OPERATING UNDER A NEW NORMAL: DELAYED APPROPRIATIONS & NEW PEOPLE
The Greek philosopher Heraclitus is credited with saying, “the only thing constant is change”. This is very true now in the federal government market. Contractors and their customers must adjust to the new reality of lengthy delays in appropriations and, coming in 7 days, a host of new people with priorities that are likely to be very different than those they’re replacing. Half-Year Fiscal Years: FY’25 will, at best, be another half-year fiscal year, just as FY’24 was. Agencies can’t possibly get all of their spending completed in the provided time and, not surprisingly, some are adapting accordingly. Just as DOD quickly adapted when spending bills were one quarter late, more and more offices are figuring out how to adjust to longer delays. Funds are “allocated” or committed to specific projects so that they don’t disappear at the end of a fiscal year. The project can then be executed in the next fiscal year, reducing the need to get too much done in too short a time. While the fiscal year-end will always be busy, smoothing out the business process to provide more time to execute projects rationally reduces the opportunities for mistakes and can help cash flow for small businesses. New People & Priorities: Washingtonians know that The Washington Post publishes “The List” every January 1st. It’s a compendium of trends and people that are “in” and “out”. Contractors should apply the same approach to their federal business planning. “Out”: procurement rules that have nothing to do with actual procurement. “In”: An emphasis on reducing government waste. “Out”: All Biden appointees. “In”: Eventually, a new swath of Trump appointees. This means that relationship development will again be critical in order to succeed. Being able to adapt, whether its to new funding timelines or new priorities, is always “In”. Make sure your business is prepared accordingly.