Cyber spending will see a 35% increase – all the way to $19 billion annually – if President Obama has his way. The number in the President’s FY’17 budget request underscores the importance of cyber protections in virtually every aspect of the federal government.  In contrast, projects on IT modernization and cloud would see a modest increase of 1.8% under the 2017 proposed budget issued by the President this week.  This is in keeping with annual increases proposed for the past 7 years.  Regardless of whether Congress appropriates such a large increase for cyber, the message to contractors could not be clearer:  Cyber projects must be a significant part of your federal business if you want to increase sales.  Congress is likely to follow the general direction, if not the specific path, in which the budget proposes to move.  Cyber security has broad bi-partisan support, especially in cases where projects are well-defined and have measurable ROI’s.  The budget will now be discussed in Congress.  If you support the higher cyber funding levels proposed by the President, now is the time to let your elected officials know.