Deltek Reveals Research on 2023 Contract Marketing Trends

Deltek recently shared business development trends that its GovWin IQ research team predictions will make the greatest impact on the U.S. federal, SLED (state, local and education), and Canadian government contracting markets in 2023.

Deltek’s GovWin IQ research team of over 150 veteran market analysts and industry experts, who receive first-hand intelligence from government decision makers, have identified themes specific to each government market.

Some of these themes, such as expected budget increases, ongoing inflation and supply chain questions, workforce issues and an increased focus on ESG (environmental, social and governance) are expected to be relevant across all markets.

The GovWin research team explored these themes in a threepart webinar series covering federal, SLED and Canadian trends and market conditions at the beginning of 2023, designed for government contractors looking to optimize their business development strategies and safeguard their business plans in an uncertain environment.

At Deltek, the mission is to deliver solutions that help customers connect and automate the project lifecycle that fuels their business. Deltek’s software and information solutions enable superior levels of project intelligence, management, and collaboration, alongside their industry-focused expertise, helps customers achieve performance that maximizes productivity and revenue. “Better software means better projects”, reads Deltek online.

Deltek helps power project success—at every stage of the project lifecycle—for over 30,000 organizations around the globe. By streamlining business development, they provide solutions that help patrons find and win new opportunities. Through great project management and resource optimizations, once a contract has been won, Deltek’s world class capabilities allow patrons to create a good plan, optimize their resources, and manage their costs, and risks.

By finding, cultivating, and retaining top talent, people are at the center of the project life- cycle; identifying their resources needs, finding the right talent, and developing them is key to any project-based business. By delivering through unearthing the problem areas and the opportunities, Deltek’s project-based ERP solutions enable their customers to gain the visibility and control they need to, and also, to help customers measure performance and ask the right questions to manage their business.

Kevin Plexico, Senior Vice President of Information Solutions as Deltek, is responsible for overseeing research, analysis, and specification creation for customers in the Government Contracting and Architecture, Engineering &

By Ashlyn Grey

“As the year unfolds, uncertainty will return as the political landscape shapes up under the new Congress and we see how recent increases in interest rates impact inflation.”

Construction (AEC) industries. He provides thought leadership and expert opinion to industry executives and is a recognized expert on the public sector market.

By managing the delivery of GovWin, Plexico holds the responsibility for leading the industry’s largest team of analysts focused on the government contracting industry and providing essential government market research to over 6,000 clients.

“Deltek’s GovWin IQ research team expects a strong growth year in government contracting, underpinned by the significant increase in 2023 budgets,” said Plexico. “As the year unfolds, uncertainty will return as the political landscape shapes up under the new Congress and we see how recent increases in interest rates impact inflation.”

Additionally, Plexico leads Deltek’s Specification Solutions team of architects, engineers, and editorial professionals producing AEC specification content. Their efforts deliver MasterSpec® – a product of The American Institute of Architects (AIA) and the premier master guide construction specification content in the U.S. – as well as Product MasterSpec and SpecText.

Below are some of the top-level trends that GovWin’s research team has identified at the U.S. federal, SLED, and Canadian levels of government:

U.S. Federal Government Trends: Although inflation rates are expected to decline at least somewhat, government contractors across a wide range of industries are still experiencing challenges or recovering from a period of heavy inflation. However, federal agencies received a significant boost in funding for FY 2023 with the passage of appropriations. That is expected to drive meaningful growth in agency contract spending. Global supply chain issues, more adoption of GWAC and IDIQ contract vehicles, workforce issues, cybersecurity compliance and ESG initiatives are other market trends to watch.

SLED (State, Local and Education) Government Trends: Even though the crisis mentality of buying emergency items in 2020 is past, record high inflation driven by continued supply side constraints has affected SLED government in various ways - particularly for basic commodities. Talent and workforce issues, similar to the federal sector, are major constraints in the public sector. And the increased focus on climate/environment and diversity should continue to be highly relevant and important in 2023.

Canadian Government Trends: Public sector procurement in Can- ada is increasingly being used to advance the protection of the environment and support sustainable development, a trend which should continue into 2023. Expanded participation in cooperative purchasing and other forms of group buying will open up more opportunities to government suppliers, and recent federal legislation will encourage Canadian governments to improve accessibility in several priority areas, including procurement.

For business owners, entrepreneurs, or first timers looking for ways to address these trends and help grow their business, the GovWin research team hosted two remaining presentations in January 2023 that explored these themes in greater details and how to address them. A webinar on SLED Contracting Trends on January 17th and the last focusing on Canadian Contracting Trends was on January 19th

The webinar held for the Top Five 2023 Trends Impacting SLED Contracting was taught by Paul Irby, Manager in Research at Deltek, and contains information on inflation, a looming recession, and stimulus funding, and how they will continue to shape the contracting landscape in 2023. Deltek’s team of veteran market analysts and industry experts have identified and unveiled the top five contracting trends which will have the greatest impact to the 2023 SLED market.

The final webinar held for Canadian Contracting Trends was taught by Brynn Bruder, Senior Research Analyst at Deltek, and Lucie Leclerc-Cowell, Associate of Tactix, and focused on cooperative purchasing, sustainability, and DEI programs, and their ability to shape the Canadian contracting landscape in 2023. w