In recent months the General Services Administration (GSA) has placed significance on the importance of having a digital certificate. In fact, some GSA Schedules already require a digital certificate to access the applications GSA’s eOffer/eMod system. With the increased prominence and use of digital certificates it is important to be informed on what they are, why they are important and how to obtain them. A digital certificate is essentially a way of verifying an individual’s identity and securing internet transmissions. It is reassures the parties involved in the transmission, as it creates verifiable digital signatures and enables secure transmissions of data through encryption and decryption. It is for these added security and verification benefits that the GSA desires its contractors to have these digital certificates.

The General Services Administration (GSA), in partnership with a federal cybersecurity interagency working group (comprised of members of the DoD, GSA, DHS, the Office of Federal Procurement Policy (OFPP), and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)), released an RFI for stakeholders’ input to improve the governments’ cybersecurity acquisition and implementation.

On May 20, 2013 the General Services Administration (GSA) announced the third company to become FedRAMP certified as Amazon Web Services. As part of the program, Amazon has been granted two Agency Authorities to Operate (ATOs) by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. CGI Federal and Autonomic Resources are the other two FedRAMP-certified providers.

Leasing office space is a huge cost for Federal Agencies, so in this age of shrinking budgets we are experiencing the phenomenon of the shrinking office spaces, if not disappearing ones, to meet budgetary needs. The Feds have taken a cue from the likes of American Express, GlaxoSmithKline, and other private industry giants who have long embraced downsized communal office spaces in order to save on real estate costs.

Another chapter of the open government initiative has been written as the White House announced the implementation of the newly minted Open Data Policy. Designed to incorporate all forms of information, the policy dictates a new standard for maintaining data. The standard requires all data be “open and machine-readable.” By forcing all data to be maintained in open, machine readable formats, the federal government hopes to improve efficiency, reduce costs, and increase public access to the information, thereby upholding the ideals of the open government movement.

The line of communication between government and citizen is expanding with the recent emergence of social media. The 2012 presidential election was a testament to this, with Twitter playing a significant role in both democratic and republican campaigns. With websites like Facebook and Twitter becoming significant platforms for government communication, there becomes a need for these transactions to be officially recorded in order to comply with freedom of information and public record laws. With this in mind, the state of North Carolina has taken the first shot at a solution with the launch of their Social Media Archive.