A simple way to get ahead of your competitors is to know what buzzwords are currently of interest...
Keeping up with current trends in the constantly-shifting world of federal government contracting is essential. Stay on top of the market by learning more about the top three trends shaping the federal market in Q4 2022.
What trends are shaping the federal market in Q4 2022?
- Workforce Issues
IT modernization in the federal government has become more prominent over the last several years resulting in a significant IT talent shortage. IT workers between 20 and 29 years old only account for 2.7% of the workforce, and 14.2% of federal IT-focused employees are nearing retirement. Because this staffing issue has interfered with progress, many federal workers will need to be reskilled in the near future.
Many key decision-makers are bringing in staff to help with the divide between government contractors and agencies in the long- and short-term. In 2020, the Office of Management and Budget estimated that nearly 20% of the government’s current workforce, approximately 400,000 federal employees, will need to be reskilled.
Take a look at this report showing the rapid increase in IT funding over the last 10 years.
- Ukraine Conflict
Over the past few months, the term “Ukraine” has been flooding federal contract opportunities as goods and services are sent over to Ukraine in response to the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Additionally, the GSA recently rolled out a new national interest action code for tracking Ukraine spending in contract actions.
For reference, here is the latest report showing federal contract awards with the Ukraine National interest Action (NIA) code.
- Non-traditional Contracting Mechanisms
Federal government officials are constantly experimenting with ways to engage the private sector. More and more decision-makers are exploring new ways to use IDIQs as well as pursuing non-traditional contracting mechanisms, like OTAs, to meet their needs.
Following this trend, the Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft division of the Department of Defense recently received a lot of attention for opening up a broad opportunity for people to submit ideas for research and development projects. Similarly, NASA recently awarded NOIS2 contracts, which used a crowdsourcing approach.
You can learn more about the NOIS2 IDIQ here.
Why is it helpful to know about these trends?
According to GovTribe CEO and Co-founder Nate Nash, the key to getting ahead right now is to be aware of these trends and rethink what a viable opportunity looks like to you. Agencies are trying a lot of new things right now to address workforce issues, assist Ukraine and engage the private sector.
To stay ahead in Q4 2022, keep in tune with current trends, pivot your strategy to current needs and take another look at opportunities you might have ignored in the past.
How can you stay on top of more trends in the future?
- Start a free trial with GovTribe.
These trends were pulled from GovTribe, a platform that pulls data from multiple federal government data sources and organizes it to help clients find actionable intelligence about federal contracts and grants. - Sign up for our next free webinar.
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