Selling Information Technology to the U.S. Government

Government a Bright Spot in Information Technology Spending

Despite a global recession that has resulted in frozen IT budgets and corporate belt tightening in nearly every category, one major enterprise has been spending money big time - the U.S. Government. And interestingly enough, much of the money the government is spending is for information technology.

This IT spending trend was highlighted in a fascinating news brief in Washington Technology magazine, titled "7 Hot IT Projects for 2011."

However, if you're a technology provider, its not so easy to get your slice of the action. There's plenty of competition for those government dollars, and your company has to jump through the right hoops to meet qualifications, bid procedures and government-specific buying processes. A separate story in the same magazine detailed how there's actually increased competition for fewer opportunities in the government sector, but that the rewards are huge.

The simple point is, if you have not at least explored IT business opportunities your company can find with the government then you may be missing a big revenue opportunity for your company. Here are a few of the IT projects listed in the Washington Technology article:

• Electronic health management record project for the Defense Department. Mainly a professional services and system integration project. Proposed 2011 funding of $302.3 million.

• Optimized, centralized, enhanced security architecture for the U.S. Department of Agriculture to better combat cyber attacks. Proposed 2011 funding of $83 million.

• Cybersecurity and data privacy initiative at the U.S. Department of Transportation. Proposed 2011 funding of $54 million.

• Data improvement initiative from claims processing with focus on data analysis and information sharing for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Proposed 2011 funding of $50.3 million.

• Virtual lifetime electronic record management project for patients, for the U.S. Department of Defense, Human Resources Activity and Tricare Management Activity. Proposed 2011 funding of $40 million.

• Operational support systems, and Command and Control initiative for the U.S. Marine Corps. Proposed 2011 funding of $30.4 million.

• Bureau of prisons network continuity operations (BOPnet) enhancements for the U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Prisons. Proposed 2011 funding of $15.1 million.

Government IT projects are truly across the board. They're also publicly available on government web sites. Also somewhat interestingly, most government contractors are not located in the Washington, D.C. beltway.

If a government IT projects sounds like a business opportunity for your company, find out what you need to do to qualify and compete for such work.

While the government places many contract opportunities for set aside based on ethnicity or race, most contracts are open to anybody. You may choose to enroll in the GSA pre-approved vendor list, or apply for any number of other government contract vehicles, but recognize those avenues are optional, and not required to sell products or services to the U.S. government. You may also consider acting as a subcontractor to a business that already has inroads to government contracts.

Regardless of approach, the business you have tomorrow may not be the same business you had two or three years ago. Change is uncertain, particularly when diversifying your customer base, but such changes can be extremely advantageous and ensure the continued viability of your company.

Look far and wide and consider new customer targets. If your current customer market is receding, then you need to go out and try to find new customers.