Relationship management and the probable influence on the short and long-term success of information technology firms contracting with the Federal Government in the IT sector

There are many studies which seek to understand relationship factors and their influence on winning and maintaining business in the private sector, but few studies have been done that address these issues in the public sector. This study specifically focused on the factors that contributed to retaining and winning business with the Federal Government. Two hundred private sector information technology companies were sent a survey asking them to provide their views on Information Technology (IT) contracting in the public sector. The overall response rate was 63 or 31%.;One of the goals of this research was to help businesses understand the correlation between relationship management and other factors which influence the winning and maintaining of business in the Federal Government (public sector). This understanding contributes to building prosperous business enterprises. This study limited its focus to one specific government sub-agency and focused specifically on the area of information technology.;Given the limited amount of research on public sector relationship management, much of the research was exploratory and was aimed at investigating some beliefs long held by private sector companies contracting with the public sector. Given the long-held beliefs that are inherent in public sector contracting (such as having relationships with public sector managers, pricing, and teaming being important to winning business), it was not surprising that the respondents tended to be homogeneous in their responses. The research supported many of the long-held beliefs, especially the fact that having relationships with public sector managers was important to winning and retaining business.