Input: Security spending to rise

Federal agencies are expected to increase their spending on information technology security by 27 percent in the next five years, according to a market research company's report released this week.

Input, which conducted the report, say the $5.6 billion that federal agencies now spend on IT security products and services each year will increase to $7.1 billion by 2009. The spending increases will come through grants and routine budgetary recommendations, according to the Input report.

The Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks changed the way federal agencies approach IT security, said Marcus Fedeli, manager of federal opportunity products at Input. Agencies responded with substantial spending increases for protecting electronic information and networked information systems.

The amount of federal money spent on IT security had been increasing modestly before the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, Fedeli said, but it increased dramatically after that — 100 percent in fiscal 2002 and 50 percent in 2003.

The report says the top IT security spenders on the civilian side of the government are the departments of Homeland Security, Health and Human Services, Energy and Transportation. Civilian agencies plan to spend about $1.6 billion on IT security in fiscal 2005.

Input officials, who track prospective bid requests for IT security products and services, note in their report that several civilian agencies, including Energy and the Federal Aviation Administration, are expected to request IT security proposals in the next three to six months.

Energy will be seeking specialized technical and administrative security support for its Office of Safeguards and Security. Input estimates that the contract could be worth about $20 million.

The FAA will be seeking bids for integrated security systems for its security risk management program. Input analysts estimate that the contract value could be a high as $30 million.