Workforce Updates and Implications

Last month, I discussed workforce reduction as it began to play out across agencies. Since then, we’ve seen an acceleration of additional cuts, as departments have been tasked with providing the White House their intended comprehensive plans for a reduction in force by the week ending March 14, while further federal guidance has more recently directed the Department of Education and VA to lay off additional personnel as well.

In 2025, SLED government technology is undergoing a significant transformation, focusing on modernization, efficiency and improved service delivery. Emerging and innovative technology is at the forefront of this transformation, with AI leading the charge. AI’s influence on government operations is undeniable; whether it’s public safety, health, or education, AI is shaping government operations across all verticals.

The State Risk and Authorization Management Program, also known as StateRAMP, is slated to rebrand itself to “GovRAMP” later this year to more accurately reflect the entire scope of the nonprofit’s mission and support the “whole-of-state” approach to cybersecurity. 

The Army is moving fast to stay ahead in the digital battlefield. To make this happen, it is driving modernization initiatives to boost operational effectiveness and strengthen national security with a comprehensive IT modernization strategy. If you're in IT sales, knowing what the Army is focusing on can help you tailor your solutions to their needs and effectively establish a trusting partnership in the long run. Let's examine the top five IT modernization initiatives that are shaping the Army's 2025 vision and see how your tech solutions can help.

We’re now a month into the Trump Administration, and one prevailing theme we’ve seen take hold is that of workforce reduction, in effort according to officials, to maximize long-term efficiency and align to the new Administration’s priorities. For more on the initially announced fed-wide reductions, see my previous blog. The DoD has recently noted it is aiming to reduce its civilian workforce by 5 to 8 percent, including 5,400 probationary defense employee lay-offs.

The Center for Digital Government’s 2025 Beyond the Beltway Market Briefing event took place in Mclean, VA last week where state and local government leaders shared insights into top technology priorities for 2025.

Some of the key topics of discussion were the 2025 state and local market outlook, the potential impact of the new administration on government technology, emerging technologies such as AI, the foundational role of data, the evolving cybersecurity landscape and modernization and the customer experience.
 

Federal agencies across all areas of government have been contemplating workforce challenges for several years now. Prior to 2025, concerns for federal employees chiefly included maintaining an appropriate number of personnel with many aging out and retiring from the workforce, in addition to obtaining and retaining new talent that fit the ever-increasing technological needs of advanced and emerging IT given the competitive salary requirements for some of the field’s best and brightest.

Numerous cities in the United States struggle with wastewater issues. Many cities’ systems are designed to accommodate smaller populations, and historical rainfall patterns are increasingly prone to causing overflows – where wastewater spills into drinking water sources, streets and homes. And many cities utilize mostly combined wastewater systems where wastewater and rainwater both drain through the same infrastructure, creating increased stress on city systems during storms.

With any new executive administration, change is inevitable for federal agency priorities. It remains true, however, that departments and agencies consistently rely on IT products and services and historic trends confirm stability in public sector IT spending under both Republican and Democratic administrations. For FY25, much of the spending has already been laid out in the budget and priorities for FY26 are well under way, so you can expect to see little change to agency needs in the very near term.

On December 12^th, 2024, The National Association of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO) released its 2025 annual top 10 priorities list identifying the most pressing technology and policy issues that state CIOs are prioritizing for the upcoming year.