C. Analysis of numbers of computers by SIC code and agency installations There is no direct way to compare how computers are being used in the Federal Government with those in the private sector. International Data Corporation (IDC) provided figures for the number of generalpurpose computers installed by Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) code and the percentage of the total installed base represented by each major SIC grouping as of December 31, 1975. These percentages, as presented in Figure 13, show that business, trade and manufacturing are the major areas for general-purpose computer installations. The Federal Government category is listed as 3.4% of the total installed base. However, the figures for IDC are based on December 31, 1975 figures except for the Federal Government which is based on June 30, 1975 figures. Since the total installed base had grown by approximately 3000 computers between June and December this made the Federal percentage smaller. Also, IDC considers only about 70% of the computers GSA lists as general management to be general-purpose. Thus, this lowers the Federal Government percentage on the SIC figure. The only available statistics on where Federal computers are being used is a compilation of numbers of computers by agency. These statistics are presented in Figure 14, which shows the number of computers installed at the end of each of the fiscal years 1966 through 1975 for DOD and the ten civilian agencies which have the largest number of installed computers. In addition, the numbers of computers have been translated into the percentages to the total inventory (Figure 15), in order to show which agencies were gaining or losing computers in proportion to other agencies. These same figures are also presented graphically in Figure 16. For ten of the eleven agencies the number of computers installed in FY75 reflects an increase ranging from 100% to 900% of the FY66 figures. The other agency, GSA, showed a negligible increase. Three agencies, DOD, ERDA, and NASA, which had the largest number of installed computers in FY66, continued throughout the past decade to have the largest number of computers totaling from 90% to 84% of all non-classified government computers. DOD remains the largest computer user among Federal agencies but ERDA now has more computers installed than does NASA. Although DOD and NASA both roughly doubled their installed computer base, their percentage of Federal computers decreased (by 15% and 3% respectively) since the number of computers in government nearly tripled (from 1 to 3 thousand). Commerce, ERDA, Transportation and Veterans Administration increased their installed computer base by factors of six, four, ten, and seven, respectively, while the rest of the civilian agencies taken as a group increased its base threefold. |