Trends in Mobility and 5G Spending FY 2021-2023

Over the past 3 years, federal agencies have invested more than $11B in mobility products and services, including 5G technology. This article provides a snapshot of the spending trends for FY 2021 – FY 2023.

Continued investments in device management, security, network infrastructure, software support, software licenses, Enterprise as a Services products and 5G deployment drove this 8% growth. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nearly half of all obligations occurred through task orders awarded under these 10 Government-Wide Acquisition Contracts (GWACs) accounting for roughly $5.4B of total spending.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Comparatively, Department of Defense (DoD) contracts slightly outpaced Civilian by about $2M. Drilled down by agency investments, the Air Force ranked number one at $1.6B, followed by the Army ($1.6B), Defense and Homeland Security at $1.3B each and VA ($1.1B). These five agencies accounted for 61% of total mobility spending. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From a Contractor standpoint, AT&T earned the lion’s share of investments this period at $1.4B. These 10 firms received an aggregate $4.7B (69%) in mobility-related prime contracting obligations.

• AT&T Corporation ($1.4B)
• Verizon Communications, Inc. ($625M)
• Raytheon ($601M)
• Iridium Communications, Inc. ($368M)
• Dell Technologies, Inc. $4277)
• Booz Allen Hamilton ($271M)
• Widepoint Corporation ($241M)
• Motorola Solutions, Inc. ($234M)
• L3 Harris Technologies ($216M)
• Lumen Technologies, Inc. ($314M).

Small Business (SB) Utilization

Small businesses received about a third of prime contract spending. Federal spending among these 10 agencies represents $2.4B (62%) of all reported SB obligations.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The top 10 SB recipients were Widepoint Corporation ($242M), Colossal Contracting, LLC ($161M), TribalCo, LLC ($136M), Sterling Computers Corporation ($100M), New Tech Solutions, Inc. ($86M), Sparksoft Corporation ($82M), NCS Technologies, Inc. ($74M), Techniko, LLC ($74M), IGov ($71M) and Booz Allen Hamilton ($60M). Collectively, these firms received 29% of all Small Business contracts.

Looking at the socio-economic distribution, 13% of all small business dollars went to 8(a) companies, including Sole Source and Direct Awards. HUBZone and Woman-Owned spending was much lower indicating room for growth. Note: The charts below do not include spending not specifically reported as a small business set-aside or under a specific socio-economic category. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

5G Spending

Continued 5G deployment and emerging technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, Internet of Things (IoT) and edge computing accounted for 7% of total mobility-related spending. Defense agencies topped off the list at $61.5M. Treasury ($30M), Air Force (29.6M), Army ($19.6M) and Commerce ($19M) were among the top agencies purchasing 5G products and services. SEWP V was the most widely used contract vehicle accounting for 21% of reported obligations.

NCS Technologies, Inc. took the lead in contractor 5G spending with a $30M hardware task order award under SEWP V in late September 2022. General Dynamics ($17M), Peraton ($15), Cable Television Laboratories, Inc. ($10M) and Stephenson Stellar ($8M) make up the remaining top five, respectively.

Market Influencers

Finalization of the Draft FY 2025 National Defense Authorization Act will require DoD to evaluate and identify products and technologies for cybersecurity. This includes network-enabled full content inspection, mobile-device case hardware solutions, and anonymizing-enabling solutions. DoD also plans to increase investments in Open Radio Access Networks (O-Ran) to enable 5G networks in the cloud. The National Spectrum Strategy issued in November 2023 also continues guiding the allocation and relocation of spectrum space requiring collaboration between the government and private industry to meet the increasing mobility-related demands.

The federal government is already planning for the future of 6G technology. So, while the current focus remains on 5G deployment and implementation, when 6G becomes a reality the anticipated increase in speed and processing will require faster processors, larger hard drives, higher capacity storage devices and increased bandwidth. This will provide opportunities for established and emerging technology companies. Additionally, this will require professional and administrative services including security compliance implementation, policies and procedures development and training.

Firms already embedded in this marketplace should plan now for meeting transitional and implementation needs. Those in the infant stages can benefit from mentor protégé, teaming and collaborative activities to bolster their competitive edge. Expect upcoming Research and Development opportunities through Broad Agency Announcements (BAAs), Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) grants and federal procurements as 5G moves into 5G-Advanced and on to 6G.