Recent investments in cloud technologies are showing marked improvement in sales and revenue. This points to an overarching demand for cloud-based services and technologies and increased interest in the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP).

Hurricane Sandy will be remembered not only as one of the worst hurricanes to hit the eastern seaboard, but also as the first natural disaster where social media platforms played a significant role. Twitter and Facebook dominated the social media world and were fully utilized by citizens on the ground and in other locations. Local officials were the most active on these platforms providing citizens with real-time updates on closures, emergency response, and weather updates. Virginia’s Fairfax county published a metrics report tracking their social media outreach and discovered over nearly 400,000 views, 10,175 likes, comments, and shares on Facebook, and about 1,500 retweets on Twitter. In addition, New York City’s Bloomberg Office reached over one million individuals using social media over the course of the storm, and even used the photo sharing application, Instagram, to share evacuation route maps. Going forward, this will be the new standard for crisis situations. It is crucial Federal, state, and local offices are prepared with citizen engagement software and platforms to track, respond, and provide information for citizens- before the next Sandy.

As many of you know, agencies have found it difficult over time to meet their Small- business contracting goals. For example, $6.4 billion fewer contracting dollars were awarded to small businesses in fiscal 2011 versus what had been awarded in 2010. The decrease meant that 21.65 percent of Federal contracting dollars went to small businesses, while in 2010 the percentage was 22.7 percent - just under the Federal contracting goal of 23 percent overall. The concerns have been great, especially during these increasingly budget conscious times. Fortunately, it appears the Woman Owned Small Business (WOSBs) will gain greater access to Federal contracts due to the 2013 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). The act removes caps limiting the size of a contract award that can be made to small businesses owned by woman. Previously, WOSBs could not bid on contracts whose value was in excess of “$6.5 million for manufacturing contracts and $4 million for all other contracts.” WOSBs make up 30 percent of all small businesses today. Moreover, during fiscal 2011 agencies awarded $16.8 billion to WOSBs, or 3.98 percent – well under their 5 percent goal. Now WOSBs will be able to compete more freely for Federal work. Coupled with the Small Business Administration’s Women-Owned Small Business Federal Contract Program, agencies are hoping their small-business contracting goals will be more attainable.

On Tuesday, January 2, 2013, President Obama signed the military spending budget, which isgood news for small businesses selling to the Federal government. The goal is for Federal agencies to have 23% of awarded contracts go to small businesses, which has been a problem for the Federal government.

On December 27, 2012 the General Services Administration (GSA) announced the first company to become FedRAMP certified as Autonomic Resources. The approval came from the Joint Authorization Board (JAB), which is consisting of the CIO’s from GSA, DoD, and DHS.

The House is calling for the small business contracting goal to be increased, while the Senate is not. That is one of the differences in the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). Some see the increase as a moot point, because the current goal is not being met. Despite this, the House is pushing for a 2 percent increase, from 23 percent to 25 percent. The two bills passed by each chamber will now be attempted to be resolved by deliberations set to begin this week. Some expect see the increase the House is pushing for, as a glass holding no water. They do not see how the increase will benefit small companies. Guy Timberlake, Co-Founder and Chief Visionary Officer at the American Small Business Coalition, is quoted saying: