Originally published on The Contracting Post and re-published with permission.

I, like many Americans, am unsure of where our country is heading or what our prospects for economic recovery will be over the next few years and the remainder of this decade. This is the first time in my life when I’ve been unsure if America could do it, unsure if once again we could rise from the ashes and be the phoenix that the world looks to (and relies on) to anchor the global economy with growth, innovation and stability.

Three years ago, as a 22-year-old, I watched America vote for and elect our first African-American president – a president who promised hope and change – and I saw a country that was at least optimistic about our prospects. I was optimistic too. I listened to what he had to say and as a result I decided that I wanted to start a company, intent on being yet another member of an American generation that refused to accept that our economy and way of life were in serious jeopardy. So many people have said that my generation – the millennials – are self-centered, lazy, reality-TV crazed, obese, unhealthy, addicted to social media and doomed when it comes to job prospects. Some of us are. But some of us are just the opposite – incredibly giving of our time, hard-working, well-read, innovative, creative and determined to affect change.

A year ago, I started L2 Federal Resources with my father. Our goal is to provide high-quality training and resources for the government contracting community. But when I started the company I also had some millennial-selfish intentions. I wanted to prove the naysayers wrong and create a job. It took us one year, but we created a full-time job and just last week the new member of our team, Dana J. Wright, published his first (of hopefully many) posts on this blog.

Every day at L2 Federal Resources, we focus on how we can improve the training experience for government contractors who must maintain their knowledge of government regulations, legal decisions and best practices to remain competitive. Our business suffers in direct correlation with the suffering of our industry – when the government was threatening shutdown and government contractors were scrambling to assure that their contracts would be paid, we saw a drop off in sales. We are beholden to the industry we support.

But what are the prospects for the government contracting industry? Today’s article in the Washington Post highlights how the Washington region has benefitted from a boom in contracting over the last 30 years. It also highlights that some of the very economic issues that are making me unsure of the likelihood of an American economic recovery are going to put the squeeze on contractors. It’s true, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan that have (depending on who you ask) nearly bankrupted our country, have also enriched government contractors of all types.

Cuts to spending on contracting are definitely coming, that much we know for sure. The debt reduction deal just passed by Congress and signed by the president requires $1 trillion in deficit reduction over the next 10 years. That reduction has to come from somewhere. The bipartisan “supercommittee” has been charged with finding another $1.5 trillion in reductions. It’s virtually guaranteed that much of the savings will come from reductions to federal contracting, in particular defense spending as the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan wind down.

But I don’t think it’s a guarantee that mandated cuts to spending must result in lean years for government contractors. Not with so many opportunities for growth abounding.

If I had a crystal ball, (perhaps a rose-colored one) it might tell me that the government contracting community will take a cue from Google and invest in mobile tech. Earlier this year I interviewed a successful start-up named BTS that won government support by developing technology that will allow for troops on the ground to easily deploy cell networks to facilitate their use of mobile computing technology (iPhones, Android phones, iPads…etc.) when forward deployed.

Moreover, according to analysis done by Hubspot, 80.8% of people view their email from a mobile device. With email being most people's primary mode of communication – along with SMS [text messaging] – it’s pretty obvious that Americans' lives are becoming more and more intertwined with their mobile devices. As a millennial, I know this first-hand because I find myself gauging my interest in new companies based on the design and functionality of their mobile applications.

Harnessing mobile and cloud technology have allowed much of the private sector to boost productivity in ways previously unattainable. The government contracting community shouldn’t wait for the government to realize this and begin soliciting RFPs (request for proposal) for mobile and cloud-specific tech. Government contractors who are already bracing for deep cuts to defense spending and who have been talking since last year about their need to pivot to providing more IT-related solutions (at first in response to the health reform bill that mandates a shift to electronic record keeping among other IT-specific initiatives) should be proactive. It’s long been known that the defense contracting community carries considerable weight within Congress and even in the West Wing.

Flex that muscle. Prove and demonstrate to the government that they need to embrace changes that will shift their activities from clusters of servers to the cloud and from Blackberries to more capable smartphones running iOS and Android. Innovate your way out of cuts to defense spending and maybe even prove yourselves capable partners in helping the government keep its spending under control.

The country is at a crossroads. One of the big three credit rating agencies, S&P, downgraded U.S. credit for the first time ever. The battle for the 2012 presidency is heating up and it's clear from the rhetoric of the frontrunning GOP candidates and the Obama Administration that the country is deeply divided. Our uniquely American confidence in ourselves is shaken. My confidence is shaken. I want to believe that my business can grow and be successful supporting an industry that is critical to the function of the American government.

I know that as CEO of my business I am focusing on how to provide solutions that integrate with mobile tech and the cloud. We talk about it every day. We talk about ways to engage the contracting community and provide training solutions that work for the lives they are living and the jobs they are doing. Rather than accept that lean years for government contractors will be lean years for our business we are trying to innovate and compete our way to growth. Now it’s time for the industry we support to do the same.

Jon Levin is Editor of TheContractingPost.com and CEO of L2 Federal Resources, LLC. This article was originally published on The Contracting Post. He can be reached at jon@thecontractingpost.com, or follow him on Twitter @contractingpost.