For a second year in a row, the team at Innovative Federal Strategies has been named a top lobbying firm in Washington, DC for their work on behalf of clients. Information regarding the metrics used by Bloomberg Government with a complete list of the top firms is included below.

(Bloomberg) — Lobbying is big business in Washington. Until a few years ago, however, there was no way to assess or compare the performances of D.C.’s many lobbying firms. Bloomberg Government set out to change that in 2014 by adapting and applying traditional business metrics, such as customer satisfaction and revenue growth.

With 2016’s lobbying data now filed, Bloomberg Government has reviewed the numbers for 1,721 registered lobbying firms to identify the 31 top performers.

At No. 1 this year is Petrizzo Group Inc., a newcomer to the list, as was the case with one of last year’s top firms.

Click here for a PowerPoint version of Bloomberg Government’s analysis of the top performers of 2016, and here for a pdf.

Top Performers of 2016

RankLobbying firm2016 Revenue
1Petrizzo Group Inc.$1,570,000
2Roosevelt Group LLC$3,384,000
3Daryl Owen Associates Inc.$2,510,000
4Lugar Hellmann Group LLC$2,838,500
5Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton LLP$2,086,000
6Health Policy Source Inc.$2,330,000
7Polaris Consulting LLC$5,744,000
8Etherton & Associates Inc.$1,434,000
9Empire Consulting Group$1,320,000
10Nathanson & Hauck$2,565,000
11Hannegan Landau Poersch & Rosenbaum Advocacy LLC$4,120,000
12 (tie)Cypress Advocacy LLC$3,357,000
12 (tie)Innovative Federal Strategies LLC$3,282,000
12 (tie)Tarplin Downs & Young LLC$6,860,000
15Washington Tax & Public Policy Group LLC$5,564,000
16S-3 Group LLC$5,570, 000
17Crossroads Strategies LLC$7,866,000
18American Capitol Group$1,475,000
19Franklin Square Group LLC$4,590,000
20W Strategies LLC$2,610,000
21 (tie)Porterfield Fettig & Sears LLC$3,790,000
21 (tie)Water Strategies LLC$1,100,000
23 (tie)Bluestone Strategies LLC$1,160,000
23 (tie)Thorn Run Partners LLC$8,596,000
25Duberstein Group Inc.$9,964,500
26 (tie)Hurt Norton & Associates Inc.$2,000,000
26 (tie)O’Brien Gentry & Scott LLC$2,374,000
28Monument Policy Group LLC$6,050,000
29Forbes Tate Partners$9,563,000
30Ogilvy Government Relations$10,494,000
31Cormac Group LLP$3,636,000 
Source:Bloomberg Government analysis of Senate lobbying disclosure filings 

Bloomberg Government analyzed 2016 Lobbying Disclosure Act filings to identify lobbying firms that met six business performance criteria:

  • Total revenue of $1 million or more
  • Growth in revenue
  • Growth in average revenue per client
  • A one-year retention rate of 80 percent or more
  • A three-year retention rate as of 60 percent or more
  • Revenue per registered lobbyist of $400,000 or more

Of roughly 1,721 registered lobbying firms that filed disclosure reports with the Senate during 2016, 31 met all of our criteria — five more than last year — and are included in the top performer list.

Relative performance in each of the five criteria outside of the revenue threshold was then calculated to determine the placement of the 31 firms on the list.