PSC Finds Business Forecasts Valuable for Companies with Room for Improvement Education and USAID Rank High; Segments of Agriculture and Defense Need Improvement

Arlington, Va. (Oct. 11, 2019)— Based on PSC’s analysis of 15 key characteristics, two dozen government agencies—including the departments of Agriculture and Defense—need work to improve their business forecasts, according to a first of its kind report by the Professional Services Council (PSC).

PSC, which represents more than 400 companies in the government technology and professional services industry, released a Business Forecast Scorecard to assess how well agencies are laying out future needs via a public-facing business forecast. 

“Federal contractors rely on the accuracy and comprehensiveness of an agency’s Business Forecast to make hiring and budgetary decisions that will best support the government in meeting its future mission needs,” said Alan Chvotkin, PSC Executive Vice President and Counsel. “While many federal agencies fully recognize the basic tenet that a more fulsome Business Forecast will produce a better-informed marketplace, unfortunately, our members have reported to us that this recognition is not universal and often agency rhetoric outpaces their outcomes.”

PSC analyzed more than 40 government agencies’ forecasts and judged them against 15 key criteria ranging from frequency of updates, the inclusion of key data—from potential dollar value, length of award, type of instrument (contract, grant, sole source, etc.)—and the ease of customer interface with the data provided. The 40 represent only a sample of the agencies; not every publicly available Business Forecast was reviewed. Several buying agencies do not have publicly available forecasts.

Those that received a “Good” forecast typically demonstrated information that was easily sortable and recently updated. Some agencies, for example, release their forecast only once a year in a non-sortable PDF, ranking them lower. The “good” forecasts offered clear project and award descriptions with clear dollar estimates and ample information for users to make informed decisions about proposal investments and costs.

The Department of Education and the U.S. Agency for International Development were among those ranked highest. Five components of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) scored in the “good” category,” while three other DHS components were “fair.” There were 24 agencies that “need improvement,” according to PSC’s assessment. 

PSC shared the results with the Administrator of OMB’s Office of Federal Procurement Policy, Michael Wooten, and with the covered agencies, in hopes of producing better data for companies to compete for U.S. government work. 
 
PSC plans an annual update of agencies’ progress in addressing the 15 key attributes of a quality Business Forecast it identified.

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Click here to view a PDF of this release.

Media Contact: 
Ashlei Stevens
Director, Media Relations
703.875.8974| stevens@pscouncil.org 
About PSC: PSC is the voice of the government technology and professional services industry. PSC’s more than 400-member companies represent small, medium and large businesses that provide federal agencies with services of all kinds, including information technology, engineering, logistics, facilities management, operations and maintenance, consulting, international development, scientific, social, environmental services, and more. Together, the trade association’s members employ hundreds of thousands of Americans in all 50 states. Follow PSC on Twitter @PSCSpeaks. To learn more, visit www.pscouncil.org.