Stimulus Boosting Project-Management Vendors: Analyst

Broadband, healthcare and energy are the obvious winners on the Obama stimulus sweepstakes, but there's another sector of the IT industry that may be primed to benefit as well: Makers of project-management software.

According to Forrester Research analyst Ray Wang, vendors like Deltek, Lawson and Primavera (acquired by Oracle in October 2008), are well-positioned to swoop in on the myriad large-scale infrastructure projects that state and local governments will have to manage. Their products help customers establish the viability of projects and then manage them against timelines and other milestones.

Earlier this week, Ray blogged that several software vendors that had been laying workers off were hiring again. When I spoke to him, he wouldn't tell me which companies he had in mind, although he said they serve the utilities, healthcare and government sectors.

If project-management software vendors do indeed get government business, they may help give the lie to those who say government can only mismange projects. What do you think?