How about the new DOD budget?

Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates just laid out his proposed 2010 budget yesterday. Based on the synopsis in The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal, I’m not too surprised. It’s a pretty brave step and takes on several cold-war era platforms. If you’re building planes, helicopters or ships it’s going to be a tough period for the next few years. I do agree with many of the “experts” here in town that with all the job losses in the economy this year – don’t take any bets – this budget may look a lot different when congress gets done with it!

One of the key parts of his proposed budget is a substantial increase in the government acquisition workforce. Over 50% of this recommended hiring over the next five years will be focused in this area. The Washington Post had a front page article on this today:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/06/AR2009040604049.html?hpid%3Dtopnews&sub=AR

If you are a service provider, what do you take away from all this?

The Government is making acquisition support an inherent Government function. For most service providers this is a positive development. I always prefer dealing with a sharp, knowledgeable professional – even if they don’t agree with me – than dealing with someone lacking the needed training or skills. My last DOD opportunity - announced in December, with nine amendments was subsequently cancelled so the Government could ultimately re-issue it. This kind of stopping and starting costs small businesses like Altron money – limited resources we could deploy on other opportunities. I’m looking forward to the Government’s investment in this area!

According to the headline in The Washington Post – “Contracting Boom Could Fizzle Out” – you might think the future for our industry is grim. I’ll have to politely disagree. If you’re a small business focused solely on providing procurement expertise – well – it’s time to re-think your strategic plan. Larger, well diversified service providers are going to continue to thrive and find opportunities in this market. Those companies that help the Government leverage technology, provide process improvement and enable Uncle Sam to do more for less are going to continue to thrive!