Throughout the political ups and downs, federal spending on information technology has been steady. As part of our Federal Drive series, we’re looking ahead to 2014. In the past year with the sequester, IT spending rose but contractors didn’t necessarily feel it.

Whether industry, government, or in between, no one wants to work with sub-standard contractors. When contractors become unreliable, the federal government has a mechanism for de-barring them. Now the World Bank is revising its debarment system. In this week’s Legal Loop segment, some experts are wondering if the World Bank’s new system should be adapted by the government.

Service members are trained to fight and win the nation’s wars, and they receive a steady paycheck. But many have trouble paying their bills. A new report by the Finanical Industry Regulatory Authority reveals hundreds of thousands of servicemembers are having trouble properly planning for their financial future while meeting their current obligations.

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The latest budget agreement spares the DoD from 20 billion dollars worth of budget cuts in 2014. Now the DoD has until 2016 to cut its expenses to levels required by the Budget Control Act. Russell Rumbaugh analyzes this situation for Federal News Radio’s Jared Serbu.

President’s Obama’s executive order rewards federal employees with a 1 percent pay raise across the board. This is good news. For the last three years, federal pay has been frozen. In our Federal Drive series looking ahead to 2014, John Palguta says that despite the tough past year, there were some bright spots and there’s more to come.