New analysis from Govini reveals federal cyber spending quintupled in last three years, topping $30 billion in 2014

Govini, Washington, DC-based business intelligence provider for companies selling to the public sector, released an analysis October 16 showing that U.S. Federal government spending in Cybersecurity quintupled over the last three years, from $6 billion in fiscal year 2011 to nearly $31 billion in fiscal year 2014. Govini’s Cybersecurity Taxonomy sets the standard for Cyber classification, providing a comprehensive view of 11 key segments and their federal spending trends over the last four years.

Govini data scientists developed the Cyber Taxonomy to provide customers with a new level of Cyber spending transparency, giving them a view of unclassified Cyber spending across all agencies that, up until now, had been impossible to aggregate with other available platforms.

“The surprising thing for us was there was no common language or definition of Cybersecurity across the Federal contractor base,” said Govini founder and CEO Eric Gillespie. “Our customers knew there was significant capital being allocated to Cyber, but they didn’t know how much or in what segments. We were challenged to create what is quickly becoming the common language of Cyber for the industry.”

Recent high-profile Cyber attacks on U.S. Federal Civilian Agencies, such as the OPM data breach that exposed personal information of millions of current and former government employees, highlight the need for Cyber investment to modernize and protect outdated networks. Agencies have responded to emerging threats by increasing Cyber spending more than 150 percent from 2013 to 2014.

The taxonomy shows the largest segment by spend is Offensive Cyber, which is described as a proactive and adversarial approach to protecting computer systems and networks and includes C4ISR. Additional highlights from the report show:

• Offensive Cyber spending jumped nearly 150 percent year-over-year from $6 billion in 2013 to $15 billion in 2014.
• The smallest segment by dollar amount, Cyber Training and Awareness, saw the strongest growth over the last three years with a 309 percent spending increase totaling $109 million. Within this segment, Cyber Training spending is up 730 percent.
• Network Firewall procurement within the Boundary Defense segment saw the highest growth on the taxonomy, with a 937 percent increase over the last three years.

To define the total addressable market, Govini data scientists analyzed how government agencies are buying Cyber-related equipment and services. Using the Govini business intelligence platform, which standardizes all of the contracts, RFPs, advance notices and other government procurement documents, data scientists reverse-engineered the government’s current descriptions for Cyber to define the common language used in procurement and the related spending.

Govini regularly compiles taxonomies in major markets to help companies selling to the public sector follow the money. The next Govini Standard Market Taxonomy will focus on Cloud, which is another hot market for federal contractors that is also challenging to cleanly define. Additional planned taxonomies will explore Mobility and Application Modernization.

Source: Govini