Who local government buys from
Of 43,991 companies holding public contracts, 86% work with exactly one government. 1061 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 15%
- Public safety 7%
- Vehicles & equipment 7%
- Professional services 6%
- Utilities & energy 5%
- Real estate 4%
- Health & social 4%
- Construction 2%
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 199 | Axon Enterprise, Inc · written 15 ways | 349 | $631.7M |
| 141 | Motorola Solutions, Inc · written 4 ways | 320 | $355.0M |
| 117 | Kimley-Horn and Associates, Inc · written 9 ways | 287 | $112.9M |
| 112 | Tyler Technologies, Inc · written 4 ways | 195 | $78.6M |
| 75 | HDR Engineering, Inc · written 4 ways | 193 | $599.0M |
| 71 | Flock Group, Inc · written 7 ways | 104 | $46.8M |
| 65 | Environmental Systems Research Institute, Inc · written 3 ways | 94 | $25.6M |
| 59 | Carahsoft Technology Corporation · written 5 ways | 212 | $235.6M |
| 57 | SHI International Corp · written 13 ways | 134 | $236.1M |
| 55 | Freese and Nichols, Inc · written 4 ways | 140 | $93.4M |
| 54 | Granicus, LLC · written 6 ways | 102 | $36.4M |
| 51 | Stantec Consulting Services, Inc · written 5 ways | 111 | $226.8M |
| 45 | CDW Government LLC · written 7 ways | 141 | $139.1M |
| 44 | Enterprise Fleet Management · written 3 ways | 83 | $42.7M |
| 43 | AECOM Technical Services, Inc · written 5 ways | 114 | $214.1M |
| 42 | Halff Associates, Inc · written 5 ways | 126 | $40.5M |
| 42 | Insight Public Sector, Inc · written 4 ways | 100 | $68.6M |
| 40 | Tetra Tech, Inc · written 4 ways | 99 | $132.4M |
| 40 | Stryker Sales, LLC · written 6 ways | 66 | $25.8M |
| 39 | CDM Smith, Inc · written 3 ways | 115 | $85.5M |
| 39 | WSP USA, Inc · written 5 ways | 55 | $48.8M |
| 38 | Core & Main LP · written 6 ways | 73 | $136.8M |
| 36 | Union Pacific Railroad Company · written 2 ways | 63 | $11.6M |
| 36 | Waste Management · written 3 ways | 49 | $10.3M |
| 35 | Michael Baker International, Inc · written 3 ways | 84 | $58.5M |
| 35 | Bound Tree Medical, LLC · written 5 ways | 47 | $18.5M |
| 34 | Jacobs Engineering Group, Inc · written 4 ways | 91 | $321.5M |
| 34 | Musco Sports Lighting, LLC · written 5 ways | 40 | $14.9M |
| 33 | Galls, LLC · written 5 ways | 69 | $30.0M |
| 33 | Ferguson Enterprises, LLC · written 5 ways | 53 | $28.9M |
| 32 | Polydyne, Inc · written 3 ways | 55 | $23.6M |
| 31 | Cintas Corporation · written 2 ways | 45 | $14.7M |
| 31 | New Cingular Wireless PCS, LLC · written 4 ways | 40 | $3K |
| 30 | Garver, LLC · written 2 ways | 89 | $56.5M |
| 30 | Johnson Controls, Inc · written 2 ways | 57 | $79.2M |
| 30 | Insituform Technologies, LLC · written 4 ways | 56 | $157.3M |
| 30 | Zoll Medical Corporation · written 4 ways | 42 | $9.03M |
| 29 | Terracon Consultants, Inc · written 4 ways | 69 | $13.8M |
| 29 | CentralSquare Technologies, LLC · written 5 ways | 44 | $20.2M |
| 28 | MGT Impact Solutions, LLC · written 3 ways | 46 | $24.0M |
| 28 | OpenGov, Inc · written 4 ways | 37 | $13.4M |
| 28 | Raftelis Financial Consultants, Inc · written 3 ways | 36 | $6.37M |
| 27 | HR Green, Inc · written 3 ways | 66 | $22.0M |
| 27 | Kimley-Horn & Associates, Inc · written 7 ways | 43 | $18.0M |
| 27 | Republic Services · written 3 ways | 41 | $46.9M |
| 26 | Altec Industries, Inc · written 2 ways | 53 | $11.0M |
