Federal Count of IT and Communications Contracts Climbs
Federal Count of IT and Communications Contracts Climbs
Federal government awards of Information Technology (IT)-related prime contracts reached $155 billion in FY2004, representing a 60 percent increase over the $95 billion such contracts awarded during FY2003, according to a report by INPUT, a government market research firm.
Defense agencies are primarily responsible for the increase, with four of the top five departments in defense-related sectors. In terms of total dollars, five departments awarded a total exceeding $118 billion—76 percent of the entire awards during FY2004.
“The large increase in awarded dollars can be attributed to a handful of defense-related programs, as well as the emergence of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) as a major player,” says Michael Boland, INPUT’s Senior Analyst of Federal Vendor Profiles.
The U.S. Navy led the way with $36.8 billion in awards, including a $19.5 billion Engineering, Technical and Support Services contract for the Naval Warfare Center and other Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) Field Sites (SeaPort II) programs.
In addition, professional services awards totaled $103.3 billion in FY2004, an increase of 110 percent over last year. Because of two significant defense-related programs, the network and telecommunications category increased 900 percent in FY2004. Awards for the $9 billion Air Force Network Centric Solutions (NETCENTS) program and the $7 billion Army Warfighter Information Network—Tactical System (WIN-T) program accounted for 84 percent of the $19.2 billion in network and telecommunications services awards.
