While the federal contracting industry is by no means recovered, the future looks a good deal brighter than it did just a few months ago.

The two-year budget agreement has partially mitigated the impact of sequestration and greatly reduced the risk of a government shutdown. The agreement brought some stability and predictability to a market that has been starved of both for several years.

Each year, Deltek conducts a Clarity study assessing critical business metrics in the government contracting industry, such as growth rates and profit margins, plus operating metrics and trends, in areas such as business development, program management and financial operations.

The early results reflect the improved outlook resulting from the budget resolution. Yet, as one would expect, certain financial metrics — such as profits, mergers and acquisitions and win rates — reflect the difficult year that was 2013.

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