Federal environmental market: Opportunity ahead!?

This article reviews emerging trends in the federal environmental market and evaluates the risks and opportunities for environmental firms into the 21st century. While the Department of Energy (DOE) and Department of Defense (DOD) continue to face substantial environmental compliance and cleanup requirements, funding levels are expected to remain flat and could actually decline due to the trade-offs involved in the political calculus to achieve a balanced budget by the year 2002. Nevertheless, the article identifies a number of opportunities for environmental firms seeking federal business, including DOE privatization initiatives, performance-based contracting, cleanup of DOD closing bases, and technology development (especially that focused on pollution control and prevention). The author concludes that firms that can navigate the difficult waters of the environmental market are likely to experience real growth in the future.