Top 100 club grows wealthier

Fiscal 2004 was a stellar year for government IT contractors ? just
look at the latest Washington Technology Top 100 numbers.

To crack this year's top 20, a
company needed $638.7 million in prime contracting revenue, about $180 million
more than last year.

This year's No. 100 company, MZM
Inc., had $66.2 million in Top 100 revenue, about $8 million more than last
year's No. 100. In fact, MZM's figure would have earned it the No. 90
ranking last year.

There also are 14 companies with more
than $1 billion in Top 100 revenue, compared to eight last year.

Moving into the top 20 continues to be
tough. Only two companies ? Motorola Inc. (No. 20) and MCI Inc. (No. 18) ?
were not in the top 20 last year. But both companies were in the top 20 in
previous years and have never fallen too far from that group.

Some Top 100 companies saw their
ranking fall despite rising revenue. For example, Arinc Inc. of

Annapolis
,
Md.

, holds the No. 34 spot this year, down four places from last year's No. 30
spot. However, the company's prime revenue of $373.3 million is nearly $45
million higher than last year's figure.

But the Top 100 tracks more than just
the numbers in the federal market, and while it may seem that many of the
companies are entrenched at the top, there are changes still afoot.

Six of last year's Top 100 companies
disappeared after being acquired, though they continue to make an impact.

DigitalNet Inc., last year's No. 34,
gave a tremendous boost to BAE
Systems
North American Inc. (No. 11), when the

Rockville
,
Md.

, company acquired it in October 2004. BAE now has more than $1 billion in prime
IT contracting revenue, with more likely on the way as it makes more
acquisitions.

Resource Consultants Inc. is now Serco
Services Inc. after United Kingdom-based Serco Plc acquired it as part of a
major push into the

U.S.

government market.

Serco Services is at No. 52 on the Top
100, and expectations are that Serco is not done making acquisitions, either.

Lockheed Martin Corp., No. 1 for the
11th year in a row, also showed that it is not veering from its acquisition
strategy, despite last year's failed attempt to buy Titan Corp.

(No. 12). Lockheed in March
acquired Sytex Group Inc., which ranked No. 39 last year.

Northrop Grumman Corp., which
continues to nip at Lockheed's heels as the No. 2 company for the fifth year
in a row, also acquired another Top 100 company when it bought Integic Corp.,
last year's No. 59.

And as the Top 100 was going to press,
another longtime Top 100 name was set to disappear. PEC Solutions Inc. of

Fairfax
,
Va.

, (No. 66) announced that Nortel Networks Corp. of

Brampton
,
Ontario

, would acquire it for $448 million.

Nortel wants a bigger part of the
government market, company officials said. "We're playing to win," said
Bill Owens, Nortel's vice chairman and CEO. 

?
Nick Wakeman