Now that a tentative agreement has been reached on the tax issue of the fiscal cliff, lawmakers are now grappling with a deal to avert the $1.6 trillion in spending cuts that are set to kick in after the Jan. 1 deadline.
They are cuts that could have a significant effect on companies that make their lifeblood from government contracting.
If Congress fails to get a deal that stops this sequestration, the cuts will be carried out in an across-the-board, uniform way, meaning that every civilian program and every defense-related program will get cut by the same percentage.
For civilian programs, excluding Social Security and Medicare, this means an 8.2 percent across the board cut. For the military, a 9.2 percent cut for every non-exempt program will apply.
To find out which companies have the most to lose from the cuts, we took a look at the eleven companies that made the most from government contracting in 2012, based on numbers from Washington Technology.
11. Harris Corporation
Value of Government Contracts in 2012: $3 billion
Harris Corp. builds radio communications systems and integrated networks, working on IT for both civilian and government defense agencies. For example, the company builds air-traffic control systems for the FAA and designed a new database for the U.S. Census.
CEO William Brown was just appointed by President Obama to the National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee.
Source: Washington Technology
10. DynCorp International
Value of Government Contracts in 2012: $3.3 billion
DynCorp is involved in law enforcement training and support, security, logistics support, and aviation services.
The company specializes in staffing and providing contractors for the military. For example, the military contracts DynCorp to provide security at its bases in the Persian Gulf.
Source: Washington Technology
9. Computer Sciences Corp.
Value of Government Contracts in 2012: $3.6 billion
A wide variety of government agencies, including the U.S. Navy, NASA, and the Department of the Interior, use CSC services for cloud computing, networks, management consulting and supply-chain management.
Source: Washington Technology,
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