NCS Pearson Makes Government Acquisition

NCS Pearson Inc. of Minneapolis has acquired Kajax Engineering Inc. of Arlington, Va., as part of a strategy to expand its e-government and systems integration work in the federal and state government markets.

KEI will be renamed KEI Pearson and become part of the NCS Pearson Government Solutions business unit based in Arlington, said NCS Pearson May 2.

NCS Pearson acquired Kajax by purchasing all of its stock for cash, said Mac Curtis, president of NCS Pearson Government Solutions. He said company policy prohibited him from disclosing the purchase price.

NCS Pearson was lacking capabilities in telecommunications, network management and information security, and the acquisition of Kajax has strengthened its capabilities in these areas, which NCS Pearson will use to pursue e-government opportunities, Curtis said.

The company picked up 15 new government customers from the acquisition, he said.

The acquisition is the first by NCS Pearson for its government unit, said Curtis. The company will consider additional acquisitions if they will enhance its e-government competencies, he said.

Kajax's federal customers include the departments of Agriculture and Defense, while NCS Pearson's federal customers includes the Office of Personnel Management, Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and the departments of Education, Labor, Treasury and Veterans Affairs.

NCS Pearson has about 5,000 employees and had sales of $629 million in fiscal 2000, of which about $200 million was from its government unit, said Curtis.

Kajax has roughly 600 employees and had sales of about $50 million in fiscal 2000.