IT pros see vendor mediocrity

Six hundred federal information technology professionals surveyed in January graded the performance of manufacturers, integrators and resellers they do business with at about a C+ average, according to the survey from Market Connections Inc.

The report, released this week, states that on 15 performance factors, no one factor got an average score higher than a B-.

Dell Inc. and Microsoft Corp. topped the list of technology companies that the professionals are aware of. Several other prominent companies also scored well in "top-of-mind" awareness.

On awareness, the survey asked the respondents both "aided" questions with multiple-choice responses, and "unaided" questions with no suggestions offered. In unaided awareness, Dell came in first and Hewlett-Packard Development Co. LLC second among manufacturers. CDW Government Inc. ranked highest among resellers, while IBM Corp. and Lockheed Martin Corp. had the highest levels of awareness among integrators.

Dell and Microsoft scored highest in the aided questions. Integrators in general had the lowest levels of aided awareness, according to the survey report.

Forty-six percent of the respondents reported using a credit card to purchase IT products online, with an average purchase under $2,500 for more than half of those surveyed.

The survey found that the respondents believe IT security and information sharing among agencies will be the most important initiatives in the immediate future to help agencies fulfill homeland security missions. Information sharing with the public was the least important initiative overall, but is more important in civilian agencies than defense agencies.