As many experts in the public sector space know, this time of year is often referred to as the federal government’s “buying season” for spending, creating a “busy season” for IT vendors and resellers. With the end of the fiscal year nearing, government agencies work quickly to allocate the remainder of their budgets to avoid returning them to the Treasury. This “use it or lose it” mentality often results in aggressive investments in future federal programs and IT modernization throughout the federal buying season.
According to a recent article from NextGov, the federal government is expected to spend record-breaking amounts during this federal buying season. Before the close of the federal fiscal year on September 30, Bloomberg estimated in a recent report that more than $200 billion will be spent this quarter in addition to the already obligated $438 billion from the rest of the year. And given that this estimation was created preceding the passage of the CARES Act, there could be $10-20 billion additional dollars included in that spending.
The same report estimates that government agencies will allocate around $28 billion this quarter solely on unclassified IT contracts, $1 billion more than they spent on IT the entirety of last year. Due to the swift pivot to remote work environments, this development doesn’t seem all that surprising.
This does, however, provide an important opportunity for Cisco partners this federal buying season: A captive audience ready to listen to experts about (and invest in) digital transformation efforts and services. Federal agencies are looking to government vendors for products and services that are going to help strengthen their remote work environments for their essential staff so they can “keep the lights on,” so to speak. These agencies are depending on knowledgeable, supportive technology vendors to continue delivering on their mission in these unprecedented times.
“Now is the time for Cisco partners to be more ready than ever to offer strong, reliable, agile solutions to their federal customers,” stated Ed Somers, Vice President of Public Sector and Vertical Markets at SYNNEX. Somers noted that many who sell into the federal IT space have been busier than usual for months now. For partners, this means they need to engage with their distributor partner often, and early on. “We are here to help strengthen your practice for those engagements.”
Learn more about how tools like DEMANDSolv and the EDGE Focus Tool can help strengthen your public sector Cisco practice.
