Report Provides an In-Depth Look at U.S. Federal Government Spending on Information Products and Services

Recently, a revised edition (April 2014) of the Federal Government Strategic Sourcing Of Information Products And Services report was made available online. A full text copy is also embedded below.
The document runs 60 pages and was published by the Federal Research Division of the Library of Congress under an agreement with the Federal Library and Information Network (FEDLINK).
From the Preface:

This report describes the current landscape of the federal marketplace regarding the acquisition of information goods and services, including electronic databases, books, and serials. It compiles comprehensive data from fiscal year (FY) 1979 through the first quarter of FY 2014 on the amount federal agencies have spent on these products and services, as well as identifying major vendors. In addition, the report forecasts through FY 2016 the potential savings to the federal government if agencies purchase these products and services through a strategic-sourcing initiative. The report presents this data in the form of tables, graphs, and charts, accompanied by narrative explanation and analysis.

Tables include the Top 50 data contractors as well as tables listing the top contractors for web-based subscriptions, books/pamphlets, library support, and newspapers/periodicals. The report contains a total of 19 tables.
Key Findings Include:

• Federal spending on the 15 product service codes (PSCs) that can be reasonably considered to constitute the federal information market totaled $9.6 billion from fiscal year (FY) 1979 through FY 2013, an average of $274 million annually.

• In the most recent complete fiscal year—FY 2013—federal spending on information commodities was $644.3 From FY 1979 Q1 through FY 2014 Q1, six of the 15 information products and services accounted for 94 percent of federal spending on information commodities: Web-based subscriptions (21 percent), books and pamphlets (21 percent of total spending), administrative support for federal libraries (16 percent), administrative support for information retrieval (13 percent), newspapers and periodicals (12 percent), and maps, atlases, charts, and globes (11 percent).

• In the most recent five-year period from FY 2010 to FY 2014 Q1, federal agencies have sharply reduced spending on maps, atlases, charts, and globes. Consequently, the five remaining products and services listed above composed 95 percent of the federal information market.

• In the time span from FY 1979 through FY 2014 Q1, five agencies accounted for 67 percent of total federal spending on information commodities: Department of Defense (40 percent of total spending), Department of Health and Human Services (11 percent), Department of Commerce (6 percent), Department of Justice (6 percent), and Department of the Treasury (5 percent. Because of rounding error, the individual percentages do not total 67 percent.

• In the more recent period from FY 2010 through FY 2014 Q1, seven federal agencies accounted for the majority of federal spending on information products and services: Department of Defense (23 percent of total federal spending), Department of Health and Human Services (13 percent), Department of Commerce (10 percent), Department of Justice (8 percent), Department of Veterans Affairs (7 percent), Department of the Treasury (6 percent), and Department of Homeland Security (6 percent). Collectively, these agencies’ expenditure for information commodities constituted 73 percent of the total federal market for those products and services.

• Within the last five fiscal years—from FY 2010 through FY 2014 Q1—19 vendors received 50 percent of all federal spending on information products and services, and four of those vendors received nearly 25 percent of all such spending: Reed Elsevier ($238.3 million; 10 percent of all federal spending on information products and services); West Publishing Corporation ($195.9 million; 8 percent); Arctic Slope Regional Corporation ($86.8 million; 4 percent); and EBSCO ($81.8 million; 3 percent).

Federal Government Strategic Sourcing Of Information Products And Services by LJ’s infoDOCKET

Previous Version of Report (July 2013)

Filed under: Companies (Publishers/Vendors), Data Files, EBSCO, Elsevier, Government Libraries, Libraries, Maps, News