Commentary: Where federal agencies should invest their IT dollars before the end of the fiscal year

Editor’s note: The 2016 federal fiscal year is winding down. It ends Sept. 30.  Christopher Bloomer, government sales consultant at Atlanta, Ga.-based Aventis Systems, outlines what federal agencies should buy as the federal fiscal year draws to a close. Below are Christopher Bloomer’s views.

The federal government’s fiscal year will come to a close on September 30, 2016. Through the end of the fiscal year, many federal agencies will be looking for ways to spend budgets before they lose funds. From an IT perspective, government entities should consider investing in upgrades and special opportunities to enhance their current infrastructures, improve productivity and potentially save money in the future.

Multiple operating system software programs are now past their end-of-life, with more soon to follow. As with most upgrades, when software falls out of support service, hardware vendors follow suit and often stop supporting obsolete programs as well. The approaching end of this federal fiscal year is be a prime time for IT administrators to consider hardware upgrades at the same time as software upgrades to fully maximize budgets.

In addition, GSA allows contractors to provide temporary price reductions for products under their contracts. Many GSA contractors offer temporary price reductions on their most popular GSA products at the end of the fiscal year to government buyers, allowing them to stretch their remaining budgets.

Finally, government agencies can also leverage their agency relationships to help plan out the upcoming fiscal year. Many federal government buyers may need assistance when it comes to IT equipment purchases. Aventis Systems provides technical evaluations and statement of work evaluations as a complimentary service for all government buyers.

While the fiscal year may be coming to a close, there are many opportunities for federal agencies to get the most bang for their bucks, and, ultimately, support their long-term strategic plans.

Atlanta-based Aventis Systems provides custom IT solutions to build and operate complete physical and virtual infrastructures. The firm offers refurbished and new hardware and system and application software. The firm also provides in-depth managed services including infrastructure consultation, cloud hosting and migration, virtualization deployment, data and disaster recovery, security consultation, hardware relocation and equipment buyback.

Go here to learn more about the firm’s offerings to government. Aventis Systems is a GSA Schedule Contract Holder under FSS Schedule 70. Click here to learn more about the benefits of buying from the firm’s GSA Schedule Contract. All products under our GSA Schedule Contract are available for purchase on GSA Advantage.

Go here to learn more about an Aventis Systems on-demand webinar: “Government IT Budgets: Spend Now to Save Later.”

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