A Note From Our President & Founder Jim Garrettson
This past Tuesday, President Donald Trump released his first budget proposal for fiscal 2018 and the blueprint suggests many opportunities for government contractors, particularly those in the defense industry.
At $3.6 trillion dollars, the “New Foundation for American Greatness,” proposes $640 billion in discretionary spending for the Department of Defense and $560 billion in non-defense discretionary spending.
This year’s budget proposal proposes a significant increase on defense spending, adding almost half a trillion dollars, while cutting $1.5 trillion from nondefense spending and $1.4 trillion in Medicaid over the course of a decade.
The $52 billion increase in defense spending will enable the military to fulfill many of President Trump’s promises and accomplish long-term military goals, like centralization and modernizing infrastructure. Government officials have told Bloomberg that the proposed defense budget would appropriate funds for the construction of nine warships, with one of them being a DDG-51 Flight III guided missile destroyer ship built by Huntington Ingalls Industries and General Dynamics. All requisite munitions for the destroyer and eight other warships are included, with enough Raytheon-built Tomahawk cruise missiles to “keep the company’s Tucson, Arizona plant in operation.”
President Donald Trump’s budget also asks for $95.7 billion to update Federal information technology, a huge opportunity for that sector. Here’s 4 charts that explain where he’s asking for that money to be spent. The budget asks for investments in four key functions: mission delivery; administrative services and support systems; IT infrastructure and security; and IT management; and grants. The administration document requests agencies to “identify and budget for the modernization of specific high-risk legacy IT systems, with a particular focus on transitioning these systems to cloud and shared services.”
The budget proposal also seeks $7.75 billion for military space programs in 2018, a $1.3 billion increase from 2017. The $7.75 billion would be parceled out into $4.33 billion for R&D, testing and evaluation, and $3.42 billion for procurement. Although most defense space operations fall under the purview of the Air Force, the proposal includes outlays for other agencies such as the National Reconnaissance Office.
The increase in defense spending will also greatly assist efforts to rebuild the U.S. armed forces and transform it into, in the words of John Roth, a “bigger, more lethal force” by FY2019. Roth also called for a reversal of defense sequestration to assist in advancing the DoD’s strategy to re-establish military readiness.
The administration’s budget depends on tax reform to fund its spending and keep the budget revenue-neutral; and promises to balance the budget within the next decade. The “New Foundation” would also work to reduce the debt-to-GDP ratio to 60 percent and shrink the federal workforce.
The fiscal 2018 budget proposal indicates that the Trump administration will continue its focus on defense and IT spending, meaning that the government contracting industry will likely be replete with opportunities surrounding these two key areas.
Expect to see RFIs, RFPs and contracts related to defense, such as recruitment, training, equipment, munitions, vehicles, unmanned systems and more. There will also likely be an uptick in IT and cyber related RFIs and contracts as the federal government pursues IT modernization initiatives, continuous diagnostics and mitigation efforts, improvements to data analytics and, perhaps most importantly, cybersecurity.
John Mengucci Takes On Expanded COO Role at CACI; Ken Asbury Comments
John Mengucci, chief operating officer and president of U.S. operations at CACI International, will assume additional responsibilities as COO in an effort to advance the company’s strategic growth initiatives.
DoD Names PNNL Policy Adviser Vayl Oxford as DTRA Director
Vayl Oxford, a national security executive policy adviser at the Energy Department‘s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, will assume the director role at the Defense Threat Reduction Agency.
SpaceX Sets June 1 Launch for 11th ISS Commercial Resupply Mission A SpaceX-built Dragon spacecraft is set to launch on June 1 aboard a Falcon 9 rocket from a launch pad at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida to deliver crew supplies, scientific research and related equipment to the International Space Station.
DARPA Develops Military System Performance Prediction Tools
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has developed mathematical tools and methods to help designers understand risks associated with the design and modeling of large military systems such as aerospace vehicles and engines.
John Mengucci, president and CEO for CACI International, was presented his 2022 Wash100 Award by Executive Mosaic CEO Jim Garrettson during a recent visit to the company’s office. Executive Mosaic is excited to announce and recognize John Mengucci as a three-time winner of the most prestigious award in all of government contracting (GovCon), which is a testament to his
Stu Shea, chairman, president and CEO of Peraton, was recently presented his 2022 Wash100 Award by Executive Mosaic CEO Jim Garrettson during a recent visit to the company’s office in Reston, VA. Executive Mosaic is thrilled to recognize Stu Shea as a six-time recipient of the most prestigious and esteemed award in the government contracting (GovCon) community,
Executive Mosaic CEO Jim Garrettson recently presented Al Whitmore, president of the intelligence and security sector at BAE Systems Inc., with his 2022 Wash100 Award during a visit to the company’s office. Executive Mosaic is thrilled to recognize Al Whitmore as a five-time Wash100 Award recipient, the most prestigious award that is presented annually to those who exemplify the
We use cookies to offer you a better browsing experience, analyze site traffic, personalize content, and serve targeted advertisements. Read about how we use cookies and how you can control them on our Privacy Policy. If you continue to use this site, you consent to our use of cookies.