During December 1999, FCW Government Technology Group Inc. (FCW) conducted its fifth annual survey of federal government subscribers of Federal Computer Week to measure their perceptions of leading information technology product and service vendors. Federal Computer Week reaches a controlled circulation of about 86,000 readers, about 66,000 of whom are federal government employees qualified based on substantial participation in the acquisition of information technology products and services.
This survey encompassed 356 total hours of interviews with 1,500 subscribers who were asked to rate 102 leading information technology companies.
The objectives of this survey are twofold:
(1) To define and implement a cost-effective approach to quantifying the competitiveness and past performance of leading information technology companies in the federal market
(2) To measure the federal market brand values of these companies using parameters generally applied in federal government source selections
This report describes and analyzes the results of the survey, encompassing the competitiveness and past performance of 102 information technology companies from the viewpoint of knowledgeable federal employees. It includes summary results and analysis of responses in the following areas:
* Distribution of survey respondents by agency, location and level of spending on information technology
* Intrinsic and relative importance to respondents of the contractor past performance criteria, as originally defined by Office of Federal Procurement Policy guidance
* Importance to respondents of various sources of contractor past performance measurements
* Extent of the experience of respondents with 102 vendors over the past three years
* Assessments of the complexity of work performed by those vendors with which respondents are familiar
* Ratings of those vendors with which respondents are familiar
* Comparative and summary analyses and interpretations
This report includes the survey questionnaire (Appendix A) and a single-page report card for each of the 102 companies (Appendix B).
The survey discovered significant differentiation of company competitiveness and past performance for all parameters measured. Federal agency source-selection teams could use survey results to: (1) support the evaluation processes for offeror teams for formal source selections, and (2) screen potential companies for participation in blanket purchase agreements. The companies rated could use the results to assess the values of their overall brands in the federal market and to initiate corrective actions to improve their brand values. All companies interested in the federal information technology market might use the results to examine the strengths and weaknesses of potential partners and competitors.
Highlights of the survey are:
* Of the 1,500 total interviews, 46 percent are from the Department of Defense (DOD) and 54 percent are from at least 25 civil agencies.
* Customer (end user) satisfaction has narrowly displaced product quality as the most important past performance criterion. Quality of services is growing in importance; timeliness of performance, declining.
* Contract performance evaluations from within the agency conducting a source selection remain the most important source of contractor past performance data, followed by special agency surveys and third party data.
* Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard (HP), Dell and Netscape are the companies with which respondents are most likely to have had a contractual relationship in the past three years.
* Microsoft, Dell and Intel have established the deepest customer relationships. Among services companies, Government Technology Services Inc. (GTSI) has the broadest and deepest relationships.
* Agencies do not view the work done by the information technology industry as very difficult overall. They see Science Applications International Corp. (SAIC), Lockheed Martin, Oracle and Nichols Research as performing the most complex activities.
For 2000, Dell has overtaken HP as the leader in overall competitiveness (weighting price, technical, management and past performance ratings equally), followed by Cisco, Intel and Netscape. The highest-scoring integrators, resellers and consultants are SAIC, CDW-Government (CDW-G), Electronic Data Systems (EDS), Anixter and Booz-Allen & Hamilton.
This year, respondents generally graded harder than in prior years, with average scores falling for most parameters measured. Expansion of the list of companies evaluated does not explain this decline. It may derive from higher expectations in the emerging Internet economy.
Table E-1 lists the top 10 companies by element of competitiveness based on survey results.
Table E-2 lists the top companies by past performance criterion based on survey results.
Table E-3 lists the leaders in overall competitiveness for several information technology segments based on equal weightings of price, technical, management and past performance.
None of the companies evaluated in the survey is on average unsatisfactory for any parameter measured. However, knowledgeable federal employees clearly regard some more highly than others.
The statistical approach to evaluating past performance used in this survey does not include validation that respondents really have recent, direct contractual experience with the companies they rated. Neither does it include steps to verify that it covers all of a company’s recent federal contracts. Nor does it explore whether respondents thoroughly understand the requirements and terms of the contracts through which they have experience with the companies they rated. However, in a market that is increasingly commodity-based and therefore brand-driven, this survey represents a reasonable approach to understanding the experiences of federal government buyers with those companies seeking their business.
Please direct questions about this report to
Steve LeCompte
Vice President, Research and Development
FCW Government Technology Group Inc.
3141 Fairview Park Drive, Suite 777
Falls Church, Virginia 22042
(703) 876-5148
steve_lecompte@fcw.com