| 26 | Black & Veatch Corporation · written 2 ways | 52 | $521.5M |
| 26 | CliftonLarsonAllen LLP · written 4 ways | 42 | $14.2M |
| 26 | Lexipol, LLC · written 2 ways | 33 | $2.66M |
| 25 | Dana Safety Supply, Inc · written 5 ways | 40 | $13.8M |
| 24 | West Coast Arborists, Inc · written 5 ways | 47 | $59.9M |
| 24 | Brightview Landscape Services, Inc · written 6 ways | 36 | $12.6M |
| 24 | Design, Inc · written 5 ways | 35 | $22.9M |
| 24 | UKG Kronos Systems, LLC · written 4 ways | 32 | $26.4M |
| 24 | Samsara, Inc · written 2 ways | 31 | $29.3M |
| 23 | Accela, Inc · written 2 ways | 42 | $36.2M |
| 23 | Governmentjobs.com, Inc · written 5 ways | 39 | $18.2M |
| 23 | Core and Main · written 6 ways | 31 | $7.39M |
| 23 | CivicPlus, LLC · written 3 ways | 28 | $3.43M |
| 22 | Siddons-Martin Emergency Group, LLC · written 6 ways | 53 | $28.6M |
| 22 | Microsoft Corporation · written 3 ways | 46 | $23.4M |
| 22 | Carollo Engineers, Inc · written 2 ways | 46 | $51.0M |
| 22 | Freese & Nichols, Inc · written 3 ways | 42 | $16.3M |
| 22 | Genuine Parts Company · written 2 ways | 40 | $45.0M |
| 21 | Hazen and Sawyer · written 3 ways | 54 | $145.7M |
| 21 | Ardurra Group, Inc · written 4 ways | 47 | $98.5M |
| 21 | DBS, Inc · written 2 ways | 43 | $24.4M |
| 21 | CSX Transportation, Inc · written 3 ways | 41 | $2.11M |
| 21 | Azteca Systems, LLC · written 6 ways | 34 | $9.70M |
| 20 | Consor North America · written 3 ways | 41 | $55.1M |
| 20 | Geosyntec Consultants, Inc · written 5 ways | 40 | $25.8M |
| 20 | Grainger, Inc · written 2 ways | 34 | $7.79M |
| 20 | Morton Salt, Inc · written 2 ways | 33 | $6.31M |
| 20 | Univar Solutions USA LLC · written 7 ways | 30 | $17.5M |
| 20 | Evoqua Water Technologies LLC · written 3 ways | 28 | $9.93M |
| 20 | TK Elevator Corporation · written 3 ways | 28 | $147.5M |
| 20 | Dell Technologies · written 4 ways | 27 | $21.3M |
| 19 | KONE, Inc · written 5 ways | 38 | $39.3M |
| 19 | WSB, LLC · written 4 ways | 36 | $13.2M |
| 19 | Granite Construction Company · written 4 ways | 32 | $65.3M |
| 19 | Dell Marketing LP · written 6 ways | 31 | $98.9M |
| 19 | Alliant Insurance Services, Inc · written 3 ways | 31 | $115.3M |
| 19 | All City Management Services · written 3 ways | 30 | $8.48M |
| 19 | Forvis Mazars, LLP · written 4 ways | 27 | $6.11M |
| 19 | Universal Protection Services, LP · written 7 ways | 26 | $104.9M |
| 19 | HDR, Inc · written 2 ways | 24 | $15.9M |
| 19 | PFM Financial Advisors LLC · written 3 ways | 22 | $491K |
| 19 | Peregrine Technologies, Inc · written 3 ways | 21 | $12.0M |
| 19 | Iteris, Inc · written 2 ways | 21 | $4.21M |
| 18 | LJA Engineering, Inc · written 4 ways | 58 | $42.9M |
| 18 | Strand Associates · written 3 ways | 39 | $6.18M |
| 18 | Ten-8 Fire & Safety, LLC · written 7 ways | 35 | $30.3M |
| 18 | Safeware, Inc · written 2 ways | 25 | $7.20M |
| 18 | Hach Company · written 3 ways | 24 | $10.2M |
| 17 | SHI Government Solutions, Inc · written 3 ways | 105 | $104.9M |
| 17 | West Publishing Corporation · written 2 ways | 39 | $14.8M |
| 17 | Bolton & Menk · written 3 ways | 37 | $2.35M |
| 17 | Arcadis U.S., Inc · written 3 ways | 34 | $83.4M |
| 17 | Aramark Correctional Services, LLC · written 5 ways | 31 | $128.3M |
| 17 | Mead & Hunt, Inc · written 2 ways | 31 | $4.51M |
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.