
Regardless of your political philosophies, as a government contractor, the number 1 rule for success in the federal marketplace is to know your customer.
This is what we know so far:
Diversity, equity and inclusion programs throughout the federal government are being dismantled and are being replaced with "merit" based systems. Opportunities will be in areas of merit based recruiting, employee training, and performance measurement systems.
This philosophy will be extended to program justifications (how do they benefit the American people?), evaluation of objectives, audience served, results achieved and improving performance efficiency across all agencies.
There are increasing cybersecurity threats from state actors that have already infiltrated our utility, water and telecommunication systems. Look for additional opportunities in all areas of cybersecurity, both offensive and defensive.
We are in a competition with China to dominate AI. This will require more innovative and cost effective AI tools than what American companies currently offer. This is a space in which small AI companies may have increased opportunities.
Immigrants throughout the country are being hunted down. I anticipate increased funding for the Department of Homeland Security not only for more ICE agents, but for the systems that are used to identify and track undocumented immigrants.
There will be an increasing number of legal challenges to White House policies, therefore expect demand for professional and administrative services to increase in the Justice Department.
The world is not any safer today than it was on January 19th. Even if the wars in Gaza and Ukraine subside, significant threats remain from the Middle East, Russia and China. Expect DoD funding to grow with an emphasis on warfighter technology and cyber warfare. Ditto for the intelligence community.
The imposition of tariffs will place more administrative burden on the International Trade Commission, Treasury, the GAO and OMB. Look for opportunities to develop more innovative systems to monitor and report on the impact of these policies, if they are implemented.
Federal employees are being laid off, fired or inconvenienced enough to voluntarily seek employment elsewhere. Many will seek employment with government contractors. I anticipate there will be more opportunities for contractors to fill positions previously held by civil servants.
As of this writing, the biggest unknowns are in the areas of health (public health, research, drug prices/health insurance) and foreign aid. Stay tuned.
Where there's chaos, there's opportunity.
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