"The events of 9/11 and the subsequent focus on homeland defense have created many new opportunities for IT companies, but the actual expenditures of new dollars by the federal government to implement many of these technologies has not been dramatic as of yet."
The debate over the creation of the new department has been one of the reasons for the delays. But Miller says the sheer numbers of ideas and proposals are part of the problem too...
"In a sense the government was overwhelmed. They went from relatively few companies having the interest or the know how to offer products and services to the federal government to every guy and gal with an idea in his or her garage coming forward and saying I've got the next great solution to the terrorist threat. And suddenly the government customers, were drinking from the proverbial fire hose."
So the government, says Miller, has turned to some of the more traditional IT vendors to help sort through new ideas. The Budget for 2003 requests 50 billion dollars for information technology investment... .but Miller says many solutions could take years to implement. Bloomberg Boot Camp, I'm Fred Fishkin.