Structure and dynamics of the U.S. Federal professional services industrial base 1995-2007

The U.S. government has a permanent and growing reliance on contracts with the private sector for a wide range of professional and support services. For the past three years, CSIS research has tracked the trends driving the professional services industry since 1995. This report analyzes these trends through 2007, the most recent year for which reliable data are available. Data are from the Federal Procurement Data System (FPDS). On the basis of this analysis, we conclude that the macro trends of the past decade continued in 2006 and 2007. For the fourth year in a row, providing professional services to the federal government has represented a larger market than selling hardware to the government. This is a historic, unprecedented shift in modern times. However, growth in federal service contracts did slow between 2006 and 2007. That trend is more reminiscent of the mid-1990s than the 2002-2006 period and could indicate a leveling-off of the market.