WashingtonExec 2014 Market Outlook Series
As we turn the page on 2013, we look forward to a new year and new opportunities for innovation and growth in the government contracting community. This past year we experienced budget sequestration, a 16-day-long government shutdown, and a perpetually increasing focus on cyber security and healthcare IT.
WashingtonExec reached out to those most knowledgeable and experienced individuals in the federal contracting space. We asked executives in and around the beltway for insight regarding where they see the government contracting community headed in 2014. Topics discussed include M&A activity, cloud computing, healthcare IT, defense, mobility, and more.
Rob O’Keefe is the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of Arc Aspicio, an Arlington, Va. based management consulting and IT company that specializes in homeland security:
In an optimistic view, some budget uncertainty will fade and government mission leaders can move out on capabilities that will help move their missions forward. A key trend will be collaboration across organizational lines at many levels. Different units within one agency, different agencies working together and public private partnerships. Government leaders are seeing the value of their greatest asset, data. Industry tools are maturing with supporting services to allow government leaders to move out with new prototypes, pilots and experiments.
The day of “big bang” programs continues to fade, replaced by Quick Starts — rapid programs that bring people together in unique ways. Unexpected benefits come out from new conversations, new viewpoints and new capabilities. Successful prototypes move forward on a foundation of support and engagement from the mission operators. The standing procedural practices for software development and capability deployment will be challenged as too slow and bureaucratic — how can we deploy quickly while still maintaining high quality, data security and privacy protections? The “definitions” of Big Data or Cloud Computing become less relevant, with focus on what challenges can be solved with more efficient processing power now on hand.
