The ranks of publicly traded government IT companies continues to swell as Stanley Inc. made its debut today on the New York Stock Exchange.

Less than a week after Science Applications International Corp. went public, Stanley conducted its own initial public offering. The company’s stock rose in early trading by more than 20 percent above its offering price of $13 per share. The company issued 6.3 million shares of stock, which were trading at about $15.93 a share.

Stanley of Arlington, Va., picked a historic day for its debut, as the Dow Jones industrial average topped 12,000 for the first time in early trading.

The company raised about $81.9 million with the IPO. A portion of the money will be used to pay down debt.

Citigroup Global Markets Inc. and Wachovia Securities led the underwriters for the IPO. Other banks include Raymond James & Associates Inc., Cowan and Co. LLC, and Stifel, Nicolaus & Co. Inc.

Stanley is trading under the symbol of SXE. The company, which had revenue of $284.4 million for the year ended March 31, ranks No. 58 on Washington Technology’s 2006 Top 100 list of the largest federal IT contractors.

Stanley is the third federal contracting to go public in the last month. ICF International Inc. of Fairfax, Va., had an IPO Sept. 28, followed by SAIC Oct. 13.