Contract Work

By John Liang / October 8, 2010 at 2:50 PM

Out of approximately $142 billion in contract awards planned by the government for fiscal year 2011, more than 80 percent of that amount will be spent by defense agencies, according to a new report released this week by INPUT, a market research firm:

"Several major defense procurements, including the Army's Enhanced Army Global Logistics Enterprise (EAGLE) program -- valued at $50 billion -- are planned," said Kevin Plexico, senior vice president at INPUT. "These represent significant opportunities for the government contracting community."

The report also reveals some notable trends that provide increased prime contract opportunities for vendors, especially small businesses. Agencies are shifting a number of single-award contracts to multiple-award contracts; including, in some cases, setting aside a separate set of awards for small businesses of varying socioeconomic classes. In the report, five out of 20 are expected to be awarded to a single vendor. "The government is clearly trying to increase prime contract opportunities for small businesses, in an effort to increase their engagement. The challenge ahead for agencies is to ensure that the work procured under these contracts is distributed in sufficient volume to make it meaningful for those small businesses that significantly invested in the development proposal," said Plexico.

Vendors from the community will, however, find an increasingly competitive landscape. Only two of this year's top 20 procurements represent brand new initiatives. The remaining 18 opportunities are all replacements or reconfigurations of existing contracts with an established set of vendors. "In this budget environment, there are a few brand new programs. Agencies are leaning toward replacing existing contracts with incumbent contractors, making the competitive environment rather intense for the vendor community," said Plexico.

To read the full report, prospective readers will have to shell out $995. Click here to buy it off the company's website.

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