With the appropriations process just underway on the 2009 budget and the 2010 budget request due just three weeks after the new President is inaugurated, agencies will have to wait until 2011 for a new President to kickoff major new initiatives and reshape the budget to reflect his or her priorities.

Let's start with the 2009 budget. President Bush submitted his budget in February as scheduled. Congress is coming off completing a budget resolution that establishes the framework for the appropriations work on the '09 budget. As in prior years, industry should expect delays carrying the negotiations well into the 2009 budget year.

For the 2010 budget, the President has informed agencies through an OMB Memorandum that they will not be required to submit a formal budget. Instead, steady state figures will be provided to the new President and be left to square it away once in office. This most likely means that the President's budget request for 2010 will not be submitted by the February deadline traditionally established for the President's budget. Further, due to the time constraints and the time required to transition to a new Administration, the new President will not have time to bake in his or her major initiatives.

That brings us to 2011. This is the first budget cycle in which the new President will have the opportunity to recast the budget to reflect his or her priorities. As a result, agencies and the vendors that serve them will have to manage to the status quo for some time to come.