New Series: WashingtonExec 2012 Predictions Issue: Execs Speak Out
2012 is fast approaching, and with it comes big changes in the Federal IT industry. WashingtonExec is giving local executives the opportunity to share their thoughts on where they see the government contracting industry headed. Leaders of the industry were asked a series of predictions questions focused on challenging issues such as cloud computing, healthcare IT, defense and so forth.
Kevin Jackson, General Manager at NJVC, answered WashingtonExec’s questions regarding where he sees government contracting in 2012. All his answers were shaped around the adoption of cloud computing in federal IT.
What will next year hold for Government Contracting?
Kevin Jackson: Cloud computing is entering a new phase: Adoption. GSA has stated that at least 35 agencies are actively preparing cloud computing RFPs. If these acquisitions averages $30M each, that’s over $1B in expected cloud computing awards in 2012. This adoption will happen, and it will accelerate, regardless of who’s in charge of the White House. This adoption also represents a huge re-education challenge for the federal acquisition corps. Cloud computing not only drives new IT provisioning and consumption models, but also drives the need for new Federal acquisition models and policies as well.
More M&A Activity? More IT budget cuts?
Kevin Jackson: Federal CIO, Steven VanRoekel, as a sequel to “Cloud First”, recently laid out his plan for doing more with less with “shared first” and “future first” IT policies. This approach is expected to lead to higher returns on federal IT investments. I also see it as a key strategy for dealing with expected IT budget cuts and yet another positive for cloud adoption. Budget reduction are a given and cloud computing can help improve the way the government interacts with their constituents. Traditional federal system integrators, unable to effectively react to this adoption wave, will definitely use acquisition strategies to keep up.
How do you think collaboration between industry and government in addressing tough issues will shape out?
Kevin Jackson: The federal government is being very aggressive in its efforts to collaborate with industry when it come to cloud computing. NIST has been on point for this and has done an exceptional job. The recently released Government Cloud Computing Roadmap and continuing cloud computing workshops illustrates the value of a collaborative approach. I see the NIST model as the right model for the foreseeable future. Not just for cloud computing, but for addressing many other mutual goals.