Spending Increases at Commerce to Drum-Up Opportunity for COTS Vendors

by Chris Wiedemann, Senior Analyst

Although the agency often flies under the radar, the Department of Commerce (DOC) has one of the largest IT budgets in the civilian space and we’re seeing it continue to increase.  Moreover, the department is seeing dramatic annual increases in its Development, Modernization, and Enhancement (DME) budgets, which is both rare and a great sign for the COTS community. Between complete overhauls of patent and trademark systems, building out infrastructures to support the 2020 Census, and even supercomputing to support weather prediction and analytics, the mission areas and opportunities for COTS vendors are broad and deep.

No matter where you look across the department, the buzzword is innovation. IT leaders throughout the enterprise have emphasized the importance of agile development, rapid implementation, and leveraging cutting-edge technologies to meet their mission demands. That kind of language is exactly what COTS vendors want to hear. Your sales strategy for the remainder of FY15 (and beyond) should make DOC a central target.

To learn more about COTS sales opportunities at the Department of Commerce, including the major areas of funding in the next 18 months, please view my on-demand Webinar that took place on Thursday, March 25. Click here to watch now.