A Look Forward: What the Incoming Trump Administration May Mean for Federal IT
With any new executive administration, change is inevitable for federal agency priorities. It remains true, however, that departments and agencies consistently rely on IT products and services and historic trends confirm stability in public sector IT spending under both Republican and Democratic administrations. For FY25, much of the spending has already been laid out in the budget and priorities for FY26 are well under way, so you can expect to see little change to agency needs in the very near term. We’ll take a look further out, and examine potential shifts of some priorities and how IT companies can harness opportunities in this evolving market.
Sustainability
Sustainability, and its integration into IT products and services, has received increased attention since 2021 when President Biden released Executive Order 14057 with a Federal Sustainability Plan designed to achieve various pollution and emission-reducing goals. Focus has also been placed on prioritizing the purchase of sustainable products and services when possible, and plans were further developed to reduce federal agencies’ carbon footprints. Cloud solutions, which can reduce carbon emissions through increased efficiency, were significant benefactors of agency carbon emission plans. We may see less discussion of sustainability in the coming months and years, but IT companies can be sure the same products and services needed for systems and platforms will remain in demand, especially as the expressed benefit of cloud solutions as a continued need will remain constant.
Buy American
President Trump’s first administration saw a push to Buy American regarding various product and service requirements. While this increase continued under the Biden administration, we will likely see even more emphasis for additional Buy American requirements in the coming years. This increase will benefit IT vendors and resellers making products in the United States and other IT companies may benefit from partnering with US domestic companies. IT companies will want to stay abreast of regulations and obtain or maintain the appropriate certifications of products and services.
Workforce Reduction
President Trump has previously expressed the want to significantly reduce federal remote work. While this does have the potential to signal a significant cut to collaboration solutions and other solutions facilitating remote work, a reduction in remote work may also lead to an increase in staff turnover and reduced recruitment,
providing opportunity for automation solutions and other technologies designed to improve efficiency. IT companies offering data management, administrative and AI-related services may find additional opportunities in this area.
Data and Cybersecurity
Data infrastructure and big data solutions are also likely to see an increased push in the incoming administration. Under the previous Trump administration, US federal agencies improved their data infrastructure to enable more data-driven decisions. Since the end of Trump’s 2016 presidency, data has become even more important with the focus on generative AI, meaning vendors should not be surprised to see greater agency focus on data stewardship.
The first Trump administration also saw new cybersecurity regulations, and Trump has expressed an interest in continuing to further federal cybersecurity protocols, providing significant federal focus on cybersecurity — a big boon for cybersecurity vendors.
Ultimately, with the next presidential administration still to implement its policies, we will have to wait and see before we can fully identify the administrative impacts. Still, we can be certain the demand for daily IT needs of federal agencies will remain constant.
To get more TD SYNNEX Public Sector Market Insight content, please visit our Market Intelligence microsite.
About the Author:
Gabriel is a Sr Market Insights Data Analyst at TD SYNNEX Public Sector whose work focuses on using quantitative and qualitative analysis to provide actionable insights to TD SYNNEX’s vendors and resellers in the public sector.
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