Interesting changes appear on Top 100 list

The roster of top DHS contractors for fiscal year 2010 resembles the list compiled by GSN for earlier years with one striking difference: Integrated Coast Guard Systems, the joint venture of Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman that has been supplying ships and aircraft to the U.S. Coast Guard, has fallen from the No 1 spot on last year’s list to the No. 24 position on this year’s roster.

On the FY2009 list of DHS vendors, Integrated Coast Guard Systems (ICGS) racked up more than $675 million in contract awards, according to the Federal Procurement Data Center, which provides the raw numbers to GSN’s editors, who compile each year’s “Top 100” rankings. By contrast, in fiscal year 2010, which ended on September 30, 2010, Integrated Coast Guard Systems received just under $92 million in contract awards from the Department of Homeland Security and its components.

Concerns expressed about the procurement process managed by ICGS in recent years have led the Coast Guard to play a more prominent role in future ship, aircraft and other capital investment programs. Scrutiny by the Coast Guard’s inspector general and various congressional committees may further dampen sales awarded directly to ICGS.

Beyond that dramatic change, the average revenues gathered by a few of the elite companies at the top of the rankings have gained somewhat from 2009 to 2010. For example, IBM, the No. 1 company on the most-recent list has seen its annual revenue climb from $511 million last year to $557 million this year. Similarly, Lockheed Martin, the current No. 2 company, has witnessed its revenues grow from $375 million last year to $428 million in fiscal year 2010.

That good fortune was not universally shared by the bulk of the companies that made it into the Top 10 this year, with the average value of their total contract awards declining from $360 million in FY2009 to $336 million in FY2010.

The roster of vendors remained remarkably stable from year-to-year, with most of the Top 10 holding similar positions at similar dollar values. However, there were two noticeable shifts: a newcomer, Bollinger Shipyards Lockport, LLC, based in Lockport, LA, parachuted into the fifth position on the current list, with total revenues of $332 million. A family-owned business, Bollinger announced on Sept. 21 that it had received a Coast Guard contract to build four additional Sentinel Class Fast Response Cutters (under a USCG contract that contains options for up to 34 of these vessels.)

Accenture LLP, of Reston, VA, a traditional habitant of GSN’s upper echelons, saw its DHS revenues cut in half this year, falling from the No. 6 slot in FY2009 (at $305 million) to the No. 12 position on the current rankings (with $154 million in contract awards.)

As always, GSN compiles these rankings from data supplied by the Federal Procurement Data Center, which gathers official information on millions of federal government transactions each year.

GSN tries hard to ensure the accuracy of its rankings and dollar values, but acknowledges that minor errors occasionally creep into the complex process. Because vendors and their subsidiaries often sign official DHS contracts under different corporate names, the data supplied by the Federal Procurement Data Center is sometimes not consolidated under the name of the parent corporation. For that reason, GSN takes pains to draw together all relevant awards under the name of the single parent entity. However, in a few instances, a relevant contract award or two may have escaped our attention.