High-tech heavyweights

High-tech heavyweights are bulking up for new opportunities in homeland security, defense and e-government. At the same time, mergers and acquisitions and new players are reshaping the marketplace. Washington Technology's Top 100, featuring an enhanced , tracks the changes over the past year and examines the outlook for the year ahead.Senior Editor Nick Wakeman, key Top 100 executives, U.S. Rep. Tom Davis, R-Va., and columnist Jerry Grossman will discuss this year's report during this week. The 10th annual report charts the evolving relationship of IT contractors to the federal government. A year and a half into the war on terrorism, two years into the push for more collaboration through e-government and outsourcing, and just weeks after fighting and winning a war in Iraq, the government relies more on its IT contractors today than ever before.From behemoths such as Lockheed Martin Corp., which captured the No. 1 spot for the ninth year in a row, to smaller companies such as MTC, the government market is rich with opportunities focused on homeland security, defense transformation, e-government and outsourcing.Market research firm Federal Sources Inc. of McLean, Va., is predicting that federal spending on information technology will rise from $58.7 billion in 2003 to $64.4 billion in 2005, an annual growth rate of nearly 5 percent. FSI and Eagle Eye Inc. conducted the analysis of General Services Administration data to create the Top 100 rankings.