We all know that 2009 will be shaped by significant events — a new administration, the pending drawdown of the Iraq war, and of course the economy. But how will it all play out, and how will it affect the federal marketplace? For the top 2009 predictions, we went straight to some of the area’s leading executives. In our first installment — yes, more predictions to come next week — we got their predictions on everything from how government IT dollars will be spent to which trends in Gov 2.0 technology will see the most traction. So, without further adieu, here are their predictions — tell us if you agree:

“There will be no decrease in contracting of services by the federal government. The government might move some functions in-house, but overall, the need for private-sector support will continue. This will be accompanied by a demand for greater accountability and increased pressure to demonstrate value and reduce costs. I also expect a re-examination of the procurement process to reduce the number of protests and build the capacity and skill of the federal contracting corps.” — Bill Ballhaus, President & CEO, DynCorp International

“Given the unprecedented challenges facing the nation, federal government leaders will accelerate the adoption of innovative and cost-effective technology solutions to drive performance, increase transparency and reduce costs. New security and procurement policies will clear a pathway for creative solutions, streamlining the process for government agencies to use cutting-edge technologies. Government will make more data available to the public in formats that allow easily development of websites and applications that further engage citizens.” — Mike Bradshaw, Head of Federal Enterprise, Google

“This will be a year of optimism and accountability. The new administration, coupled with economic recovery plans, will create new dynamics. Cost effectiveness, avoidance and containment will be required for new initiatives. We expect to see continued growth at DHS, HHS, and federal healthcare programs, including VA, DOD Health, and Medicaid and Medicare. We’re also predicting a renewed focus on alternative energy and healthcare reform, as well as additional expenditures for infrastructure and transportation improvements.”
— B. Chatterjee, President, CNSI

“President Obama’s decision to include health IT in the economic stimulus package will provide a big boost to healthcare reform efforts.  Those companies with the experience and expertise in health IT, healthcare policy and citizen-centric systems will be well-positioned to provide the support needed to make reform a success. Greater collaboration in 2009 between government and the private sector, leading to secure exchange of interoperable health information across the nation, will represent a big step forward to achieving
true reform.” — Mac Curtis, President & CEO, Vangent, Inc.

“Facing reduced revenue, agencies that examine their business processes and engage companies with innovative solutions and proven experience in business change will be rewarded with efficiencies and increased focus on key projects.  Industry will also benefit with sustained business for companies, such as ACS, that offer diversified portfolios. Every government executive I’ve spoken with is open to building a business case for investing limited dollars in improvements to processes and reduced cost of ownership.”
— Joe Doherty, EVP/Group President, ACS Government Solutions Group

“GWACK IDIQ vehicles will continue to gain popularity, especially with GSA, as contract shops struggle to keep up with requirements and growing protests.  SBA will consider and debate modifications to the small business rules and categorization, as well as take a firmer position on the share of work going to small business.  M&A deals will be challenging due to the financial market constraints and valuations of non-specialized organizations will continue to fall.”
— Scott Goss, President & CEO, Preferred Systems Solutions

“2009 will be a year of caution and confidence rebuilding. Economic implications will affect all governments. Industries and individuals ‘campaign promises’ will succumb to ‘governing realities.’ Government services sector will be the nation’s ‘anchor to windward.’ In chaos, there is opportunity.”
— Bill Hoover, President & CEO, AMERICAN SYSTEMS

“I think we could see efforts at modernizing our nation’s air traffic control system included in the stimulus plan the president proposes.  Much like the roads, bridges, and other critical infrastructure throughout our country are reaching the end of their useful lifespan, the nation’s air traffic control system is in dire need of an overhaul and modernization.”
— Cheryl Janey, President Civil Programs Business Unit, Harris

“With the change in administration, the influx of private sector leaders into appointed positions, and the continued focus on cutting costs and increasing efficiencies, there will be increased emphasis on overcoming both cultural and policy barriers to allow better information sharing across government.  The ability to securely access, share, and collaborate will become increasingly important across federal, as well as state and local governments, as agencies aim to accomplish mission objectives while being challenged to do
more with less.” — Mark Johnson, Senior Vice President, Oracle Public Sector

“We’ll see a more efficient government in 2009 alongside a dramatically empowered constituency. Even as the federal government tightens budgets, it is simultaneously setting unprecedented goals around performance, transparency and citizen engagement. Technology – and software specifically – is critical to delivering on this vision, which some are calling Gov 2.0. Mission solutions using commercial-off-the-shelf technology along with cloud-based services will gain a foothold, demonstrating the ability to reduce costs yet exceed expectations. Government will also confront its legacy system challenges, using new software capabilities that perform with minimal disruption or expense.” — Curt Kolcun, Microsoft’s Vice President, US Public Sector

I’m not going to lie: It took me about nine hours to come up with that headline today. I lost three clients in the process but I think we can all agree it was worth it. At a Reston Town Center event this morning, Google Internet Evangelist Vint Cerf and Federal Sales head Mike Bradshaw were on hand to announce in fact that the search behemoth has some new turf in Reston - 15,000 square feet of it to be exact.

