Next up in the nation's hottest federal information technology regions are the District of Columbia ($2.8 billion) and Massachusetts ($2.7 billion), according to the Input analysis.

Virginia, Maryland and Washington, D.C., accounted for about 38.6 percent of the spending, grabbing the most work performed on a state basis. This marks a slight increase from the fiscal year 1995 level of 31.5 percent, but it also is in keeping with a downward trend during the past several years for more work performance outside the region, said Norm Berthaut, Input's vice president.

Rounding out the top 10 are Texas, Florida, New Jersey, New York and Colorado, according to Input, which used data from the Federal Procurement Data Center maintained by the General Services Administration.

Agencies are required to report procurement data to GSA, including the amount the federal government has agreed to pay for a specified product or service. While these contract obligation numbers do not necessarily indicate the amount of money spent or the potential value of a contract, they do provide a useful snapshot of federal IT spending patterns.

According to Input, the leading agency spenders in fiscal 1996 were the Army with $9.7 billion in contract obligations, followed by the Navy ($9.3 billion) and Air Force ($8.5 billion). GSA ranked fourth in agency spending with $2.6 billion in contract obligations, a spike from the agency's fiscal 1995 level likely due in part to the agency's telecom spending on behalf of other agencies, according to Input.

The top 10 agencies did about 90 percent of the total spending, which is consistent with the previous year's findings, Berthaut said. The top agencies did 92 percent of the spending in fiscal 1995.

The top 10 states had 73 percent of the spending in this year's cycle. In fiscal year 1995, the top 10 states had 67 percent of the spending performed among them.

A breakdown of expenditures by types of companies showed that Virginia firms dominated all categories with the exception of nonprofits, which received more federal monies in Georgia. Large businesses, small businesses, 8(a) firms and small-disadvantaged companies in Virginia gleaned more than their counterparts in any other region, according to Input's geographic distribution breakdown shown in an accompanying chart.

States with strong spending on small businesses include New Jersey and Georgia; those with strong spending on 8(a)s include Ohio, New Jersey and Missouri. States with healthy spending on non-profits include Oklahoma, New Jersey and New Mexico. Leading states in the small disadvantaged spending arena are Virginia, Maryland, California and Massachusetts, closely mirroring those with large business spending totals.

A report of the high-technology industry prepared by the American Electronics Association, the nation's largest high-tech trade association, noted that computer makers, electronics companies and information technology firms tend to cluster to take advantage of pools of skilled workers and the collection of technology resources.

Joining the well-known areas of Silicon Valley, Massachusetts' Route 128 and North Carolina's Research Triangle in the last decade, the Cyberstates report said, are Northern Virginia's Silicon Dominion and the emergence of Utah and Idaho as high-tech centers.

Other leading high-tech regions to watch are the Silicon Hills of Austin and San Antonio, Texas; Seattle; the technology corridor of Redmond, Bellevue and Kirkland in Washington; and Oregon's Silicon Forest, the report said. n

Geographic Distribution of companies