Making the List

HEADNOTE

OUTLOOK

HEADNOTE

Federal buying is a whole different world than it was 15 years ago.

What does it take to be one of the

Top 200 federal contractors that we feature in this issue of Government Executive? Well, for starters, you'd better bring to the table almost $150 million a year in prime federal contracts. And if you want to ante up with the big dogs at the top of the list, you must be absolutely relentless in pursuing a whole lot more in the way of contract dollars.

How much more? Well, think of it this way: If all of the $4.5 billion worth of coffee that Starbucks Corp. sold in the United States in the past year was purchased by federal agencies, that would barely be enough to put the company in the Top 10 contractors. And even if the folks at Starbucks managed to accomplish this feat, they'd have to sell an additional $20 billion worth of lattes and Frappuccinos to even get close to the amount of money that top-ranked contractor Lockheed Martin Corp. takes in from Uncle Sam.