Public Sector's Perfect Storm: A Q&A with BAH's Ralph Shrader

Consulting: What are some of the largest challenges confronting clients in the public sector and what are some of the events and forces that shape these challenges?

Shrader: There are a few:

1. Focus on Efficiency and Transforming Procurement Practices

There is pressure across the U.S. government to control spending while also improving services for citizens and aggressively pursuing numerous important policy initiatives. This has led to an increased focus on accomplishing more with fewer resources, streamlining information services and processes, reducing fraud, waste and abuse, and improving productivity. In order to efficiently implement these initiatives, we believe that the U.S. government will require support in the form of the services that we provide, such as strategy and change management and organization and process improvement. Economic pressure has also driven an emphasis on greater accountability, transparency and spending effectiveness in U.S. government procurement practices.

2. Complex Defense, Intelligence and Civil Agency Requirements

The U.S. government continually reassesses and updates its long-term priorities and develops new strategies to address the rapidly evolving issues it faces. In order to deliver effective advice in this environment, service providers must possess a comprehensive knowledge of, and experience with, the participants, systems and technology employed by the U.S. government, and must also have an ability to facilitate knowledge sharing while managing varying objectives. For example, within the Department of Defense, the 2010 Quadrennial Defense Review, or the 2010 QDR, prioritizes support for the war fighter and integrating intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance systems with weapons and ground operations.

Within the U.S. Intelligence Community and across the U.S. government generally, the current priority is enhancing cyber-capabilities, including cyber-security, in the face of the continually evolving threat of terrorism and the increasing reliance of both the U.S. government and the private sector on critical information technology systems. In U.S. government fiscal year 2009, the U.S. government established the Comprehensive National Cybersecurity Initiative, or CNCI, to support and coordinate U.S. cyber initiatives. Within the civil agencies of the U.S. government, there has been an increased focus on financial regulation, energy and environmental issues, healthcare reform and infrastructure-related challenges.

Consulting: What types of service offerings is your firm/practice providing to clients to help them address these challenges?

Shrader: We serve government clients in the defense, intelligence and civil markets across four capability areas: strategy and organization; analytics; technology; and operations. This matrix approach enables us to quickly assemble and deploy, and redeploy when necessary, client-focused teams comprised of people with the skills and expertise needed to address the challenges facing our clients.

Major changes in the government, political and overall economic landscape drive demand for objective management and technology consulting services and advice. Certain of these changes, such as the inauguration of a new presidential administration, are recurring in nature. Other changes are more sudden and unexpected, as was the case with the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 and the recent financial crisis and economic downturn. To effectively help clients develop and implement new policies and respond to evolving priorities under such circumstances, service providers must have the flexibility to rapidly redeploy intellectual capital, resources and capabilities.

Consulting: Have the skills mixes required to serve public-sector clients changed in the past two to three years? How so?

Shrader: Capitalizing on our strengths on these emerging issues and continuing to leverage our deep domain expertise and broad capabilities to serve clients is increasingly important.

1. Cyber: Network-enabled technology now forms the backbone of our economy, infrastructure and national security, and recent national policies and governmental initiatives in this area are creating new cyber-related opportunities. We are currently involved in cyber-related initiatives for our defense, intelligence and civil clients and cyber-security initiatives for commercial clients. We are focused on further developing our cyber capabilities to position our company as a leader across the broad and growing range of areas requiring cyber-related services.

2. Government Efficiency and Procurement: We are focused on helping the U.S. government achieve operating and budgetary efficiencies driven by the need to control spending while simultaneously pursuing numerous policy initiatives.

3. Ongoing Healthcare Transformation: We expect recent and ongoing developments in the healthcare market, such as the passage of the Affordable Care Act of 2010 and the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act of 2009, to increase demand for our healthcare consulting capabilities. We have been serving healthcare-oriented clients in the U.S. government since the late 1980's.

4. Systems Engineering & Integration (SE&I): Our clients are increasingly utilizing SE&I services to help them manage every phase of the development and integration of increasingly sophisticated information technology, communications and mission systems—ranging from satellite and space systems to air traffic control and naval systems. Booz Allen has developed deep cross-market SE&I knowledge combining engineering, acquisition, management and leadership expertise.

—Eric Krell