MACS Powered by Vision (MACS Vision) launched today as an economic intelligence firm for state and regional leaders whose economies depend on federal defense investment.

MACS Vision supports the people working to defend and grow their state’s defense economy. That includes helping governors’ offices, state economic development and commerce departments, military affairs commissions, regional defense alliances, and communities with a significant defense-sector presence identify where existing capabilities can expand into emerging technology areas.

Federal defense spending, $1.5 trillion in the FY2027 budget request, supports more than 2.5 million jobs nationwide. More of the decisions that direct the funding are now made through departmental reorganization and modernization initiatives rather than through the traditional appropriations process governors are accustomed to tracking, which leaves state and local officials with shortened lead times and less opportunity to influence outcomes.

The firm’s premier offering is a validated landscape of a state’s defense economy that MACS Vision analysts research, build, and keep current. What the receiving states and communities get is time and standing: a documented position to carry into a hearing, a board meeting, or a delegation briefing, rather than a stack of spreadsheets and a week of staff hours spent assembling one. No dataset to interpret, and no software to learn. Every figure is traceable to its original source.

MACS Vision analysts provide continued engagement, tracking changes in the federal data and working with communities to prioritize strategic engagements. MACS Vision tracks federal defense spending at a granular level, down to the congressional district. Most public reporting on defense spending stops at the state line, so leaders see one total, but not which specific community may carry it or be impacted by a program change or basing action.

“Having worked with the 2005 BRAC Commission, I saw exactly how those decisions were made, what data moved the needle and what left communities flat-footed. Significant shifts have been happening outside the traditional legislative process, and states and defense cluster communities need to prepare. MACS Vision arms communities with the intelligence to strategically position themselves for tomorrow’s decisions.”

Jennifer Dionne, President & Founder of The Dionne Company and Strategic Advisor to MACS Vision

MACS Vision supports clients in three tiers and covers all 50 states.

  • Explorer establishes a state’s standing: its installations, its defense spending, and its congressional delegation.
  • Analyst prioritizes actions, adding research and development activity, the largest contractors, federal small-business awards, and the programs it could realistically win.
  • Strategist is the most expansive, a full opportunity and advocacy analysis with advisory support.

“A platform like MACS Vision would have made the BRAC process more efficient and more transparent, and it would have better positioned communities to prepare for the future.”

Hon. Anthony J. Principi, former U.S. Secretary of Veterans Affairs, Chairman of the 2005 BRAC Commission, and Senior Advisor to MACS Vision

Start the conversation at macsvision.com.

About MACS Vision

MACS Vision delivers economic intelligence and advisory services that help state and regional leaders make defensible, data-grounded decisions in the defense economy.

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