Cloud, telework and security to top IT budgets in 2012

Technologies that support the federal transition to cloud computing and increased telework will be the most lucrative opportunities for government information technology vendors in 2012, along with new technologies that ensure the security of data that travel through those systems, according to a vendor presentation Thursday.

Federal information technology shops largely escaped massive budget cuts in the April deal to avert a government shutdown and the July deal to raise the federal debt ceiling, with most IT budgets seeing only minor cuts or even slight increases. That's the result of a general sense in the executive branch and Congress that IT projects -- if implemented effectively and efficiently -- can play a major role in lowering overall spending by reducing real estate and energy costs and cutting down on employee busy work.

IT budgets will be squeezed by uncertainty, however, according to the presentation from the Immix Group, a government business consulting firm.

That uncertainty comes from possible future cuts from the powerful super committee, which is charged with slashing an additional $1.5 trillion form the federal budget by January, and from the difficulty of long-term planning while the government is operating under a continuing resolution rather than a full-fledged budget.

As a result, most new government IT contracts will be for large ongoing projects, Immix said, such as Health and Human Services Department contracts to stand up a nationwide electronic health record system and an FBI program to build a next-generation database for criminal fingerprints and other identifying information, both multiyear projects that run into the hundreds of millions of dollars.

Other major projects that are likely to produce contractor work during fiscal 2012 include an Internal Revenue Service program to modernize its taxpayer accounts database and a project to build a joint electronic health record system for the Defense and Veterans Affairs departments.

Agency spending on cloud computing is spurred by a governmentwide plan to transition about one-fourth of the federal IT footprint to the cloud by 2015, a plan officials have estimated will save the government about $5 billion annually. Agencies are required to move one system to the cloud by the end of this year and two more by mid-2012, but budget cuts could jeopardize that plan.

Telework spending has been spurred by the 2010 Telework Enhancement Act, which officials say will increase worker efficiency during snowstorms and building closures and save the government substantial money on real estate and energy costs.