WashingtonExec 2015 Market Outlook Series
We look forward to a new year and new opportunities for innovation and growth in the government contracting community. This past year, we experienced an increased emphasis on cybersecurity, the government’s procurement process and a perpetual focus on doing more with less.
WashingtonExec reached out to those most knowledgeable and experienced 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 2015. Topics discussed include M&A activity, cloud computing, privacy issues, data collection, healthcare IT, defense and more.
Zantech IT President and CEO Zia Islam, believes that despite the challenges created by IDIQ contracts, opportunities exist in key technology areas such as cybersecurity, analytics, cloud and health IT.
Zia Islam: The government services market will continue to operate with significant uncertainty in 2015, much as it has for the last several years. The objectives to grow our business must, however, be pursued within the constraints of a dynamic, constantly churning federal market, which necessitates that industry must continually adapt.
In the current market, federal agencies are relying more heavily on IDIQ contracts to conduct their business, which has two effects. First, the acquisition cycles for these vehicles have been getting longer and the industry competition to win them is fierce. And second, once the vehicles are in place, the agencies move their work through them, which impacts the number and character of the free standing opportunities that are available to bid on. For Zantech, as a small business, this poses a significant challenge to compete for the IDIQ contract vehicles and to also identify opportunities where its technical expertise can be applied.
These challenges, coupled with the predictions of additional reductions in agency budgets and expenditure levels will continue to face all companies in this industry. These challenges include the reduced margins due to increased competition and the increased use of Lowest Price Technically Acceptable (LPTA) source selection criteria. There will, however, continue to be opportunities, particularly in key technology areas such as cybersecurity, analytics, cloud and health IT.
For Zantech, the pressure is on us to deliver the right technical talent, with technical credibility and quality performance, but linked, above all, with competitive prices.
