In the run-up to the presidential election, rule-making took the back seat in the administration. But now the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs is gearing up again. Bob Litan is the director of research at Bloomberg Government. They have a new study about what we can expect.

(BGov.com is a paid site and requires a subscription for access.)

Federal employees may face furloughs and who-knows-what-else under the across-the-board budget cuts scheduled for March. Federal contractors are preparing for reduced revenues under sequestration too. NeoSystems provides business services to federal contractors, so it has a good view of how vendors are faring.

A ruling in a 2012 Supreme Court case could come back to bite federal agencies facing budget cuts under sequestration. The court held that an agency is liable to a contractor for the entire amount of a contract, as long has it has sufficient appropriations to pay. If contract obligations come first, other programs could get short-changed.

The Energy Department says hackers have attacked agency computer servers. Employees and contractors may be at risk of identity theft. And just yesterday, government auditors slammed the FCC for security flaws in its new, supposedly more secure, computer networks. Taken together, the cases underscore some fears that agencies are not equipped to ward off sophisticated online assaults. Gregory Wilshusen is director of information security issues at the Government Accountability Office. He wrote the report on the FCC network.

The word “furlough” keeps popping up more and more as the threat of sequestration looms on the horizon. Here to prepare you for the difficult decisions you may find yourself having to make is John Palguta, vice president of the Partnership for Public Service.