Matcom beefs up fed offerings with Entek acquisition

Matcom International Corp.'s acquisition of Entek Inc. is complete, Matcom officials announced Dec. 2. It is the third such buy in 36 months for the Alexandria, Va.-based company.

Entek, also of Alexandria, is a homeland security, engineering services and logistics support company. Matcom officials said the purchase of Entek strengthens its position in the expanding market for homeland security technology-related solutions.

Entek has about 100 employees and more than $10 million in annual revenue. Matcom has about 500 employees and annual revenue of about $70 million. Entek employees will join Matcom; further terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

Matcom, a systems integrator, specializes in support and services for federal agencies concerned with homeland defense and military programs in command and control, computers, communications and intelligence (C4I). The company provides engineering, information technology systems, training and logistics expertise for building and maintaining infrastructure, equipment and systems.

Matcom's previous acquisitions of Mei Technologies Corp. of Lexington, Mass., and Management Assistance Corporation of America of El Paso, Texas, brought expertise in intelligence and C4I systems, distance learning and data warehousing and data mining.

Entek directs and staffs multiple projects for the Customs Service and the Air Force. It specializes in detection technologies, nonintrusive hardware and software inspection systems and the maintenance of these systems - all essential components of the systems at the center of the nation's Office of Homeland Security.

"Government contracting is undergoing the most significant change since before the Cold War, with new standards for service that will favor specialization and efficiency," said Lou Ray, president and chief executive officer of Matcom. "With Entek's portfolio of services, we're stronger than ever in our core markets: engineering and IT initiatives that are uniformly customer-centric and quality driven."

"Our employees, who have made this deal possible, will have the expanded infrastructure to support their customers and their own growth" because of the acquisition by Matcom, said Margaret Swearingen, president of Entek.