The Google team has made its mark inside the Beltway since launching the DC office several months ago, and the Reston office signals the extent to which tangible inroads have been made in extending and re-packaging the company’s offerings - which include Google Search Appliance, Google Earth Enterprise and Google Maps for Enterprise - for government users.

For the 30 Googlers who will be working hard in the new Reston office, good news: The popular massage chair that has become a fixture in the DC office will be available in Reston, as will the catered lunches and game room. The new office is another notch in the ‘W’ column for the Fairfax County EDA, which continues to work diligently in attracting the most innovative companies to the region. Google will also reach beyond its office space and into the community through philanthropic partnerships with Fairfax County Public Schools and with Reston Interfaith, a nonprofit social services organization that serves northern Virginia.

Local Tech Leader Ted Leonsis interview on CNBC

Following the 4th largest single day fall in points on the Dow Jones Industrial average, Ted Leonsis appeared on CNBC’s morning edition of Squawkbox. Leonsis believes that the growth of online media will outpace more traditional methods as we see “consumers become merchants.” 

According to a CNBC interview, Ted Leonsis, Washington Caps owner and Vice Chairman Emeritus of AOL, believes that we have yet to bottom out of the financial crisis. Leonsis also said:

1. “Washington is really becoming the new capital for the economy”
2. “Commercial Real Estate will start to suffer”
3. “…not seeing the kind of recession the rest of the country is seeing”
4. Google has 5,000,000 advertisers and consumers are the long tail

Area residents should take heart, as Washington D.C. has managed to weather the crisis better than many other areas in the country.  According to Leonsis, this trend will continue given the furor of activity surrounding the incoming administration.  The future of new media will focus on  working smarter by placing media directly at the point-of-sale.  Click here to read more on Ted’s take.   

Do You Know Anthony Robbins of Sun Microsystems?

ExecutiveBiz recently had the opportunity to sit down with Anthony Robbins, Vice President of Sales at Sun Microsystems.  Robbins joined Sun following a 20 year career span in the government sector.  Despite the ruling economic climate, Robbins believes that the government will focus on using the most efficient products and services; something which Sun prides itself on providing.  In terms of weathering the financial storm, Robbins believes that the government will seize this opportunity to use corporate best practices as a guide and gain the best ROI by improving efficiencies.  One of the ways to do that might be in the adoption of open source.  Click here to read more. 

Financial Guru Headlines Event

Don’t miss the chance to meet Knight Kiplinger, one of the nation’s foremost authorities on financial forecasting, planning and wealth retention. The event will be hosted by the Potomac Officers Club on December 11th at the Ritz Carlton in Tysons from 11:30 AM to 1:30 PM. Members click here to read more about Knight Kiplinger and here to reserve your seat.

Cyber Security Breakfast with Melissa Hathaway

ExecutiveBiz is proud to host a rare public appearance by Ms. Melissa Hathaway, Senior Advisor to the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) and Cyber Coordination Executive. The event will be held on Tuesday, January 13th, 2009 from 8:00 a.m.- 10:00 a.m. More details can be found here .  Click here to register.

When the NSA or CIA attempts to search its databases for intelligence information they’ll soon be able to say what most civilians do when searching for information: “Google it”

A little known group within Google, the federal sales team, recently signed a deal with the federal governments’ intelligence agencies to provide servers for a secure searchable database much like the popular civilian Internet search engine.

“We are a very small group, and even a lot of people in the federal government don’t know that we exist,” said Mike Bradshaw, head of Google’s federal sales team, in a recent interview with the San Francisco Chronicle.

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ExecutiveBiz members have had the pleasure of interacting with a long line of IT thought leaders. One of note is Chris Rasmussen, a great advocate for information sharing and collaboration within the federal space and a master of the use of new tools to get groups working together on hard problems (read more about Chris here). Chris will speak with members again on 24 April 2008 at The New, New Internet.

Federal users are making increasing use of Web2.0 capabilities, and we look forward to hearing Chris’s views on where this is all going. We are already seeing that some of the nation’s hardest problems, like those the intelligence community must address, are being tackled with Web2.0 tools and techniques. One recent development is a YouTube-type capability for the intelligence world called “iVideo.” (see Federal Computer Week’s article on “YouTube for the intell community” for more info). iVideo is based on Adobe technologies, and provides users from around the globe the ability to securely upload video and other media for the use by others. We can expect the use of iVideo will grow dramatically, like the adoption of other advanced Web2.0 tools provided by the Office of the Director of National intelligence (ODNI).

