About our numbers

About our numbers

The Washington Technology Top
100 list of federal prime contractors is compiled through the work of market
research firm Federal Sources Inc. of

McLean
,
Va.

, which analyzes government procurement data.

This year's rankings used data from
the General Services Administration's new Federal Procurement Data System-Next
Generation, to which agencies report contract obligations worth more than
$25,000.

Washington Technology also added an
extra step this year to ensure the accuracy of the data. After FSI and
Washington Technology compiled the list, they contacted all the companies to
give them an opportunity to review and verify their prime contracting revenue
number. FSI worked with companies that responded with questions about their
numbers, and adjustments were made if a company provided documentation of
missing prime contracting revenue.

Some companies that are publicly
traded and have large commercial businesses declined to verify the numbers
because it is against their corporate policies.

The data that FSI uses to calculate
the list is based on spending by agencies during fiscal 2004. The procurement
data is analyzed using 117 product service codes. Codes are assigned to
individual expenditures by the agencies spending the money.

The codes are selected to give the
most accurate snapshot of government spending on information technology,
telecommunications and systems integration work. After choosing the codes, FSI
and Washington Technology sift the data, account for mergers and acquisitions
and then rank the companies.

Some things to keep in mind
while reading the list:

 
Agencies report contract actions that are worth more than $25,000 and
are obligated to prime contractors. This represents actual spending on a
contract during the time period analyzed, not over the contract's life.

 
The reports are for prime contracting only, and do not include
subcontracting dollars.

 
GSA schedule transactions of more than $25,000 are included, but some
agencies are better at reporting their GSA spending than others. FSI analysts
said that companies should encourage contracting officers to report to the

Federal

Procurement

Data

Center

in an accurate and timely manner.