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Top Pentagon contractors unnamed
The Pentagon's unnamed contractors placed 14th on the Defense Department's ranking of top contractors for 2008, according to an Aerospace DAILY analysis of an independent national database of government contracting data.
The $2.7 billion paid to "not available" contractors bested some industry giants, including the $2.4 billion for Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC), $1.8 billion for United Technologies and $1.3 billion for Honeywell, according to the analysis of data provided by the National Institute for Computer-Assisted Reporting (NICAR).
The NICAR database is maintained by Investigative Reporters and Editors Inc. and the University of Missouri, based on data furnished by the U.S. government. The database is meant, among other things, to help the government keep track of what it is spending its money on and with whom.
Analysts such as James McAleese of McAleese & Associates said the "not available" contractors likely include scores of limited liability companies created to do special projects in support of war efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan. Most say the work is likely classified, and that's why the contractors are not named.
Indeed, all of the work done by the unnamed contractors was in either Iraq or Afghanistan, the analysis shows. However, in previous years, classified contracts still identified the contractors–the listing last year marked the first time the Pentagon omitted the names in such a way.