About the Numbers

The rankings of top contractors and top-spending agencies in this issue are compiled for Government Executive by Eagle Eye Publishers Inc. of Fairfax, Va., from data contained in the General Services Administration's Federal Procurement Data System-Next Generation for fiscal 2004. The center gets its information from reports on contracting filed by agencies.

Most vendors in the rankings are private, for-profit U.S. companies, but universities, nonprofit institutions and foreign-owned firms also are represented. Agencies are required to report on all transactions valued at $2,500 or more. Spending by intelligence agencies is omitted.

Companies ranked in this issue are parent companies; outlays to subsidiaries are "rolled up" to the parent. For joint ventures, we have assigned each partner an equal portion of payments made under the contract in 2004. Mergers and acquisitions are not reflected in the listings unless they became final before fiscal 2004 ended.

For More Information

Eagle Eye Publishers can be reached at (703)359-8980, on the Web at http://eagleeyeinc.com, or via e-mail at info@eagleeyeinc.com.