As a long time advocate for legitimate small businesses across the country, I have to disagree with Jerry Grossman's comments on federal small business contracting policy.
Federal IT and professional services stocks have rallied over the past couple of months due to good second-quarter earnings reports and investors seeking less economically sensitive investments. And the federal IT group has almost broken even for the year.
The government IT industry is not immune from the larger economy or political changes, but it is more isolated than many industry sectors. What does the mergers and acquisitions environment look like for our sector for the rest of 2008?
Lockheed Martin Corp.'s chairman and chief executive officer Robert Stevens is the highest paid executive in the Washington region, according to a survey released today by the Washington Post. He received $26 million in total compensation.
With the changes in Congress and the presidency, and a tougher budget environment ahead, companies will have to be even more flexible and agile to maintain growth during the coming years.
A number of recent significant cross-border transactions, regulatory actions, and domestic and international political developments have put globalization of government and defense into the cross hairs of the 2008 presidential election.
A tight fiscal environment in state and local governments means contractors looking for work in those sectors need to focus on projects that will produce savings customers can redirect, according to a new study.
The stocks of federal information technology and professionalservices companies are performing in line withthe S&P 500 this year. Both are down about 6 percent,while aerospace and defense companies' stocks are havinganother solid year and are up 7 percent.
The FAA is conducting a market survey to determine the availability of contractors to assist with the cultural transformation of its Air Traffic Organization.
The small-business recertification rule implementedlast year by the Small Business Administration is havinga profound effect on companies that depend heavily onsmall-business set-aside contracts for growth and midtieracquirers of such companies, forcing both to focus more onorganic growth.
Just as in every campaign that has preceded it, the issue ofjobs has been at center stage throughout the 2008 presidentialcampaign. Candidates talk about creating jobs, buildingsustainable domestic industries and so forth. Ironically, onetopic that never comes up in those discussions is one of thenation's most significant sources of high-quality, well-compensatedemployment: government contracting.
Since 2004, the price-to-performance multiples of publiclytraded government technology services companies havetrended downward, while the valuations of mergers andacquisitions have held their ground. Is this rational,sustainable and likely to continue through this year and the next?
One comment I often hear lately about the financialmarkets is that their volatility has increased. Theincreased volatility is an indicator of uncertainty, causinginvestors to react quickly to each piece of financial,economic or political news.
