The cuts keep on coming.

The White House is ordering agencies to cut 5% from their 2014 budget requests, compared to the 2013 level. It called for a 10% reduction in IT spending from the 2010-2012 level.

The memo from the Office of Management and Budget makes no provision for the automatic sequestration that is scheduled to lop off billions more from the budget beginning next year. Acting OMB direct Jeffrey Zients said President Obama believes “Congress can and must act” to avoid sequestration.

Even without sequestration, he said fiscal reality requires agencies to “sharply restrain discretionary spending.”

In making the reductions, he told agencies to “continue to cut lower-priority spending in order to create room for the most effective investments in areas critical to economic growth and job creation, including education, innovation, infrastructure, and research and development.”

Zients said agencies must identify at least three priority program reform proposals that could improve effectiveness or efficiency through legislative, budget or administrative changes.

Concerning the cuts in IT spending, he said agencies should offer ideas for reinvesting the savings in “innovative IT solutions that would produce a favorable return on investment within 18 months or demonstrably improve citizen services or administrative efficiencies.”

He told agencies to expand their use of evidence-based evaluation in setting spending priorities. Across-the-board budget cuts will not be permitted.