Survive & Thrive: A Federal IT Leader's Guide to Government Shutdowns
Shutdown-Proofing Your IT Projects: A Federal Leader's Phased Resilience Plan
Executive Summary
With federal budget uncertainty now a chronic condition, agency technology leaders must shift from crisis response to proactive resilience. Government shutdowns and stop-gap funding measures introduce severe risks, including hidden costs, program delays, and security vulnerabilities. This brief outlines three critical insights into these risks and provides an actionable phased plan to mitigate their impact on mission-critical IT projects at the VA, DoD/DoW, and across the federal government.
Three Critical Insights
1. Shutdowns Create a “Delay Multiplier” Effect
A shutdown doesn’t just pause work; it creates cascading delays and costs that extend long after funding is restored. Issuing stop-work orders requires a complex process of orderly shutdown, and restarting is even more difficult. Contractors can, under the FAR, bill for demobilization and remobilization, introducing unbudgeted costs. More critically, the loss of momentum, reassignment of personnel, and time spent on restart administration mean a one-week shutdown can easily cause three weeks of total project delay. This multiplier effect must be factored into risk planning for any major IT program.
2. Continuing Resolutions Block Critical Modernization
Continuing resolutions prevent agencies from starting new programs or increasing production rates without explicit authorization. In February 2024, Pentagon leadership warned that a full-year CR would prevent 156 new technology starts and 180 production rate increases. The Navy alone faced $26.6 billion in misaligned funds under a CR scenario. For specialized projects at the VA and DoD/DoW, such as electronic health record modernization or advanced cybersecurity platforms, CR-induced delays compromise mission readiness and create operational gaps that persist for years.
3. Funding Gaps Expose Critical Security Vulnerabilities
Continuous monitoring and compliance are not optional activities; they are core to a secure posture. During a shutdown, work on POA&Ms may halt and the process for renewing an Authority to Operate (ATO) can be disrupted. As the GAO has warned, these gaps in security operations create a prime opportunity for adversaries to exploit known vulnerabilities. For the DoD/DoW and VA, which manage vast amounts of sensitive national security and personal health information, even a brief lapse in security vigilance can lead to a significant breach, compromising the very mission the IT systems are designed to support.
Strategic Implications
For Federal CIOs and Program Managers, these insights demand a shift in strategic focus. The primary pain point is not just project delay, but the erosion of capability and trustworthiness. When a VA system for veteran benefits is delayed, the quantifiable value lost is measured in veteran satisfaction and access to care. When a DoD command-and-control system upgrade is paused, the value at risk is mission effectiveness and warfighter safety. The strategic priority must be to build resilience into the acquisition and management lifecycle. This means treating budget uncertainty as a standing operational condition, not an unexpected emergency.
Implementation Recommendations
Leaders can take concrete steps now to build this resilience through three waves of activity:
Wave 1: Finalize a prioritized service catalog that formally designates all IT systems and associated personnel into tiers (Mission-Essential, Mission-Critical, Deferrable) to remove ambiguity during a shutdown.
Wave 2: Engage contracting officers to proactively review key IT contracts and clarify terms related to orderly shutdowns and rapid restarts, ensuring cost structures are understood and agreed upon.
Wave 3: Conduct a tabletop exercise that simulates a one-week funding lapse to stress-test communication plans, restart procedures, and decision-making chain of command.
Call-to-Action
Begin by scheduling a continuity planning session with your top five program managers. Use the inspection checklist from our latest briefing to assess your organization’s true readiness.
Bibliography
Congressional Budget Office, “The Effects of the Partial Shutdown Ending in January 2019,” January 28, 2019. (https://www.cbo.gov/publication/54937)
U.S. Senate Committee Report, “The Price of Paralysis: The Cost to Taxpayers of Three Recent Government Shutdowns,” 2019.
Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III, Letter to Senate Appropriations Committee Leadership, February 2024. (https://www.appropriations.senate.gov/news/majority/new-secretary-of-defense-top-pentagon-leadership-sound-alarm-that-a-year-long-cr-would-jeopardize-our-national-defense)
U.S. Government Accountability Office, “Information Technology: Federal Agencies Are Making Progress in Implementing GAO Recommendations,” GAO-24-106693, December 2023. (https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-24-106693)
Gartner, “Gartner’s Top 10 Strategic Technology Trends 2024,” October 16, 2023. (https://www.gartner.com/en/articles/gartner-top-10-strategic-technology-trends-for-2024)