Everyone in the business is wondering, what this election will mean for the progress of proposal activities? Will it cause serious problems, be more like business as usual, or something in the middle?


The Political Problem

Everyone agrees, the Republic has not seen anything like this election in the 225 years under the constitution. To hear their opponents talk, both candidates leave a lot to be desired: The electorate is polarized and, we all know the bad names and dire predictions each side has for the other too well to need repeating here.

At this juncture, what can we predict might happen if either candidate were elected? And what can companies do to prepare for what the future may hold, whichever direction the election may go?

The Relationship between the Candidates and the Contracting Process

The GOP candidate has clearly announced he intends to bring a political revolution with a new way of doing procurement. And certainly to squeeze the corruption and waste out of spending. What if Donald Trump is elected? The $64,000 question is, how much perturbation would be caused by the transition in introducing his revolutionary approach? As he studies “every contract,” would there be a hiatus in RFP releases that far exceeds what we saw when Donald Rumsfeld called a halt to study DoD contracting? Professional Services Council EVP Alan Chvotkin thinks there could be an “unprecedented” interruption in contractor programs.

But what if the Democratic candidate is elected? The consensus is we could expect “business as usual.” The only thing that would change is the personnel at the political level over the civil service – the deputy under assistant secretaries. This would mean an appropriations process that would be delayed some as she gets her team onboard, but that is not drastically slowed down at the onset. It would also mean a continuation of the Democratic Party tradition of doing a small percentage less work with contractors than the GOP. It would likely mean a continuation of the Democrat’s tradition of focusing on domestic problems and a more low profile (cheap) foreign policy.

Given a Trump victory, he has promised a much more robust foreign policy, for example in fighting terrorism. And a rebuilding of the DoD, the tool of an assertive foreign policy. We can be sure a more muscular foreign policy would not be cheap, and that the chance of getting Europeans to pay more of their share would not likely achieve dramatic results.

What can the Contractors Do?

So what can the contractor companies do to plan for the future? They can do their best to plan for either of the two possible outcomes, now only a couple months away:

1. As much as possible, focus on programs that will have to move forward with an early appropriation no matter how long other funding is delayed. For example, necessary defense items, security, cyber, etc.
2. Vote for the GOP if you favor a more active foreign policy ($$$$).
3. Vote for the Dems if you want a quick transition in administration (appropriations).
4. Keep cash reserves / generate as few new investments / commitments as possible until we know which direction events will take.
5. Diversify your company to also serve the commercial market, based on the possible outcome of this election, and also on the likelihood of future instability in the political process.