Who local government buys from
Of 33,428 companies holding public contracts, 87% work with exactly one government. 651 work with five or more.
Almost all public purchasing is local: a paving firm, a law firm, a caterer, each known to one city hall. Sitting on top of that is a thin layer of national suppliers that appear almost everywhere — and because no single government can see past its own records, nobody inside the system has been able to see how thin that layer is.
Some things consolidate. Most do not.
Not every kind of purchase behaves the same way. Buy software and you buy from much the same few companies as every other city; build a road and you hire somebody local. The gap between the two is fivefold.
- Technology 16%
- Professional services 7%
- Public safety 7%
- Vehicles & equipment 6%
- Real estate 6%
- Utilities & energy 6%
- Health & social 5%
- Construction 3%
Share of each category's contracts held by its ten largest suppliers, on a fixed 0–20% scale.
The hundred with the widest reach
| Governments | Company | Contracts | Stated value |
|---|---|---|---|
| 99 | Axon Enterprise, Inc · written 11 ways | 232 | $563.3M |
| 77 | Motorola Solutions, Inc · written 4 ways | 242 | $370.6M |
| 73 | Tyler Technologies, Inc · written 4 ways | 154 | $73.2M |
| 70 | Kimley-Horn and Associates, Inc · written 7 ways | 220 | $105.5M |
| 51 | Environmental Systems Research Institute, Inc · written 3 ways | 81 | $25.4M |
| 50 | Granicus, LLC · written 6 ways | 108 | $25.8M |
| 47 | HDR Engineering, Inc · written 4 ways | 137 | $609.1M |
| 44 | Carahsoft Technology Corporation · written 5 ways | 188 | $232.2M |
| 43 | SHI International Corp · written 11 ways | 115 | $239.2M |
| 41 | Stantec Consulting Services, Inc · written 5 ways | 98 | $254.1M |
| 38 | Flock Group, Inc · written 3 ways | 70 | $45.3M |
| 34 | AECOM Technical Services, Inc · written 5 ways | 120 | $239.9M |
| 31 | CDW Government LLC · written 7 ways | 126 | $139.3M |
| 30 | WSP USA, Inc · written 5 ways | 49 | $48.6M |
| 29 | CDM Smith, Inc · written 3 ways | 98 | $79.3M |
| 29 | Tetra Tech, Inc · written 3 ways | 86 | $153.7M |
| 28 | Michael Baker International, Inc · written 3 ways | 83 | $59.6M |
| 28 | Galls, LLC · written 5 ways | 65 | $28.4M |
| 28 | Ferguson Enterprises, LLC · written 5 ways | 49 | $35.0M |
| 27 | Jacobs Engineering Group, Inc · written 4 ways | 109 | $340.4M |
| 26 | Freese and Nichols, Inc · written 3 ways | 92 | $82.4M |
| 26 | Stryker Sales, LLC · written 6 ways | 48 | $26.1M |
| 26 | Union Pacific Railroad Company · written 2 ways | 47 | $12.4M |
| 26 | Grainger, Inc · written 2 ways | 46 | $36.0M |
| 26 | Bound Tree Medical, LLC · written 5 ways | 35 | $16.0M |
| 25 | Polydyne, Inc · written 3 ways | 55 | $24.0M |
| 25 | Johnson Controls, Inc · written 2 ways | 55 | $86.7M |
| 25 | CentralSquare Technologies, LLC · written 5 ways | 42 | $19.6M |
| 25 | Waste Management · written 3 ways | 40 | $9.67M |
| 25 | New Cingular Wireless PCS, LLC · written 4 ways | 33 | $3K |
| 23 | Insight Public Sector, Inc · written 4 ways | 69 | $63.2M |
| 23 | Accela, Inc · written 2 ways | 43 | $35.8M |
| 23 | Design, Inc · written 5 ways | 34 | $21.2M |
| 22 | Carollo Engineers, Inc · written 3 ways | 69 | $54.6M |
| 22 | Terracon Consultants, Inc · written 4 ways | 56 | $13.3M |
| 22 | Genuine Parts Company · written 2 ways | 52 | $49.0M |
| 22 | Insituform Technologies, LLC · written 4 ways | 52 | $153.4M |
| 22 | Core & Main LP · written 4 ways | 48 | $99.1M |
| 22 | Microsoft Corporation · written 3 ways | 47 | $24.6M |
| 22 | Black & Veatch Corporation · written 2 ways | 43 | $520.6M |
| 22 | Musco Sports Lighting, LLC · written 4 ways | 31 | $13.0M |
| 22 | Raftelis Financial Consultants, Inc · written 3 ways | 29 | $6.15M |
| 21 | Halff Associates, Inc · written 3 ways | 89 | $32.8M |
| 21 | Cintas Corporation · written 2 ways | 36 | $14.2M |
| 20 | CliftonLarsonAllen LLP · written 3 ways | 38 | $13.6M |
| 20 | Lexipol, LLC · written 2 ways | 27 | $2.60M |
