Three affiliated companies merged today to form a new entity specializing in information technology services and solutions for the federal marketplace. Arlington, Va.-based Centurum Inc. brings together Techplan Corp., TDS Inc. and Klein & Stump Inc.
Despite no change in strong business trends among the federal IT service companies over the past few quarters, investors have been driving stocks higher in the past couple of months.
Federal IT contractors are overwhelmingly supporting President Bush and other Republican candidates with their campaign contributions. That's the most obvious conclusion from our exclusive pre-election report, "The Money Trail." Analyzing data from the Center for Responsive Politics, Washington Technology tracks where the Top 100 federal IT contractors are putting their political capital.
Federal, state and local governments often have discrete GIS groups working on task-specific GIS initiatives. But as geospatial data becomes increasingly important to all types of agencies, integrators are called on to marry disparate GIS projects and build applications that take advantage of unified geospatial information.
A procurement rule went into effect Sept. 17 permitting 5 percent incentive payments to contractors and subcontractors that use Native American, Native Alaskan and Native Hawaiian small businesses as subcontractors on Defense Department work worth more than $500,000.
The Small Business Administration this month launched an online application for 8(a) Business Development and Small Disadvantaged Business certification. The new automated application replaces a four-page paper form.
<font color="cc0000"> (UPDATED) </font color>Fifty-one small businesses won spots on the Commerce Information Technology Services Next Generation, a small-business acquisition contract for information technology.
Service-disabled veterans recently got what many women want: a new procurement regulation that allows contracting officers to set aside federal contracts specifically for their small businesses.
Cairo Corp. of Chantilly, Va., has grown nearly 200 percent annually during the past five years and now tops Washington Technology's annual list of the 50 fastest-growing federal IT contractors. Owner and president Alba Alemán said she doesn't want any special treatment from the government because of her gender.
At No. 39 on <I>Washington Technology</I>'s Fast 50, Artel Inc. is about in the middle of the bottom half of the rankings, but that's not such a bad thing. Artel, a Reston, Va., provider of IT, information assurance and telecommunications services, debuts on the rankings with a blistering 61.6 percent compound annual growth rate over the last five years. The company's growth also landed it at No. 97 on the <I>Washington Technology</I> 2004 Top 100 list, which ranks prime government contractors. Such is the potential of the companies found on this year's ranking lists.
Most large technology firms focus like a laser on the biggest buyers in the state and local market. But for small companies, a similar marketing focus could result in missed selling opportunities.
In this annual small-business issue, Washington Technology talked with many people who founded their own companies and made their own fortunes. Interestingly enough, the Beyster Institute has devoted itself to advancing entrepreneurship and employee ownership to build stronger and better-performing enterprises. One leading the charge is Robert Fuller, who has more than 17 years of experience developing entrepreneurial curricula. Among his many accomplishments, Fuller helped implement the Minority Small Business and Capital Ownership Development program for Science Applications International Corp. He recently spoke with Managing Editor Evamarie Socha about entrepreneurship.
Backbone of the nation. Driver of economic growth. Pillar of the American dream. Small businesses have been called all of these things, but being a small business is not easy.
