Editor's Note

DynCorp, a Reston, Va., information technology company that has been talking the acquisition talk for the past few years, finally has announced a deal that positions the $1 billion integrator to win larger government outsourcing contracts and, quite possibly, go public.With its planned acquisition of GTE's Chantilly, Va.-based Information Systems unit, which is expected to close in early December, DynCorp executives expect to hit $1.7 billion in revenue in 2000. GTE brings to the table strong capabilities in wireless and satellite communications and some electronic business expertise. And the $235 million in revenue that the GTE unit adds in the fast-growing telecom services market could make DynCorp an attractive story on Wall Street, analysts say.In a front-page story written by Washington Technology Staff Writer Nick Wakeman, DynCorp President and Chief Executive Paul Lombardi admits his company must be ready to pounce on any window of opportunity to go public, but he would not predict when that might happen.In the meantime, we will watch the combined company with interest as it bumps up against other large systems integrators chasing the very same government telecommunications and networking projects, flexing some acquisition muscle of their own. What the DynCorp-GTE deal and the acquisition of federal integrator Anstec Inc. by Keane Federal, announced just last week, show us again is that consolidation in the federal market will continue at a fast clip in 2000. While these hot deals percolate, there are some small and scrappy companies making themselves known quickly in the booming market to promote electronic transactions conducted by businesses and consumers with state and local governments nationwide.Staff Writer Steve LeSueur gives readers a close look at these smaller companies that are springing up with names like ezgov.com, govWorks, and some of their more established cousins, such as the National Information Consortium, which are butting against larger, more traditional players such as IBM and Lockheed Martin.As top management at some of the larger information technology companies ponder whether self-funded online transaction models are the way to go, their leaner brethren are busy signing up customers and providing applications throughout the country. We'll see just how much space there is in the e-commerce tent for these new players and their models in the coming months.williams @pnbi.comXXXSPLITXXX-