What DHS' top contractors tell us about the IT opportunities

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The Homeland Security Department's top 20 contractors aren't all IT companies, but DHS has many IT needs and can help you get into one of the larger government spenders.

During our Doing Business With DHS Power Breakfast on Friday, the co-founders of market intelligence firm The Pulse of GovCon gave a presentation on spending patterns at the Homeland Security Department.

DHS is a fascinating department given the broad scope of missions that its various components carry out. Few few things illustrated this as much as the slide on DHS' top contractors that Pulse co-founders Amber Hart and Lisa Shea Mundt presented.

The list is below and is based on spending from fiscal years 2017 through 2020. As Hart and Shea-Mundt said, there are some familiar names to our IT audience and some not so familiar names. 

  1. Huntington Ingalls Industries
  2. Paragon Systems Inc.
  3. CSRA LLC (now part of General Dynamics)
  4. Bollinger Shipyards Lockport
  5. The Geo Group Inc.
  6. CH2M Hill (now part of Jacobs Engineering)
  7. Unisys Corp. (now part of Science Applications International Corp.)
  8. Deloitte
  9. Eastern Shipbuilding Group
  10. Accenture Federal Services
  11. American Medical Response
  12. IBM
  13. Triple Canopy
  14. Leidos
  15. Parkdale Advanced Materials
  16. Corecivic
  17. PAE
  18. Fluor
  19. Smiths Detection
  20. Dell Federal Systems

Three shipbuilders are in the top 10 -- Huntington Ingalls, Bollinger and Eastern Shipbuilding Group. The GEO Group operates prisons and mental health facilities. American Medical Response provides medical transportation. CoreCivic manages real estate.

Others on the list are much more familiar to the IT landscape. Paragon Systems provides security, both physical and cyber. CSRA is part of General Dynamics IT. Unisys is with Science Applications International Corp.

Deloitte, Accenture, IBM, Leidos, PAE and Dell are also known names.

That Top 20 list says a lot about the opportunities available to companies looking to get into DHS.

Maybe you aren’t a shipbuilder, but you can provide support services or a new way of processing data collected by those on ships. Perhaps you already do work with the Coast Guard and can bring unique insights to the mission or a challenge they are facing.

All the major tech trends we cover -- cloud computing, modernization, digital transformation – touch all of the companies on the list. DHS components who aren’t in IT might need the most help of all.

I think you get my point: There are IT opportunities at DHS that aren’t tied to IT contracts. The top 20 list is a good place to start.

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