JULY - AUGUST 20258GOVBUSINESS REVIEWTRENDS TO WATCH IN GOVERNMENT CONTRACTINGIntroduction:This article reviews the landscape and trends seen in government technology contracting and the changes it is driving in government partnership and budgeting requirements. Increased technology consulting is required and will grow to need partnerships from internal departments and decision-makers for that increased investment. The trend of increased complexity, diversity and specialty technology needs continues to require increased outside expertise to be successful. The many federal, state, and local compliance requirements also require increased third-party review and support to ensure compliance and evolving information security needs. These increased professional costs outpace the normal government revenue growth and technology budgets requiring ongoing new investment in partnership with our departments and agencies. We additionally need better partnerships with our service providers that understand this financial challenge, help provide creative technology and sustainable cost solutions, and help take the long view of success in providing consulting and technology services to governmentThe government technology contracting landscape:Every decade, technology brings a wave of innovation and systems renewal that drives increased dependency on technology for daily operations. Technology support has evolved to an operational technology model as more IP devices and the Cloud/SaaS environment moves us into full technology dependency. Services and department work can completely shut down if there is a technology outage, with decreasing capability to provide services manually until the system is back online.Increased diversity and complexity of the technology landscape require a spectrum of outside expertise to implement and maintain solutions. The expectation for self-service solutions for the communities we serve is driving new or expanded technology. The expansion of specialized operational technology across all services requires specific expertise that can't always be maintained with internal staff. Cloud and Software as a Service (SaaS) models are externally contracting a larger percentage of support and maintenance efforts to service providers.The legal and specialized landscape for meeting multiple federal, state, and local compliance requirements (CJIS, PCI, HIPAA, NERC, etc.) often requires outside expertise or services and the absolute need for independent audits and reviews.Cyber and information security requires multiple external expertise and oversight services. There is significant growth in the need for contracted evaluation, testing, monitoring, response, and implementation of needs for cybersecurity that have and always will exceed the capacity of internal staff.These factors continue to drive an increased need for external expertise and contracted support. This trend of increased year-to-year technology consulting expenses will continue to grow for the next decade.Budgeting and government revenue/cost economics:The government technology budget model has not fully kept pace with increased technology requirements as additionally invested over the past few years through one-time grant sources. Many of these added services have an ongoing operational cost.Additionally, the ongoing move of capital expenses to operational year-to-year expenses, especially for software, has IN MY OPINIONBy Eric Finch, Chief Innovation and Technology Officer, City of SpokaneEric Finch
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