The cover image of this month's issue is darn near perfect. A few dollar bills being squeezed a little tighter by a belt, which obviously has been tightened a few notches. A perfect visual to illustrate what's going on in the Public Sector these days.
In this month's cover story, business writer Eric Krell takes a deeper dive into the sector that's most in the sequester's crosshairs. As most of us know, Congress took a hatchet to federal budgets a few months back and now Public Sector leaders are awaiting the fallout.
So far, the sector hasn't seen any significant spending cutbacks. As Elaine Beeman, Managing Director, Management and Consulting, Accenture Federal Services, says: "We have not seen the huge impact of sequestration… to date."
However, many are waiting for the other shoe to drop. Even if it doesn't drop quite as hard as some originally feared, it's creating a whole lot of uncertainty in the marketplace. Consultants are eagerly waiting to see if it fundamentally re-sets how the government uses professional services, or will it all be over next month?
It's tough to say, but as Sharon Marcil, a Senior Partner with Boston Consulting Group and leader of the firm's public sector practice in the Americas, says: "If you believe sequestration is temporary … then your tendency is to make small changes."
But that's probably optimistic. Since the wheels haven't really fallen off—unless you count FAA furloughs and lawmakers not being able to get back home on Thursday nights; and we saw how quickly Congress took care of that—there's not a lot of pressure to end sequestration anytime soon.
So where does that leave public sector consulting?
Not in a bad place, really. Uncertainty in a market creates demand for expertise and that's what public sector consultants deliver in spades. This time around, declining budgets and a demand for increasing efficiency rule the day. And doing more with less has never been so important.
Sound familiar?
Joseph Kornik
Publisher & Editor-in-Chief
jkornik@consultingmag.com
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