IDC: Stimulus to pump billions into federal IT

The new stimulus spending law American Recovery and Reinvestment Act will pump approximately $2.5 billion into federal agencies for technology funding, according to a new study from IDC Industry Insights.

The funding will go to new and existing federal technology programs, including allocations for the Social Security Administration, and the State and Homeland Security departments, the study said about the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

IDC examined the implications of the economic stimulus law and quantified the technology spending that might be stimulated from initiatives in the three vertical markets of energy, government and health care.

The company estimates that approximately $101.2 billion in technology spending will be generated between 2009 and 2012.

Industry Insights identifies 12 government technology opportunities that the new legislation is anticipated to support. They include:

• The Social Security Administration’s (SSA) National Computer Center data center modernization, $500 million.
• The SSA's claims processing program, $490 million. 
• The Homeland Security Department data center, law enforcement communications, $340 million. 
• The State Department's security and network assurance technologies, $290 million.
• The Institute of Education Science's high-performance computing and predictive services, $250 million.
• The Veterans Affairs Department data center and information technology services, $50 million.
• The Agriculture Department's Farm Services Agency data center and systems services, $50 million.

The IT vendor community must “be both aggressive and agile in their strategy to capture this newly addressable market," IDC said. "This once-in-a-lifetime flood of new technology money requires a new way of finding and following opportunities.”

The report added, "Due to the aggressive timeline, success will not come from the traditional business development via relationships and [requests for proposals].”