Tysons Small Business Braces for Sequester

Ed Jesson still doesn’t know exactly what the looming sequester will do to OBXtek, the IT services provider of which he is president, and that’s the worst part, he says.

Jesson has a general idea of what will happen to his business: if the cuts were allowed to go through his company would be hindered from purchasing new computers and expanding its services.

The effects would not be substantial immediately, but if they continued, it could severely handicap the business.

“It could have significant effects probably not initially,” Jesson said. “Before the end of the calendar year it certainly will be if it continues and it could be dramatic to the point that you could only survive so long.

OBXtek, a Tysons-based business that has grown to about 100 employees, provides IT services such as software development, system design and security to the State Department, the Social Security Administration and defense agencies including the United States Army, Navy and Air Force.

In an October 2012 presentation to county officials, George Mason University economist Stephen Fuller projected the cuts would cost Fairfax County 86,000 jobs – 13 percent of total employment – and an 8 percent decrease in gross county product in 2013.

But Washington’s continued delays make the effects, in Tysons and across Northern Virginia, uncertain.

And OBXtek isn’t the only government contractor who’s anxiously waiting.

“The government contracting business community is struggling with the uncertainty,” said Jim Corcoran, president and CEO of the Fairfax County Chamber of Commerce. “They’re not able to make long term plans … We are seeing contracts that are being held up until the procurement offices know for sure that the funding is available for it.”

Jesson and Corcoran were both frustrated with a lack of leadership in Congress.

“The government has told us absolutely nothing,” Jesson said.

Fairfax County only gets about 1 percent of its general fund budget from the federal government, but in 2011, it 2011, federal procurement contracts totaled $26 billion. Small businesses, such as OBXtek, accounted for $5.1 billion of the total.

Jesson has communicated to his employees they’ll have to wait and see what Capitol Hill decides to do.

“The problem is if people could give us some guidance we could adjust,” Jesson told Patch. “We’re entrepreneurs and we’re businessmen … Leaving us in the dark and staking people’s lives based upon political games they’re playing is not the way a government should work.”

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