Deloitte, UPS Join Top 100 Largest Federal Contractors

Although accounting and consulting firm Deloitte LLP and package delivery company United Parcel Service (UPS) have long been leaders in their respective industries, fiscal year 2010 marked the first year that either ranked among the top 100 largest federal contractors, according to a new ranking released today by the Project On Government Oversight (POGO).

POGO ’s Federal Contractor Misconduct Database (FCMD) now includes civil, criminal, and administrative misconduct information on 160 federal contractors, and more than 1400 resolved and pending misconduct instances dating back to 1995.

Along with Deloitte, which was awarded $838 million in contracts in FY2010, and UPS, which was awarded $700 million, the updated top 100 features seven new contractors, including Mission Essential Personnel (MEP), a relatively new company that provides translators for U.S. military operations. MEP was awarded $681 million in contracts last year. All three bring records of misconduct to the FCMD—Deloitte has 13 instances of misconduct for which it has incurred $488 million in penalties; UPS has had 17 instances and $47 million in penalties; and MEP has three instances, all of which are related to its work in Afghanistan.

The top 100 contractors received $276 billion in contracts last fiscal year, accounting for slightly more than half of the $536 billion in contracts awarded that year. As of today, these 100 contractors have accumulated 821 misconduct instances and $25.3 billion in monetary penalties.

For 25 of the top 100 recipients of federal contracts, POGO has not found any instances of misconduct, and an additional 14 contractors have only one instance, showing once again that contractor misconduct should not be accepted as a normal cost of doing business with the government.

Of the remaining contractors with multiple instances of misconduct, Lockheed Martin, BP, and Exxon top the list with 57 instances of civil, criminal, or administrative misconduct since 1995.

As has occurred in the past, the USAspending.gov contractor ranking contains errors. This year, the top 100 contains double listings for Booz Allen Hamilton (#29, and as “Booz Allen Hamilton Holding Corporation” at #47), Lockheed Martin (#1 and #49), and Northrop Grumman (#3 and #71).

POGO’s FCMD update follows the long-awaited April 15 public release of the federal government’s contractor responsibility database, the Federal Awardee Performance and Integrity Information System, or FAPIIS. Despite its limitations, POGO is hopeful that FAPIIS will become an indispensable resource, improving accountability for the more than $1 trillion in taxpayer dollars spent each year on federal contracts and grants.

POGO’s FCMD update also follows the August release of the Commission on Wartime Contracting’s final report to Congress. The Commission found that one out of every six dollars spent on contracts in Iraq and Afghanistan, between $31 billion and possibly as much as $60 billion, has been lost to waste and fraud. In addition to government contracting concerns, the report gave examples of poor performance or misconduct by FCMD contractors including Deloitte, DynCorp International, and KBR.

For more details, please visit POGO’s Federal Contractor Misconduct Database.