TechAmerica

For state chief information officers, life at the office has become delicate high-wire act. While under pressure to continue delivering legacy information technology services that are critical to day-to-day operations, CIOs still have to keep up with the surging demand for new IT services, such as mobile- and cloud-based computing.

That’s a central theme from the results of a just-released survey of state CIOs by the National Association of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO), TechAmerica, and consulting firm Grant Thornton LLP, said Doug Robinson, NASCIO’s executive director. Keep reading →

UPDATED with additional data. The federal government’s ongoing budget woes will result in flat-lined technology budgets over the next five years, forcing agencies to move aggressively away from outdated technologies to make the most of limited budgets, a new report by the TechAmerica Foundation predicted.

Compounding the challenge for agencies is Congressional gridlock over the budget and the looming possibility of sequestration which is hitting the government in the middle of an ambitious technology transformation program, said TechAmerica analyst Robert Haas.

The combination of uncertainty and lack of funds is causing agencies to reassess how they manage older systems and acquire new technologies, he said.

All of that is set against a backdrop of broader uncertainty of how Congress will address the so-called fiscal cliff, involving the expiration of tax breaks and forced budget cuts due to trigger in the new year. Unless Congress takes other steps, the Budget Control Act would force automatic cuts of an estimated $1.2 trillion in federal spending spread evenly over a nine year period beginning in 2013.

Many agencies, as a consequence, are pursuing a strategy of shifting existing funds into new systems and away from older systems. This leads to what Haas referred to as “creative destruction” or the withering of older systems in favor of the new.

Spending in the federal IT market will remain relatively flat through 2018, Haas said. The 2013 budget allocates $73.5 billion for IT projects, with a slight rise to $77.2 billion projected for 2018. But inflation will erode the real value of that spending he said, reducing the effective value of the 2018 funding in constant dollars to about $70.2 billion.

Civilian government IT spending for 2013 will be $40.8 billion and raise slightly to $43.5 billion in 2018. Because of the flat budgets, federal agencies are becoming more aggressive in shifting resources away from legacy systems to newer equipment and software, Haas said.

After a series of funding cuts in recent years, the Defense Department IT budget will remain stable for the next five years, Haas said. The 2013 Defense IT budget is $32.7 billion and is predicted to remain steady at $33.7 billion in 2018.

Sequestration, however, would have an overwhelming impact on defense operations, requiring $52.3 billion in DoD reductions in fiscal year 2013, affecting readiness, training, civilian personnel, military families, services and support, all of which would seriously affect DoD technology investments.

Over the next five years, the DOD will focus on integrating its IT infrastructure by merging telecommunications, satellite communications, networks, wireless systems and computers into a single architecture. Part of this activity includes ongoing efforts to consolidate data centers and move to a cloud computing environment, Haas said.

The Federal IT forecasts are part of new report being released at a conference Oct. 17 that provides detailed predictions of future information technology spending for all major civilian and defense agencies as well as the General Services Administration. It also provides an outlook of IDIQ contract vehicles and other acquisition trends.

The report outlines five possible scenarios of how Congress might tackle the looming Budget Control Act cuts, summarized in the following slides:

Charts courtesy of TechAmerica Foundation.


Mobile technology has joined cybersecurity, controlling costs, human capital and central agency policy on the list of top concerns that keep federal chief information officers awake at night, according to a newly-released survey of federal chief information officers released today by the trade group TechAmerica.

Based on in-depth interviews with more than 40 federal CIOs and their deputies, the latest annual survey finds that cybersecurity ranks as the Number 1 concern for CIOs this year, even as budget constraints now dictate how CIOs are moving forward to meet agency IT demands. Keep reading →

Our country has now been without a critical incentive for homegrown innovation for nearly four months. That is four months without an incentive for an inventor to take his emerging company to the next level. That is four months that technology firms have looked to other countries as options to invest their research and development dollars. That’s right- the United States has been without a Research and Development Tax Credit for more than a quarter of the year.

There has been lots of talk of the R&D tax credit but nothing has happened. President Obama has twice proposed strengthening and making permanent the research and development tax credit. Congress talks about spurring innovation and creating jobs. We are thrilled to hear all of this but it’s going to take action from both the Administration and Congress to make that happen. Keep reading →


This year’s 100 most influential executives in the government IT community were honored at a a gala tonight at the Grand Hyatt in Washington, D.C.

The Federal 100 Awards recognize government and industry leaders who have played pivotal roles in the federal government IT community and who “have made a difference in the way technology has transformed their agency or accelerated their agency’s mission.” Keep reading →

TechAmerica, a leading technology trade association, announced Shawn Osborne, a veteran software industry executive, started today as its new president and chief executive officer.

Osborne comes to TechAmerica as an accomplished executive and someone familiar with the workings of Washington policymakers. As president, CEO and director of Ulticom Inc., he led Ulticom from a small professional services organization to become a world leader in telecommunications signaling products. He also led Ulticom through a successful public offering on the NASDAQ, where the company was recognized at one point as the fourth best performing Technology IPO of the year. Keep reading →

President Barack Obama signed into law today a tax cut extension bill that includes long-awaited provisions for setting aside wireless communications spectrum to help build a nationwide public safety network for first responder organizations.

The allocation to public safety organizations of the much-needed wireless spectrum, known as the 700 MHz D-Block, comes exactly 10 years, 23 weeks and 4 days after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 – the event that highlighted in agonizing detail the inability of firemen, police and emergency responders to communicate in a timely, effective manner. Keep reading →

The TechAmerica Foundation, which has helped define cloud computing and IT policy discussions in the public sector, announced a new leader today.

Jennifer A. Kerber, considered an expert in technology policy, was named by the Foundation’s board to be the organization’s new president. Keep reading →

A survey report released today of the CIOs of 48 states, the District of Columbia and two territories shows this to be a year of evolving roles, changing capabilities and trying workloads for IT executives. The result: a new, dynamic environment for CIOs consisting of four Cs – clout, change, collaboration and consolidation. Keep reading →

A commission of experts has been formed to recommend an initial research and policy agenda for Digital Promise, a new national center created by Congress with bipartisan support to advance technologies to transform teaching and learning.

The commission – dubbed the Recommendations for Education and Advancement of Learning (REAL) Agenda –was unveiled as part of today’s White House Digital Promise announcement. Keep reading →

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