Building a solid IT strategy is one of the hardest challenges in government. But it’s also one of the most important. Karen Evans, the national director of the U.S. Cyber Challenge and the former E-Government administrator at the Office of Management and Budget, says the strategic use of IT should be the No. 1 priority for agency technology managers this year.

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Congress has passed legislation to delay sequestration for two more months. But whether or not it’s still enough time to work out a budget remains to be seen. Tom Shoop, editor-in-chief at Government Executive, joins In Depth to discuss the latest developments.

Sequester delayed for two months; pay freeze extension still possible (related story)

Contracting companies can turn to volumes of data on current market research to help with contracting.

Guy Timberlake, co-founder and chief visionary officer of the American Small Business Coalition, says the top priority for companies should be better leveraging the resources already at their disposal.

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At the heart of your agency’s move to the cloud is FedRAMP, the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program. The General Services Administration says agencies are lining up to take advantage of FedRAMP services and GSA recently certified the first company offering cloud-computing services as meeting the requisite security requirements.

Dave McClure, GSA’s Associate Administrator in the Office of Citizen Services and Innovative Technologies, joins In Depth to discuss the FedRAMP certification process.

The federal government will face an array of issues and challenges this year. But Dan Chenok, the executive director of the IBM Center for the Business of Government, says a focus on strategy planning – at the beginning of the year – will save federal managers a few headaches further down the road.

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