No. 20: It's always mission possible for Unisys

Unisys Corp.'s top priority for 2005 was to maintain its role as technology provider and manager for the Transportation Security Administration and the Homeland Security Department's headquarters.It took Unisys until the end of December, but the Blue Bell, Pa., company accomplished its mission, winning the IT Managed Services bridge contract with DHS, a one-year contract with two option years worth up to $750 million."That was very large, very important to us," said Greg Baroni, president of Unisys global public sector.The company won the initial $1 billion managed services pact in 2002, when TSA was created to ease public fears over terrorist threats to transportation. At the time, the company had shed much of its federal business lines in an effort to focus more on service offerings, and Baroni saw homeland security as a way to move Unisys back into the federal market.Now homeland security is one of Unisys' two major lines of federal business, along with health and human services work, Baroni said."I bet the ranch," he said describing the decision in 2001 to shift the bulk of Unisys' resources into preparing to work with the then-non-existent DHS."I'll just say things worked out for us, we bet right, made the right investments and we were fortunate," he said.Unisys moved up three notches on the Top 100 list, from No. 22 last year to No. 20. The company reported $735.8 million in prime IT contract revenue for 2005.But don't expect Unisys to rest on its laurels.Already in 2006, it has won a major subcontract with Harris Corp. to help with the 2010 Census. The Census Bureau contract is worth $600 million over five years.The company also won a five-year, $49.2 million simulation and flight services contract to support NASA Langley Research Center.Expect Unisys to compete as a prime for two of 2006's largest contracts: the General Services Administration's 10-year, $65 billion Alliant, and Homeland Security's $45 billion Enterprise Acquisition Gateway for Leading Edge solutions contract, known as Eagle.With both contracts pushed back from their original award dates ? GSA last month again pushed back Alliant awards, this time to 2007 ? Unisys may not hit its double-digit growth expectations, Baroni said.But the company has a broad field of other work, including SBI-Net, DHS' integrated border-surveillance system contract, it plans to chase.Also expect Unisys to be in the running for NASA's $4 billion Scientific and Engineering Workstation Procurement IV contract, he said.Over the next 12 months, Unisys also will be active in pursuing acquisitions, he said.Although Baroni would not say which companies Unisys is targeting, he said he sees the need to add a company that specializes in command, control, communication, computer, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance systems. Baroni also hopes to add security capabilities to Unisys' portfolio.