'We wait three months after the end of the financial year to let the data stabilize, as some agencies take a while to do their reporting", Hurditch said.

"The value of reported contracts as at September 30 was A$2.99 billion. Allowing for those agencies which do not publish their contract data, and for the fact that some 2004-05 contracts may yet be published, I am confident the full value of the market for 2004-05 will exceed $3 billion."

Key outcomes of the analysis include the fact that the market has grown 11 percent each year for the last two years. "Few suppliers can complain about this level of growth," she said.

IT services made up the bulk of the growth with a number of large outsourcing contract renewals.

Across the other segments, hardware dropped, as did the large office machines and telecommunications equipment segments, but software and telecommunications services increased.