Welcome to Our FOSE 2001 Readers

FOSE 2001, the world's largest government information technology conference and trade show, opens this week in Washington with more than 400 exhibitors and an expected crowd of 20,000 IT buyers from military and civilian agencies and state and local governments. FOSE 2001 attendees from industry should find much of interest in this issue, including an article about the growing importance of partnerships among large and small businesses. With federal agencies moving to consolidate or bundle their IT and networking contracts into large procurement vehicles, such as the Navy-Marine Corps Intranet project, it is becoming increasingly important for small companies to team up with the large systems integrators that are winning these deals.For my front-page story on partnering, I spoke with executives from the top systems integrators and asked: "What does a small technology company have to do to catch your attention?"Interestingly, many executives said small companies often come to them with only a vague idea of how their products or services can actually solve a government need, hoping the systems integrators can figure out some use for the products or perhaps manufacture a need. This is not, however, what the integrators are looking for."You must have a specific solution for a specific requirement for a specific deal," said Richard Jennings, who is heading up Computer Sciences Corp.'s seven-year, $644 million IT outsourcing project with San Diego County.Small businesses seeking partnerships with large integrators should pay close attention to what Jennings and others had to say.FOSE 2001, by the way, is owned and operated by the Post Newsweek Tech Media Group, which also owns Washington Technology. FOSE 2001 runs March 20 to 22. See you there.