Flat IT Funding Threatens Cloud, Mobile Computing Initiatives

SOURCE: Federal Times

Federal information technology spending is expected to remain mostly flat over the next five years, with agencies receiving little or no additional funding for administration priorities like cloud computing and data center consolidation, according to a new IT spending forecast by TechAmerica Foundation.

Discretionary budget cuts and greater scrutiny of poor-performing projects and programs will be big factors in keeping IT spending from growing, TechAmerica predicted in a forecast presented Monday.

As a result, the fate of federal efforts to embrace cloud computing and mobile computing technologies are relatively uncertain, according to the forecast.

“The overall plan is more or less indefinite at this time because they [agencies] can’t make commitments based on particular funding levels,” said Robert Haas, a TechAmerica Foundation spokesman.

Much of the government’s future IT spending will be focused on health IT, wireless and mobile technology and investments in consolidation initiatives.

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