Contracting Riches For Nation's Capital The metropolitan Washington region is reaping the rewards of Uncle Sam's procurement spending, with last year marking the highest growth rate of federal contract dollars in the area since the Beltway Bandit days of the 1980s. &lt;FONT face="verdana,MS Sans Serif,arial,helvetica" size="-2" color="#666666"&gt;&lt;B&gt;-washingtonpost.com&lt;/B&gt;&lt;/FONT&gt;