Input sees 12 percent growth for DHS tech in 2005

A market research firm predicts Congress will increase President Bush's proposed information technology budget for the Homeland Security Department by 5 percent for fiscal 2005.

At Input's MarketView 2004 conference in Falls Church, Va., Lauren Jones Shu, a senior analyst at the firm, said she expected Congress to approve $4.6 billion for DHS IT in fiscal 2005. That would be an increase of $200 million, or 5 percent, from President Bush's request, and a 12 percent gain from this fiscal year.

Shu also predicted the department's IT budget will increase from $4.6 billion in fiscal 2005 to $6.2 billion in fiscal 2009, representing an 8.8 percent compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) increase.

That's in line with an earlier assessment by Input that the rate of homeland security technology spending is slowing.

Input expects that the contracted portion of the homeland security IT budget would rise from $4.3 billion to $5.9 billion during that same period, demonstrating a 9.2 percent CAGR increase.

Shu said her firm is tracking more than 60 active opportunities -- with half being pre-requests for proposals