Who are the best contractors in the market?

J. Robert Beyster, founder of Science Applications International Corp., leads a group of 19 companies and 15 executives being recognized as finalists for the ninth annual Greater Washington Government Contractor Awards.

The annual program is produced by the Fairfax County, Va., Chamber of Commerce; the Professional Services Council; and Washington Technology.

The finalists were announced Thursday night at a reception in Tysons Corner, Va. The companies and executives are recognized as the leaders in the market based on the success of the companies and their contributions to the community and industry.

Beyster was tapped as the hall of fame inductee. He founded SAIC in 1969 and when he retired in 2004, the company had $6.7 billion in revenue. But beyond growing a mulibillion-dollar a year company, Beyster also became an evangelist for employee ownership and entrepreneurship. He founded the Beyster Instituted at the University of California-San Diego to foster entrepreneurship through employee ownership.

When he retired from SAIC, the company was the largest employee-owned technology company in the United States. Today, SAIC is a publicly traded company.

Also to be recognized at the GovCon awards program Nov. 1 are two public-sector partners of the year: Dan Gordon, administrator of the Office of Federal Procurement Policy, and Michelle Foster, a procurement official with the Veterans Affairs Department.

The winners in the company and executive categories will be announced during the Nov. 1 gala.

The finalists are:

Contractor of the year (less than $25 million)

• Beacon Associates Inc.
• CPS Professional Services LLC.
• Fulcrum IT Services.
• i_SW.
• InCadence Strategic Solutions.

• Agilex.
• Attain.
• DMI.
• IntelliDyne LLC.
• Invertix Corp.

• High Performance Technologies Inc.
• MicroTech.
• Sotera Defense Solutions Inc.
• Systems Planning and Analysis Inc.

• Carahsoft Technology Corp.
• ICF International.
• NCI Inc.
• USIS.
• Vangent.

• Dolly Oberoi, C2 Technologies Inc.
• Larry Letow, Convergence Technology Consulting.
• Phil Panzarella, CPS Professional Services LLC.
• Dawn Halfaker, Halfaker and Associates LLC.
• Katherine Sleep, LIST Innovative Solutions.

• Randy Slager, Catapult Technology LTD.
• Bob Kocher, Ideal Innovations Inc.
• Chris Torti, Jorge Scientific Corp.
• Neil Albert, MCR LLC.
• Tony Jimenez, MicroTech.

• Paul Cofoni, CACI International Inc.
• George Schindler, CGI Federal.
• Matt O'Connell, GeoEye Inc.
• Harry Martin, Intelligent Decisions.
• Walt Havenstein, SAIC.