FY14 Exhibit 53s Now Available

by Tim Larkins, Senior Manager, Market Intelligence

As we all know, the President’s FY14 budget request of $3.77 trillion was released last week, and thankfully, the targeted spending cuts proposed in this budget would essentially replace the blunt, across the board cuts that would have been caused by sequestration. A small portion of the budget document addressed IT (pages 349-358); with the IT request coming in at $82 billion, up slightly from FY12 spending levels of $80 billion.

The budget request that specifically addresses spending on IT programs (the Exhibit 53) was released yesterday. While the request is 1% above FY13 levels, there are some significant changes. HUD will receive a 36% cut, USAID will receive a 24% cut, National Archives will receive a 13% cut, GSA will receive a 12% cut, and SSA will receive a 6% cut. The largest increase in IT funds will go to the VA with a 19% increase, DHS and EPA will receive a 7% increase, and DOS will receive a 4% increase. The remaining agencies’ IT programs will be largely unchanged.

The Exhibit 53 is a budget request, and as such, can only be considered a guideline for IT spending for the year; but the fact that we are seeing a year-over-year increase in the IT request is outstanding news for the product community. This increase in budget requests, plus the possible elimination of blunt, across the board sequestration cuts, and the potential of an omnibus budget for FY14 could spell a very prosperous year for technology companies after a year full of gloom and doom in 2013.