While contract spending by the Defense Department more than doubled from 2001 to 2011, the majority of defense contract dollars has been going to the top defense contractors, according to a new report by the Center for Strategic and International Studies’ defense-industrial initiatives group.

The report found significantly higher funding levels for many of the same companies from 2001 to 2011. Lockheed Martin was the top contractor and Northrop Grumman is now the contractor receiving the second highest level of funding, up from ninth 10 years ago.

“It’s the same key players year over year, and that’s good to some extent for both DOD and industry,” said Guy Ben-Ari, deputy director of the CSIS group. “Industry knows that there’s a customer that they can sell to and DOD knows that there are a number of prime contractors … who are in it for the long haul.”

Contract health care services providers made some of the largest gains, with contract values for health care firms tripling from 2001 to 2011. The three health care service providers on the 2011 list received about 2.5 percent of the total spending that year — a combined dollar award of more than $9 billion, which was about double their combined market share in 2001.

Spiraling health care costs are “a key challenge for defense policymakers grappling with a defense budget drawdown,” the report stated.

For products contracting, Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Raytheon and General Dynamics were the top four defense contractors in 2001 and remained in the top five in 2011. BAE Systems wasn’t on the list in 2001 and came in eighth in 2011 after some acquisitions.

From 1990 and 2011, defense contract spending grew by 4 percent annually while the overall defense budget increased by just 0.02 percent per year, the report found.

"That’s been a huge increase," said David Berteau, senior vice president and director of the International Security Program at CSIS and co-author of the report. "It says that most of the increase for defense (spending) for the last 10 years, more of it has gone to contracts than it has to personnel."

The peak of defense contract spending came in 2008, during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Soon after 2008, contract spending fell slightly while other defense spending rose, according to the report. Declining military budgets have contributed now to a “steadiness” in contract spending, Berteau said.

"Projecting forward, though, I think that you’ll see a more dramatic reduction in the amount of money going to contractors, both on the services side and for hardware for weapons systems and research and development," he added.

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Chandler Harris is a freelance business and technology writer located in Silicon Valley. He has written for numerous publications including Entrepreneur, InformationWeek, San Jose Magazine, Government Technology, Public CIO, AllBusiness.com, U.S. Banker, Digital Communities Magazine, Converge Magazine, Surfer's Journal, Adventure Sports Magazine, ClearanceJobs.com, and the San Jose Business Journal. Chandler is also engaged in helping companies further their content marketing needs through content strategy, optimization and creation, as well as blogging and social media platforms. When he's not writing, Chandler enjoys his beach haunt of Santa Cruz where he rides roller coasters with his son, surfs and bikes across mountain ranges.