Value of gov't IT contracts to plummet in '07
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(InfoWorld) - The value of the top 20 U.S. government IT contracts in fiscal year 2007 will be $118 billion, less than half the value of the top 20 government IT contracts in 2006, according to a report released Tuesday. The top 20 U.S. government IT contracts in fiscal year 2006 totaled $240 billion, according to Input, a Virginia firm that assists private companies win government contracts. Contracts with the U.S. Army, General Services Administration (GSA), and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) account for half of the procurements in the top 20 list for 2007, Input said. A couple of factors have contributed to the lower 2007 numbers -- belt-tightening in the U.S. Congress and a number of large multiyear contracts awarded in 2006, said Ashlea Higgs, manager of new markets at Input. "The IT spending has more of a chance to go through existing contract vehicles," he said. Among the contracts awarded in fiscal year 2006 were a $45 billion contract for a variety of IT services at the Department of Homeland Security, and a $42 billion contract at the Department of Energy. Two GSA contracts from Input's 2006 list, totaling an estimated $65 billion, were held over and are back on the 2007 list. Congress has also focused on reducing the government's $339 billion budget deficit this year. The U.S. government's IT budget grew by less than $1 billion between 2006 and 2007, Input said. "It's another sign in the 'there's less money out there' column," Higgs said. "Budgets are tightening." While IT vendors may be disappointed with the total value of the 2007 contracts, each contract has "still has enough revenue potential to attract hundreds of vendors," he said. Among the largest IT contracts for fiscal year 2007, which started Sunday: -- GSA's Alliant full and open contract, estimated value $50 billion over 10 years. The request for proposals was released in September, and Input predicts the contract will be awarded in June. This contract provides a broad range of IT services in areas including biometrics, business process re-engineering, communications and distance learning. It is available to all government agencies. This contract was held over from 2006. -- The Army's Services for Operations, Planning, Training, and Resource Support Services for Warfighter Operations, phase 2, estimated value $30 billion over five years. Estimated request for proposal date, August. Estimated award date, January 2008. The contract focuses on operational planning, training, flight operations, modeling and simulation, and other areas. -- Alliant small business contract, estimated value $15 billion over 10 years. Request for proposals was released in September, estimated award date in June. This contract is similar to the full and open contract, but the scope is narrowed to two areas, information systems engineering and systems operation and maintenance. -- U.S. Department of Treasury's Project Support Solutions contract, estimated value $10.8 billion over five years. -- GSA's contract for historically underutilized business zone firms, estimated $2.5 billion over five years. -- The Department of Agriculture's Multiple Award Information Technology Support Services contract, phase 3, estimated $2 billion over five years.
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Meeting next week to thrash out contracts The government is expected to concede some precious ground to the IT industry over difficult contractual negotiations that have just entered their third year.â¦
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THQ hoses down its near-term prospects.
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New orders for long-lasting US manufactured products have their biggest fall for seven months.
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The U.S. government will spend close to $22 billion on IT projects by the end of September, as agencies rush to spend their budgets by the end of the fiscal year, says a report from Input, an analyst focused on government contracts.
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Research firm says it expects average price to drop from $966 last year to $775 this year.
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Disappointing data come as credit crisis looms.
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2007 marked one of the worst years for financial stocks in recent memory.
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An early end to International Business Machines Corp.&#39;s contract with JP Morgan Chase &amp; Co. reveals how mega information-technology outsourcing deals are falling out of favor, with both IT services companies and their customers.
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Here's a bit of advice for those of you planning IT budgets. For the next five to 10 years, set aside 10 percent to comply with new government regulations, both from the United States and from other governments in your major markets.
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BusinessWeek Online - The announcement sent ripples of anxiety through the tech world. On Sept. 15, J.P. Morgan Chase &amp; Co.  said that it was terminating a seven-year, &#36;5 billion technology-outsourcing deal with IBM. For many, it's an article of faith that corporations will gradually hand off ever more of their technology operations to big service providers such as IBM, Accenture , and Electronic Data Systems . Yet here was the nation's second-largest bank taking its tech back because it was strategically too important to be left to an outsider. ...
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After a $7.9 billion write-down, what's next for the financial powerhouse?
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Businesses are planning to scale back their IT spending in the third quarter of 2007, according to a survey released Friday by an investment research firm.
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And what may be in store for the rest of 2007.
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The slump, which has seen the median price of a home drop 1.7 percent, could last in into the summer of 2007, experts say.
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This week, the biggest market declines since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the U.S. caused a crisis of confidence in sectors including technology, leading IT investors to reassess what's in store for the year.
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Interest rates on short-term Treasury bills fell in Monday's auction to the lowest levels in three years.