On Thursday, March 16, President Donald J. Trump released a $1.15 trillion budget proposal that reveals the White House’s budget priorities for 2018. The 53-page document is known as a “skinny budget,” which means the document is meant as a rough outline, with more details to come later in the year.
Although skinny budgets are typically considered a work in progress — Congress must ultimately bass the budget — the document had a shock and awe effect upon its release. That’s because the budget includes huge cuts for agencies such as the Environmental Protection Agency (total budget cut by 31%), the State Department (cut by 28%), and the Department of Labor (cut by 20%). However, the budget largely makes good on many of Trump’s key campaign promises; the budget includes massive increases in defense spending and funding for a border wall on the U.S.-Mexico border.
In fact, the budget contains lots of good news for proponents of increasing spending on the military and homeland security. According to Fox News, the “America First” budget increases military spending by $54 billion in 2018.
“The $54 billion, 10 percent boost for the military is the largest since President Ronald Reagan’s Pentagon buildup in the 1980s, promising immediate money for troop readiness, the fight against Islamic State militants and procurement of new ships, fighter jets and other weapons.”
Doing More With Less…
In addition to increased military spending, the budget would also provide funding for an additional 1,000 Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) workers, 500 extra Border Patrol agents, and $1.5 billion for the detention and removal of undocumented immigrants.
Because the budget would also reduce many block grants that fund local services around the country, many local and state government agencies will also be tightening their belts in the years to come. Virtually across the board, public organizations will soon have to learn how to do more with less.
One simple way to increase efficiency and save costs is to take advantage of various forms of government software, particularly government inventory systems. This is one area where the public sector lags behind the private sector, although not by much. Today, less than 30% of U.S. warehouses are considered efficient by modern standards, according to ìBenchmarking Warehouse Performance.
Inventory tracking software can lead to significant reductions in wasted labor, costs, and errors. For instance, companies that install a warehouse management system typically see 70% fewer errors and a 35% reduction in overall operating expenses. For public agencies with outdated government inventory tracking systems, the savings could be even larger.
That’s because modern government software is specifically designed to help agencies do more with less, through a combination of automation, preventing costly errors, avoiding inventory loss, and improving efficiency.
In an era of tighter budgets, public organizations that have to keep track of large amounts of government inventory need a modern government inventory management system. With staffing and budget cuts on the horizon, time is running out to improve efficiency before the 2018 budget takes effect.
To learn more about ASTS Inventory’s government software, contact us today for more information.
