IT Contractors Must Prepare for 2013 Sequestration

With sequestration looming just over the horizon, IT companies are competing now more than ever for contracting opportunities. The anticipated funding cuts, which are set to take place in January 2013, have many contractors panicking. As a result, we suggest the following tips: “1) Making the most of stretched 2012 opportunities; 2) Determining what’s possible under 2013 plans; and 3) finding out what carries into 2014 coupled with brand new initiatives in the upcoming 2014 budget request.” (http://washingtontechnology.com)

IT contractors should also have an “understanding [of] how the internal budget plumbing works as agencies map expenditures to the spending authority granted by Congress.” Thus, it is important to not “overlook crosscutting management initiatives that can pull money from multiple program buckets, including across agencies, even under a continuing resolution.”

Furthermore, Washington Technology conducted an analysis that found “many IT initiatives with greater spending ceilings in 2013, than in 2012.” This is because many of these IT initiatives “are existing projects, many of which are funded by multiple program line items.” To illustrate this point, a few examples are listed below:

• Spending for the Department of Agriculture rises from $11.9 million to more than $14 million for the Enterprise Information System, a data warehouse and decision-support project;
• The Department of Commerce requested $67 million for research and testing activities for the 2020 decennial count, an increased request amount from $18.6 million in fiscal year 2012;
• The Department of Defense is asking for a $260 million increase for its “Next Generation Enterprise Network,” a total of $1.88 billion. It also looks to double the budget for the Navy’s Consolidated Afloat Networks Enterprise Service project to $408 million.