Public Strategies Washington named one of Bloomberg Government’s top performing lobby firms

(Bloomberg Government) -- There’s more to the second quarter’s 27 top-performing lobbying firms than top-line revenue. In assessing the leading performers, Bloomberg Government examined six critical business performance metrics to determine which companies excelled during the second quarter of 2015. Click here for the analysis.

Of roughly 1,500 registered lobbying firms that filed lobbying disclosure reports with the Senate, only 27 firms met all six of Bloomberg Government’s criteria for top performers. Each firm, in addition to meeting a revenue threshold, had to exhibit revenue growth, accretive growth (positive percentage change in year-over-year average revenue per client), two measures of customer satisfaction, and sizable revenue per registered lobbyist.

Relative performance in each of the latter five criteria was then calculated to determine the placement of the 27 firms on the list.

In alphabetical order, BGOV’s top performers of the second quarter are: Avenue Solutions LLC, Bluestone Strategies LLC, Bockorny Group Inc., Capitol Hill Strategies LLC, CGCN Group, Cornerstone Government Affairs, Crossroads Strategies LLC, Cypress Advocacy LLC, Ervin Hill Strategy, Franklin Square Group LLC, Gibson Group Inc., Hannegan Landau Poersch Advocacy, Ietan Consulting LLC, Innovative Federal Strategies LLC, Lugar Hellman Group LLC, Monument Policy Group LLC, Nathanson & Hauck, Penn Hill Group, Prime Policy Group LLC, Public Strategies Washington Inc., Raffaniello & Associates LLC, Rich Feuer Group, the Russell Group Inc., Tarplin Downs & Young LLC, Van Scoyoc Associates Inc., Washington Tax & Public Policy Group LLC and Water Strategies LLC. Some highlights from the list include:

-- Washington Tax & Public Policy Group was the No. 1 lobbying firm this quarter. The firm had top-five performance in four key metrics, including the highest revenue per registered lobbyist and a perfect one-year retention rate. The firm also expanded its client portfolio and increased revenue per client from the same quarter a year earlier.

-- Lugar Hellman Group, No. 2, had the highest revenue growth in the second quarter of 2015 compared with the same period in 2014. The firm placed first in two other key metrics, with perfect one-year and three-year retention rates.

-- CGCN Group continued to demonstrate exceptional performance in Q2 -- it’s the only firm that has met BGOV’s top-performer standards for a third time in a row, having been listed in the Q1 2015 and full-year 2014 rankings. The firm placed fourth among the top performers with top 10 ratings in four of the five key metrics.

BGOV Analysis of Second-Quarter Spending

A common theme among top performers this quarter was engagement on budget and tax topics, two issues with the largest amount of lobbying spending in the second quarter of 2015, according to BGOV’s recent analysis on lobbying issues.

Lobbying spending during the second quarter of 2015 grew to $804 million, a 1 percent increase from the same period the previous year, according to BGOV’s analysis of Q2 spending.

This week, Bloomberg Government will publish a report on the top-performing lobbying/law firms and top new lobbying firms. Both categories are evaluated using different benchmarks, since lobbying/law firms show different performance characteristics than pure lobbying shops and new lobbying firms can’t be evaluated on three-year retention rates.