Government spending, including the lucrative PR and marketing contracts assigned by the Department of Health and Human Services, is firmly in politicians' crosshairs as this election draws to a close. However, agency executives are optimistic these marcomms accounts will remain in place no matter who inhabits the White House.

At the beginning of this year, Sens. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) and Rob Portman (R-OH) asked 11 federal agencies for summaries of contracts for PR, publicity, advertising, communications and similar services dating ...