WT launches contractor confidence index

Welcome to our first Washington Technology Contractor Confidence Index. This will be a quarterly report tracking the industry's sentiment about the current market conditions and where it is headed.

Our Index starts with 100, which will be our baseline. From here, each quarter we'll track the changes against that baseline. If confidence is increasing, the number will rise above 100. If confidence is falling, the number will dip below 100.

Our first survey garnered 515 responses from executives and managers working for government contractors. About 38.3 percent described themselves as selling highly skilled services. Another 37.7 percent said they sold systems integration services. The rest were spread across product sellers, low skilled services and other.

The results of our first survey are presented below and show a mix of feelings about today's market. Respondents were nearly evenly split between positive and negative feelings about the market, but more than half of respondents felt that their company's revenue would grow over the next six months.

More felt that investments in infrastructure would increase rather than decrease. And nearly half expect their company's hiring to increase. Most are not expecting layoffs.
And people generally reported that they are happy with their jobs. Nearly 60 percent said they are not looking for new employment.

We'll be repeating this basic survey each quarter. I encourage you to take it when it appears in your inbox. As we establish trend lines, we'll be able to do more analysis on how the market is evolving and what direction it is headed in.

As always, we look forward to your comments.

Do you feel the market is headed in a positive or negative direction?

Do you expect your company's revenue to grow, shrink or stay the same over the next six months?

Do you expect your company's infrastructure investments to increase, decrease or stay the same?