About our numbers

For the 2008 Top 100, we have refined the productservice codes (PSCs) used to analyze data from theFederal Procurement Data System-Next Generation.Our goal is to capture the wide range of technologywork and mission expertise that contractors provideto the federal government.The data analyzed for this year's rankings coversfiscal 2007, which ended Sept. 30. Revenue generatedsince then is not counted.The adjustments we and our research partner,FedSources, made this year reflect lessons learnedlast year when we overhauled how the Top 100 iscompiled. At that time, we greatly expanded thenumber of codes used to analyze the procurementdata. Many of the codes might not seem related tosystems integration or information technology, but ITis what gets the work done.We refined the list this year to eliminate codesthat did not reflect technology-intensive work, suchas construction and security guard services. Theywere included last year because they were part offamilies of PSCs that include high-tech work.Some PSCs were eliminated in this refinementprocess, but others were added as FedSources'research discovered new areas where IT is having animportant impact. We are using 702 codes thisyear, up from 625.We are not including company rankings fromlast year's Top 100 because the changes make afair, year-to-year comparison impossible. Somecompanies dropped significantly from last year asa result of the changes, and others fell off the listcompletely. Readers who want to track informationon companies from previous years can find thoserankings online at http://www.washingtontechnology.com.As with past Top 100s, there are several caveatsto keep in mind: