"Another reason to take down a Web site would be to make a political point," said Bjorklund.

The budget situation has already been difficult for IT vendors that sell to the government.

Ken Ammon, the chief strategy officer at Xceedium, a company that makes IT security projects, including access control appliances, said the government's recent operation on continuing resolutions (stop-gap funding measures) has prevented customers from buying new products. The Herndon, Va.-based firm counts numerous federal agencies among its customers.

"We have customers that are prohibited from purchasing anything until they get an approved budget," said Ammon.

Deniece Peterson, an analyst at government market research firm Input, said government purchases for new technologies can involve a lengthy process. "This environment certainly does not help facilitate any type of innovation, that's for sure," said Peterson.