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Earlier this month ExecutiveBiz highlighted ten area executives in relatively new roles who we expect to be firmly placed in the 2008 spotlight. Perhaps these executives can take their cue from another set of leaders who have grown quite accustomed to being in the middle of the action. ExecutiveBiz’s “Beltway Game Changers” recognizes 10 prominent names who are not only well-known commodities within the DC government contractor community, but heavy hitters who lead some of their organizations’ largest and most critical business units.

The ten executives listed below have lofty goals to achieve and tens of thousands of employees to lead and motivate. Not surprisingly however, they are ten leaders with the track record and pedigree to hit all of their marks.

Jim O’Neill – President, Northrop Grumman IT
Staff meetings were probably a little easier to arrange decades ago when O’Neill entered the government technology space as a contract negotiator for Sanders Associates (now BAE Systems). Today, as President for the largest employer in the Commonwealth of Virginia, communicating and motivating 18,500 employees requires a little more strategic coordination. But, as he said when interviewed by ExecutiveBiz in early 2007, the company’s product is the employee which means that every single person is critical to the firm’s success.

As one of 30 companies awarded part of the Alliant ID/IQ Contract, O’Neill – and all NG employees – are in store for a busy 2008. Despite the commitments required with his day job, O’Neill served as the 2007 chairman of the Professional Services Council; recently joined the Board of Directors of Lee Technologies; and is a board member of the Northern Virginia Technology Council and the Security Affairs Support Association.

Bill Hoover – President & Chief Executive Officer, American Systems
Some executives – perhaps concerned about failing to meet lofty expectations – keep their corporate growth plans buried deep within the bowels of the C-Suite. Hoover however, has never been one to shy away for aiming big and hitting the mark, and he put a definitive stake in the ground by securing a $75 million expandable line of credit to have on hand for his aggressive acquisition plans.

Hoover has not even hit the three-year mark at American Systems, but he’s made a quick mark at the company with a plan to hit tier one status sooner rather than later as part of corporate vision/2012.

Linda Gooden – Executive VP, Lockheed Martin Information and Technology Services
After transforming a small division at Lockheed into a 14,000-employee operation it surprised few when Gooden was promoted to her current role January of last year. The U.S. Black Engineer and IT Magazine 2006 Black Engineer of the Year is now engineering a 52,000-employee Lockheed business area that embodies a concerted realignment from traditional defense contractor to fast-growing IT services.

Dan Johnson – Executive VP, General Dynamics Information Technology
Johnson’s bio indicates he is responsible for the day to day operations of GD’s 16,000 person Information Technology unit – which no doubt makes for some long days balancing short-term operational needs with long term objectives. The IT unit - formed after the December 2005 Anteon acquisition - is chugging along under Johnson’s stewardship as he aligns the two firms’ expertise (networking and mission-based services) together.

Brad Antle – President and CEO, SI International
In an ExecutiveBiz blog posting back in October, I cited Antle’s published commentary in the Washington Post about scrutiny directed at government contractors. Because Antle is held in such high esteem inside and outside the government contractor community, he was the ideal thought leader to remind readers in that piece how the overwhelming majority of contractors are playing a critical role in aiding government and military operations.

Antle assumed his current role over three years ago, and the company’s mantra of Rapid Response • Rapid Deployment® seems to be paying off as SI brought in $450 million in Federal Contracts (if all options are exercised) during September of last year alone. Beyond the revenues however, Antle has the company on a path that has earned the respect of peers. SI was named 2007 Contractor of the Year at the 5th Annual Greater Washington Government Contractor Awards.

Greg Baroni – President, Federal Systems, Unisys
While Presidential election uncertainty can be good news for lobbyists – who typically thrive when clients need to cover all bases – election years can be challenging for Government Contractors that will see ambitious new and lucrative Agency initiatives fade as November approaches.

As Baroni cited when interviewed for a recent Washington Technology story, Unisys’ Federal Systems Unit must certainly contend with that reality. But, Baroni adds, he is leading an aggressive charge to secure the most strategic and significant opportunities out there for 2008 – first and foremost holding on to the DHS Information Technology and Managed Services contract (the next iteration of which could be worth up to $1 billion) it has been fulfilling since 2002.

Baroni has helped to transform Federal Systems into a true leader in providing solutions to secure the government enterprise, and while the election year will invite the unknown for contractors, he is focused on making growth and new wins a certainty.

Donna Morea – President, U.S. operations and India, CGI
CGI-AMS might be one of the more acronym-loaded post-merger names inside the Beltway, but Donna Morea is one name that has always rolled off the tongue frequently – and favorably – within the Federal IT community.

