the “sources sought” notice equally made clear that a follow-on Foreign Military Sales procurement of services would allow the training to take place either outside of the country—Pakistan, specifically—or domestically. The notice referred to Arizona, Florida, and Maryland as possible...

Five contractors this week secured another chunk of a $10 billion global law-enforcement project of the U.S. State Dept., which is deploying hired guns and consultants worldwide. Although the department yesterday (May 11) identified the companies to whom it awarded new contracts, it did not specify the destination or mission assigned to the respective vendors. Rather, it will pay the vendors on an Indefinite Delivery, Indefinite Quantity, or IDIQ, basis. DynCorp International, Justice Services International, MPRI, PAE Government Services, and Civilian Police International will provide a variety of “civilian police” (CIVPOL), corrections, and advisement services to clients of the State...

Madison — Democrats have adjourned an extraordinary session of the Legislature and officially given up on an unusual bid to pass labor contracts for tens of thousands of state workers in a lame-duck session. Two top leaders for both Democrats and Republicans met briefly Thursday morning to adjourn the session on labor contracts. The session had technically been left alive Wednesday night after Democrats narrowly but dramatically failed to pass the agreements. Outgoing Senate Majority Leader Russ Decker (D-Wausau) and Sen. Jeff Plale (D-South Milwaukee) crossed party lines to vote with Republicans to reject the contracts. The agreements then failed...

Madistan, WI — Democrats have adjourned an extraordinary session of the Legislature and officially given up on an unusual bid to pass labor contracts for tens of thousands of state workers in a lame-duck session. Two top leaders for both Democrats and Republicans met briefly Thursday morning to adjourn the session on labor contracts. The session had technically been left alive Wednesday night after Democrats narrowly but dramatically failed to pass the agreements. The outcome means unions will now have to seek new contracts from Governor-elect Scott Walker, who campaigned on cutting their benefits to help balance the state budget."We've...

Officials at the Treasury Department’s Office of Financial Stability contracted with a small consulting firm that had given nearly $25,000 to Democratic candidates since 2005 (and no money to Republicans) for “Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Analysts to support the Disclosure Services, Privacy and Treasury Records.” The firm is currently advertising a job opening for a FOIA analyst with experience in the “Use of FOIA/PA exemptions to withhold information from release to the public” (emphasis mine, and if that link goes down, The Examiner has kept a copy for its records).