Federal Budget Constraints Put Spotlight on Cybersecurity Procurement
A soaring budget deficit is placing a crimp in federal IT spending plans. Washington Technology, citing the Government Electronics and IT Association's annual forecast, reports that the growth in federal IT spending will slow to 2.9% in FY ‘06 down from about 3.6% the previous year.

"Overall, the lower growth rate is the result of government's move toward greater efficiency and consolidation and its need to cut costs..." as a result of spending on defense, homeland security and Hurricane Katrina.

Technology areas that are of particular interest to civilian agencies include cybersecurity and bioinformatics.

Major federal IT projects include "Billion-dollar contracts at Veterans Affairs." Also of note, "Treasury will hold recompetes for its $1 billion Treasury Communications Enterprise contract and its $3 billion Total Information Processing Support Services contract."

The growing federal need for cybersecurity technologies combined with limited federal resources is placing ever-greater pressure on agencies to maximize the efficiency and effectiveness of their IT security procurement decisions. To assist all stakeholders in better understanding these actions, CyberSecure.US will focus increasing attention on federal cybersecurity procurement issues.