Where the IT dollars go

View the IT spending mapAn interactive map shows which congressional districts are home to the most information technology spending in fiscal 2007.

The federal government spent more than $66 billion on information technology in fiscal 2007. That doesn't include another $50 billion or so that came from intelligence agencies' so-called black budgets, an amount that remains secret due to national security concerns.

Where does most of that money end up? To find out, NextGov partnered with Eagle Eye Publishers Inc., a Fairfax, Va., company that tracks procurement trends, to chart how much money was spent on IT work in each congressional district. The result is an interactive map that users can browse to find spending information state-by-state and district-by-district.

Not surprising, a lot of IT spending stays in and around the Beltway, where agencies' headquarters, and the massive computer networks that support them, are located. Indeed, the seven congressional districts that spent the most federal IT dollars in fiscal 2007 are in the Washington metropolitan area.

Virginia's 8th District, home to some of the biggest federal IT contractors, received the most IT funding by far. Rep. James Moran, D-Va., says he was surprised by how much more his district received than others: $7.8 billion for Northern Virginia versus $5.6 billion for No. 2 ranked District of Columbia - about 40 percent more. "It's in this range because of my position on Defense appropriations," explained Moran, who sits on the Defense appropriations subcommittee. "I value contractors in the district."

But where the money goes is of no consequence, Moran said. He and Rep. Tom Davis, R-Va., who represents the 11th District in the wealthy Northern Virginia suburbs in Fairfax County, said lawmakers in the Washington metropolitan area come together to keep IT spending near the capital. "All of us work hard on policies that rely on these IT companies," Davis said. "In plus-ups and earmarks, we look out for them."

Another concentration of high spending is in the high-tech region of Southern California, where four of the top IT contractors for fiscal 2007 are headquartered. The pattern repeats in districts where a number of large IT contractors are based.

Politics, however, doesn't play a large role in determining where the money goes, according to Paul Murphy, president of Eagle Eye. If a map of party affiliations were superimposed over an IT contractor map, the results would show which political party a member of Congress belongs to is "not a key determination of spending," he said.

NextGov and Eagle Eye compiled spending totals from IT-related product and service categories and subcategories used in contract procurement. This amounted to 109 categories and subcategories, including, automated information system services, telecommunications network management services, and research and development in math, and computer sciences. The project was limited to contract spending for fiscal 2007.

We invite you to browse the interactive map to find out where the federal government's IT dollars are spent. Please post your comments about the project in The Forum. We would like to know what you think.

Interactive congressional map compiled by Melanie Bender.