Federal spending on services contracts is continuing a slow decline after a decade of agressive growth that peaked in 2010. That’s according to an annual deep-dive into contract data by the Center for Strategic and International Studies. The think tank projects a further dropoff once 2013 numbers are in and sequestration is taken into account. Overall, dollars spent on services fell 7 percent from $332 billion to $308 billion between 2011 and 2012. David Berteau explains the numbers in more detail, and the stories those numbers tell us. He’s senior vice president at CSIS and lead author of the report.

The 52nd annual Combined Federal Campaign is focused less on total dollars and more on the people behind the money. The annual workplace fundraiser kicks off with a new slogan and a new approach to getting the word out. Federal News Radio’s Jason Miller explains.

In 30 years, the workload of an Occupational Safety and Health Administration inspector has essentially doubled. There are twice as many places to work and nearly twice as many workers in the U.S. as there were in 1981. The current staff at OSHA would need 131 years to inspect every workplace in America. If sequestration carries into 2014, OSHA will see another 7.2 percent reduction in it’s budget. Nick Schwellenbach is a senior fiscal policy analyst for the Center for Effective Government. He explains how the numbers translate to safety in the workplace.

Virtually everyone in the Pentagon believes that a second year of sequestration would be more painful than what the department went through in 2013. But the official who oversees acquisition and research, and development matters believes his programs will be hit twice as hard as the rest of the DoD budget.

Cyber crime is on the rise. Damage from cyber crime is well on the way to surpassing that of traditional crimes. In a commentary for InformationWeek Security, Hord Tipton says, “the capability to sufficiently investigate cyber crimes has grown far beyond the Justice Department’s capacity to manage.” If you find yourself under investigation as a cyber professional, it’s crucial you have an attorney who understands the principles of your work. Tipton is the executive director for (ISC)2. He talks about the need for collaboration among the cyber and legal communities and why Bring Your Own Attorney is becoming a reality.