Sequestration is set to take effect on March 1st, however both parties have announced they will be introducing bills on February 25th or 26th to replace it at least for the next year. The Democrats bill, entitled the American Family Economic Protection Act, proposes $120 billion in savings, divided evenly between cuts in spending and increases in revenue. The bill would replace the cuts that could take effect under sequestration, but only until the end of December 2013. The proposed bill includes $27.5 billion in cuts to defense spending, which would take effect in 2014 after the drawdown in Afghanistan, as well as possible cuts in agricultural subsidies. The increased revenue would come from three areas: Firstly, from a provision raising taxes to 30 percent on incomes between $1 and $2 million, the so-called “Buffet Rule,” a provision previously blocked by Republicans; secondly, revenue would be raised by eliminating tax deductions for businesses who relocate their facilities overseas. Finally, the increased revenue would come from a provision closing the tar sands loophole (the loop hole that allows companies to escape the eight-cent-per-barrel tax on oil, which isn’t currently levied on oil produced from tar sands). No details have come out yet on what the Republican plan will entail, although several Republican lawmakers have expressed willingness to increase tax revenue.

University of Baltimore’s Charles Tiefer has proposed multiple solutions to help agencies save money in the face of sequestration. Tiefer believes that there are things each agency can do now to save money lost in unnecessary contracts, in order to avoid furloughing government employees.

Understanding that the easiest way to reach the public these days is through their mobile devices, police departments have begun publishing mobile apps for citizens to report petty crimes and thefts. According to a multitude of departments, the old system of calling in each crime would lead to a backlog of paperwork and nearly a month turnaround to obtain a police report. Additionally, a lot much crime data was lost as it would be difficult for the department to follow up. Appalling numbers such as for every 2000 phone calls for reported crimes, only 500 police reports would result, showed the need for a change. Now with the mobile app, citizens fill out the crime information through the app and upon approval, a PDF copy is sent directly to them. This new system leads to not only less time spent and paperwork, but greater record keeping accuracy and creating more crime data for certain areas.

CGI has gained approval from the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program’s (FedRAMP) Joint Authorization Board to become a secure cloud service provider (CSP). CGI joinsAutonomic Resources as one of only two firms approved by FedRAMP.

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.