Defence is IT's big spender

US federal agencies awarded information technology contracts worth $20bn in the last quarter of the fiscal year 2004.

Defence agencies accounted for $15.6bn worth of these deals, while the rest of the IT contracts were signed by civilian agencies, according to a report released on Thursday by market researcher Input.

The Army placed orders worth $9.7bn, including one for a revised war fighter information network. Overall, five defence agencies signed deals that, together, totalled more than $16bn, the market researcher said.

The defence deals mainly benefited companies such as Northrop Grumman, Lockheed Martin and Science Applications International. Altogether, the three won 48 awards, eight of which were generated from civilian agencies, Input said.

Input said awards to small companies totalled $1.4bn in the fourth quarter, up 105 percent over the third quarter, but down from more than $2.2bn during the same time last year.

Michael Boland, senior analyst of federal vendors at Input, said in statement: "Defence-related agencies stole the spotlight previously held by the Department of Homeland Security with its massive $10bn US-VISIT contract award to Accenture in the previous quarter. The upcoming months will be defined by billion-dollar awards made by both defence- and civilian-related agencies, including Air Force, Army and Energy."

Dinesh C. Sharma writes for CNET News.com.