Morea jointed AMS in 1980, and has gradually extended her leadership and involvement with area business and technology organizations – including her current role as Vice Chair of the NVTC. All of this while not only successfully integrating CGI and AMS, but growing it as well through what she described to ExecutiveBiz back in May as a “evolutionary rather than revolutionary” approach to winning business.

Morea’s interests are as diverse as her background – which focused as much on the arts as it did on business pursuits. Known throughout the community for her role as Chair of the 2007 Kidney Ball, and perhaps by pasta fans for her Internet-based Italian oil business. The good news for CGI is that while Morea’s oil might be saturated (the good kind, right), the market opportunities for her company to grow in 2008 aren’t.

Mike Bradshaw – Head of Federal Enterprise, Google
I’ve always wondered what happens when a Google employee Google’s himself. Perhaps the entire system implodes or banishes the employee to the 5th dimension. Regardless, if Mike Bradshaw, head of Google’s Federal Enterprise Unit, conducts a search these days it is likely that far more content will come up as the ever-expanding behemoth continues to make Federal IT inroads.

The Federal team has roughly quadrupled over the past year and extended its focus from search to Google Maps, Google Earth and security product offerings resonating within the Federal enterprise. Bradshaw’s predictions made to ExecutiveBiz about where the Federal space is headed in 2008 offers a window into the pain point Google hopes to address with Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) tools that Government organizations can use for collaboration, security and efficiency.

Mark Johnson – Senior VP, Oracle Public Sector
While enigmatic chief Larry Ellison is always the one associated with Oracle, the name Mark Johnson is becoming increasingly recognized within Federal IT circles as Oracle extends its plug-and-play methodology to the public sector.

The company’s recent acquisition of BEA Systems will aid Johnson’s Public Sector operation when pitching Agencies on how to improve efficiencies via SOA. Johnson is a long-term fixture at the company, and has been a tremendous part of the Public Sector unit’s ability to penetrate the market – 100 US federal government agencies - and 1,500 public sector organizations – now run Oracle applications to improve efficiency and accountability.

Rick Marcotte – President and CEO, DLT Solutions, Inc.
Before Marcotte was leading the charge to drum up Federal business for DLT Solutions, he was a drummer (don’t worry Rick, the hyperlink doesn’t take readers to an old photo) in a rock band during high school. While the long hair might be gone – thankfully not all of it – Marcotte’s growth plan has DLT’s vendor-centric model rocking and rolling along just fine.

In the hyper-competitive VAR market, Marcotte continues to help DLT achieve aggressive growth – evidenced by its recognition as one of the Inc. 5000 fastest growing private companies; Federal Times top 100 contractors and a top government integrator and GSA vendor.

Brian Lustig is co-founder of Lustig Communications, a Rockville, MD-based communications firm that works with growing technology and government IT firms. Lustig is also a contributor to local business and industry publications.

If you read the popular blog, Techcrunch you know that last Thursday a group of fifteen “industry luminaries” took part in a highly confidential meeting at Google’s Mountain View, CA offices. According to three of those in attendance, Google plans to launch a new set of APIs in early November in an effort to give programmers the ability to cultivate all of the social graph data through gmail, Orkut (Google’s social networking site) google talk, igoogle, and every other addictive Google product.

The API rumors are likely to pull back the Google Curtain as developers begin to create third-part applications in much the same way that Facebook allows on its social networking pages.

Not be out done, Microsoft yesterday announced their intentions to buy a minority stake in Facebook, now valued at over $10 billion, in what the Wall Street Journal described as a “sign of new urgency.”

Microsoft has long been seen as being outpaced by Google’s robust advertising platform that accounted for a vast majority of its over $7.5 billion in revenue in the first two quarters of this year alone. Microsoft likely sees Facebook as an opportunity to expand its own advertising platform by tapping into the 40 billion Facebook page views per month.

Critics point out that unlike search engine advertising, where users are looking for products or services, Facebook users are more interested in connecting with other users, and thus less receptive to ads.

Though Google, too, has expressed recent interest in acquiring at least a minority stake in Facebook. And, with the recent $1.6 billion purchase of Youtube, Google’s isn’t a company known to just kick the tires. Stay tuned and keep eye on the developers’ reaction to Google’s new APIs due out during early November.

Dr Eric Schmidt, Chairman and CEO, Google Inc, was recently asked to give his thoughts on the future for Web. In his answer, he predicted a shift away from the AJAX framework that supports much of the web 2.0 tools to a smaller, customizable platform that allows for applications to be distributed virally, rather than in a brick and mortar store.

I guess the good ol’ days of camping out for the next great software release are over…