Research Company Forecasts 10 Percent Annual Growth in Federal IT Spending

Federal government spending on information technology products and services will increase from $36.4 billion in 2001 to $60.3 billion in 2006, a compound annual growth rate of 10.6 percent, according to Input Inc., the market research firm based in Chantilly, Va.

The data used in Input's annual federal IT market forecast was compiled before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, so the company considers it to be a relatively conservative estimate, said Payton Smith, manager of e-government services for Input.

"We haven't revised the report yet because we don't have the information yet," Smith said. There has been a lot of speculation about the effect of the attacks, he said, but there have not yet been any official government pronouncements or specific procurement initiatives concerning the redirection of federal spending.

"The first priority of the government will be to re-apportion spending from non-critical [areas]... It's become a priorities game," Smith said.

The Input forecast is of the government's contracted-out spending, Smith said, and excludes federal spending on IT personnel.

The Input forecast comes out days after another market estimate, prepared by the Government Electronics and Information Technology Association, that predicted federal spending on IT would jump 15 percent in fiscal 2002, growing to $49 billion from $42.7 billion in 2001. GEIA predicted that government spending on IT would average 5.6 percent a year through fiscal 2007.