Agencies will feel pinch from Obama budgets

Federal agencies have not heard the last word on spending cuts in the fiscal 2009 and 2010 budgets.

Federal News Radio reports that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) sent a letter to House members on April 27 asking them to identify opportunities to reduce costs in the 2010 budget, either by improving efficiency of existing programs or ending redundant programs.

Since then, the Obama administration has announced plans to cut 121 programs to save $17 billion in fiscal 2010.

However, not quite all of those savings come from cuts, writes the Federal Times’ Elise Castelli. Several agencies have found ways to reduce costs without necessarily cutting services.

For example, the Homeland Security Department plans to consolidate its purchase of office supplies and computer software across the organization, qualifying the department for larger bulk discounts. DHS officials expect to save up to $59 million during the next five years. The State Department is taking similar measures.

The Defense Department’s budget is a mixed bag.

As FCW reported May 7, the Obama administration plans to spend $2.98 billion on the Army’s Future Combat System in fiscal 2010, down from $3.6 billion in fiscal 2009.

And the administration plans to provide no funding for the Tactical Satellite Communications System, opting instead to rely on additional Advanced Extremely High Frequency communications satellites, NextGov reports.

On the other, DOD is requesting slightly more than $1 billion for the Joint Tactical Radio System in 2010, a 12 percent increase, according to NextGov.

Check out Washington Technology for more coverage of cuts to DOD projects.