WASHINGTON -- The biggest recipients so far of the federal contracts awarded with stimulus money are large companies that faced little competition for the funds.

Most of the money that has flowed from the $787 billion stimulus plan since it was passed six months ago has gone to the states. But about 22,000 federal contracts with a total value of around $12 billion have been signed with companies, according to a public database of the deals. Companies faced no competition in about a fifth of the dollars and almost all of the contracts agreed to so far have had four bidders or fewer, the records show.

The reported contracts include millions of dollars for big-name food, drug and auto companies. Del Monte Foods Co. and Hormel Food Corp.'s Jennie-O Turkey unit are providing supplies for food pantries, and so are private-label firms such as Lakeside Foods. Drug makers GlaxoSmithKline PLC, Merck & Co., Novartis AG and a unit of Sanofi Aventis Group are supplying extra vaccines for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Chrysler Group LLC, Ford Motor Co. and General Motors Co. are selling hybrids and other fuel-efficient vehicles to the General Services Administration for the federal fleet.

The database also includes details of goods and services, from tree-thinning and cables to uniforms and advertising. About a fifth of the contracts were awarded to small vendors, according to the Small Business Administration.

The single biggest chunk of the money going to companies -- about $4 billion -- has been doled out to speed cleanup at Cold War-era nuclear sites. The money has flowed to those companies quickly, in part because the Department of Energy was already working with them on the projects.