WashingtonExec 2013 Government Contracting Outlook Series:
The new year brings big changes for the Federal IT industry, and WashingtonExec is back with its Government Contracting Industry Outlook Series.
We are giving local executives the opportunity to share their thoughts on where they see our industry headed this year and beyond. Leaders were asked a series of questions focused on cloud computing, healthcare IT, defense, mobility, and more.
Kris Collo, founder and CEO of MicroPact spoke with us about his predictions for what’s to come in 2013. We also interviewed this entrepreneur last summer:
“With budget cuts looming for the federal market, I anticipate a continuation of M&A activity from federal contractors similar to what we saw at the end of 2012. Although the tax increases had a major impact on the decision making of some business owners, I suspect that the impending budget cuts—coupled with the rise and popularity of mobile, health IT, and cloud computing—will encourage companies to seek out organizations that have been successful in penetrating these growing markets.
I expect that companies providing tangible, applicable solutions will continue to prosper in the federal market. Government spending has more than doubled over the last decade. As such, I anticipate the forthcoming cuts will have minimal impact on strong, well-managed organizations. As a business owner whose company survived the tech bubble burst, the disaster of 9/11, and a major recession after the housing market collapsed, I have seen time and time again that small businesses are resilient and good companies successfully reposition the business to address shifting priorities of their federal government customers. Delivering products that both provide efficiencies and reduce the maintenance of existing IT systems will help companies thrive in this fiscal environment.
Lowest Price Technically Acceptable (LPTA) will continue to be the criteria of choice for contracting shops to reduce overall contracting costs. In addition, past performance will play an even more vital role than it already does today as more companies compete for fewer contracting dollars. Finally, I expect that the rise in protest will continue to increase. Firms that lose bids will feel desperate and may resort to protest vs. fair competition. Overall, I am very optimistic about the prospects of the government contracting arena, despite the negative news that has been circulating for many months. The U.S. federal government will continue to be one of the largest buyers of IT in the world.”
