For this year’s Top 100, we expanded the list of product service codes we use to analyze fiscal 2006 data from the Federal Procurement Data System-Next Generation. We wanted to broaden the view we take of the federal contracting market to better reflect the wide range of work systems integrators and other information technology contractors perform for government agencies. Therefore, the number of codes we used grew from 117 to 625.

Because of those changes, we and our research partner, Federal Sources Inc., enhanced how we work with the data and the companies on the Top 100 list.

We made multiple attempts to contact the companies on the list and those that were on last year’s Top 100 but didn't make the current one.

We gave companies the opportunity to review and verify their prime-contracting revenue. FedSources worked with those that responded with questions about their numbers and made adjustments if a company provided documentation of missing prime-contracting revenue.

Unfortunately, some companies didn’t respond, and others disputed their numbers but were unable to provide the appropriate documentation because of corporate policies.

As in previous years, there are several factors to keep in mind while reviewing the list.

• Agencies report contract actions that are worth more than $25,000 and are obligated to prime contractors. Such amounts represent actual spending on a contract during the time period analyzed, not over the contract's life.
• The reports are for prime contracting only and do not include subcontracting dollars.
• General Services Administration schedule transactions of more than $25,000 are included, but some agencies are better at reporting their GSA spending than others. FedSources recommends that companies encourage federal contracting officers to update the Federal Procurement Data System in an accurate and timely manner.