Breaking down stovepipes is possible. Working across agencies effectively takes two simple steps, according to a new report by Jane Fountain, director of the National Center for Digital Government at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

The Defense Department needs a plan to monitor contractors helping with the drawdown in Afghanistan. But some military branches haven’t figured out how they want to guide their contractors yet, according to a new report from the Government Accountability Office. Cary Russel, director of Defense Capabilities and Management Issues at GAO, joins In Depth to discuss what the Army is doing right that other military branches should emulate.

Agency budgets are getting smaller. Planning for those reductions means prioritizing. The Professional Services Council has a list of priorities for 2013. Alan Chvotkin, vice president and counsel at the Professional Services Council, joins In Depth to discuss the group’s priorities for 2013. Chvotkin also responds to proposals from federal-employee unions calling for cuts to service contracting to avert federal-employee furloughs under sequestration.

“Who says what” about the possibility of a sequestration deal means a lot. It’s one thing to track those comments. It’s a whole new level to graph the power of those words. Miguel Garrido, an analyst at Bloomberg Government, has charted how public figures are discussing the fiscal negotiations.