One challenge — and goal — in putting the Top 100 issue together each year is poring over the list and eliciting what it is that the rankings say about the state of the government market. The conclusion I’ve come to is that there is no single conclusion.

The Washington Technology Top 100 list of federal prime contractors in government IT is too complex, too subtle and supports too many sometimes-contradictory suppositions for such simplicity. Our coverage this year strives to reflect that.

Who is No. 1? Who’s new? What are the movements up and down the list? That’s the function of the one-through-100 rankings and other charts that analyze the companies by parameters such as industry sector and financial performance. But this issue is about more than statistics. Our overview story by Roseanne Gerin focuses on how companies maneuver to stay on top as the market changes and opportunities emerge.

For the top 20 companies, we have profiles that detail the successes and challenges that speak of the essential core of the major players in the government market. The Top 100 also tells different stories depending on what types of companies or sections on the list you look at.

We expanded our coverage this year to delve into some of those stories. Ethan Butterfield has one on small and midsize businesses that cracked the rankings. Doug Beizer explores a few of the hotter technology areas piquing companies’ interest. Alice Lipowicz examines how policy issues are playing out for Top 100 companies.

This is our 13th annual Top 100 issue, and I would be remiss if I didn’t thank the researchers and analysts at Federal Sources Inc. for their hard work in putting the list together.

Each year we strive to make the list better and more meaningful. I’ll let you judge how well we’ve done this year. But I’ll tell you, looking at the Top 100 issue we’ve put together this year, I just can’t stop grinning.