SI International files for IPO

SI International Inc. of McLean, Va., has become the latest in a growing line of government-focused IT companies looking to Wall Street. The company filed May 10 for a $75 million initial public offering of its stock.

In its registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission, SI said its shares will trade on NASDAQ under the symbol "SIIT." Ray Oleson is the chief executive officer of SI.

The lead managers of the IPO are Wachovia Securities Inc. and Legg Mason Wood Walker Inc. Co-managers are Raymond James & Associates Inc. and BB&T Capital Markets.

Proceeds of the IPO will be used to pay down debt, repurchase outstanding warrants and other general purposes including acquisitions.

SI provides information technology and network solutions primarily to the federal government. Its clients include the Air Force Space Command, Army, Department of State, Immigration and Naturalization Service, Department of Energy and the intelligence community. Its practice areas include software development, systems consulting, information security, systems engineering, network engineering and mission-critical outsourcing.

The 3-year-old company had revenue of $146.6 million in fiscal 2001, up about 22 percent over 2000. At the end of March, the company had a backlog of $196.2 million, of which $41.2 million was funded. Backlog is an estimate of future revenue over the remaining period of existing contracts and task orders.

SI International ranked No. 85 on Washington Technology's list of Top 100 federal IT vendors for 2001, which was published May 6. SI International took in $55.4 million in federal prime contracting dollars in 2001, according to Washington Technology's analysis.

About 90 percent of SI International's 2001 revenue came from federal government work, the registration statement said. The company's largest contract is with the U.S. Air Force Space Command for communications and computer infrastructure for command and control, information management and intelligence and for surveillance and reconnaissance, or C4I2SR. The contract represented 19 percent of the company's revenue in fiscal 2001, according to the statement.

Since January 1999, SI International has acquired four companies as part of its strategy to assemble core technical capabilities and a base of government contracts. The company plans to continue using a disciplined methodology to identify, evaluate and integrate strategic acquisitions, the registration statement said.

Several other firms with significant government technology business have gone public this year. They include ManTech International Inc. and Anteon Corp., both of Fairfax, Va. PwC Consulting filed for its $1 billion IPO May 2, under the name PwCC Ltd. SRA International Inc., Fairfax, Va., and Veridian Corp., Arlington, Va., also have filed for IPOs.