| 19 | West Coast Arborists, Inc · written 5 ways | 46 | $55.2M |
| 19 | Dana Safety Supply, Inc · written 4 ways | 34 | $11.2M |
| 19 | Zoll Medical Corporation · written 3 ways | 30 | $6.81M |
| 18 | West Publishing Corporation · written 2 ways | 37 | $14.0M |
| 18 | Brightview Landscape Services, Inc · written 4 ways | 35 | $13.0M |
| 18 | Kimley-Horn & Associates, Inc · written 7 ways | 26 | $13.6M |
| 18 | Hach Company · written 3 ways | 25 | $9.84M |
| 18 | UKG Kronos Systems, LLC · written 3 ways | 24 | $23.5M |
| 17 | Siemens Industry, Inc · written 2 ways | 30 | $47.9M |
| 17 | Governmentjobs.com, Inc · written 5 ways | 28 | $14.7M |
| 17 | Universal Protection Services, LP · written 7 ways | 25 | $111.1M |
| 17 | Dominion Voting Systems, Inc · written 3 ways | 24 | $43.0M |
| 17 | OpenGov, Inc · written 3 ways | 21 | $8.58M |
| 16 | CSX Transportation, Inc · written 3 ways | 36 | $2.55M |
| 16 | Alliant Insurance Services, Inc · written 3 ways | 29 | $115.3M |
| 15 | Garver, LLC · written 2 ways | 62 | $40.5M |
| 15 | Hazen and Sawyer · written 3 ways | 50 | $150.5M |
| 15 | Environmental Science Associates · written 2 ways | 30 | $12.0M |
| 15 | Altec Industries, Inc · written 2 ways | 29 | $8.28M |
| 15 | Univar Solutions USA, Inc · written 4 ways | 28 | $13.6M |
| 15 | Gordian Group, Inc · written 3 ways | 24 | $15.0M |
| 15 | Samsara Inc · written 2 ways | 21 | $26.2M |
| 15 | Fastenal Company | 20 | $12.4M |
| 15 | Fehr & Peers · written 3 ways | 19 | $8.98M |
| 15 | Iteris, Inc · written 2 ways | 19 | $4.31M |
| 15 | CivicPlus, LLC · written 3 ways | 17 | $3.62M |
| 14 | LJA Engineering, Inc · written 4 ways | 51 | $39.0M |
| 14 | Ardurra Group, Inc · written 3 ways | 38 | $96.6M |
| 14 | KONE, Inc · written 5 ways | 38 | $35.3M |
| 14 | AT&T Corporation · written 4 ways | 38 | $35.0M |
| 14 | Azteca Systems, LLC · written 4 ways | 25 | $8.79M |
| 14 | Enterprise Fleet Management Inc · written 3 ways | 24 | $19.4M |
| 14 | Mythics, LLC · written 4 ways | 23 | $36.5M |
| 14 | HDR, Inc · written 2 ways | 22 | $19.4M |
| 14 | TK Elevator Corporation | 21 | $91.2M |
| 14 | Vertosoft, LLC · written 2 ways | 18 | $5.87M |
| 14 | Peregrine Technologies, Inc · written 3 ways | 16 | $12.4M |
| 13 | Gartner, Inc · written 2 ways | 40 | $22.6M |
| 13 | Southern California Edison Company · written 2 ways | 32 | $51.2M |
| 13 | Arcadis U.S., Inc · written 3 ways | 30 | $75.3M |
| 13 | DBS, Inc · written 2 ways | 29 | $22.1M |
| 13 | Granite Construction Company · written 3 ways | 26 | $62.8M |
| 13 | Aramark Correctional Services, LLC · written 5 ways | 26 | $127.8M |
| 13 | Brown and Caldwell · written 2 ways | 23 | $26.5M |
| 13 | Bear Electrical Solutions, LLC · written 4 ways | 22 | $4.44M |
| 13 | Safeware, Inc · written 2 ways | 20 | $6.95M |
| 13 | AssetWorks, Inc · written 6 ways | 19 | $27.0M |
| 13 | Unifirst Corporation · written 4 ways | 19 | $4.79M |
| 13 | CSG Consultants, Inc · written 3 ways | 18 | $9.99M |
| 12 | Siddons-Martin Emergency Group, LLC · written 7 ways | 41 | $15.5M |
| 12 | Geosyntec Consultants, Inc · written 5 ways | 29 | $21.0M |
| 12 | Consor North America · written 3 ways | 28 | $59.5M |
| 12 | Pacific Gas and Electric Company · written 4 ways | 27 | $31.8M |
| 12 | Convergint Technologies, LLC · written 3 ways | 27 | $19.6M |
How this is counted, and where it is soft. One row is one company across every government that names it, and names are typed by hand into agendas — Axon appears eleven different ways. Spellings are merged only where a plural or a written-out "incorporated" differs, never on resemblance, because Jaxon Enterprises and Maxon Industries are not Axon and a page that invents a merger is worse than one that lists a name twice. So every figure here is a floor. Stated value is the sum of the amounts written on the records, not a company's revenue: an amendment usually restates the value of the contract it amends, so the same money can be counted twice. Follow any company to see every record it came from.