Acquisitions, succession highlight second quarter

Second quarter earnings reports have been filed for most of the publicly traded companies in the government IT space.General Dynamics Corp., which just closed its acquisition of Anteon International Corp., reported some of the strongest growth, with its net income rising by 84.3 percent, from $345 million in the second quarter of 2005 to $636 million in the second quarter of 2006.With the closing of the Anteon deal, General Dynamics created a new IT division.Lockheed Martin Corp. also closed two acquisitions. It purchased ISX Corp, a provider of military decision systems and other IT solutions for government customers, and Savi Technology Inc., a provider of radio frequency identification solutions. Terms of the deals were not disclosed.L-3 Communications Inc. continues its search for a new chairman and CEO, following the June 6 death of co-founder Frank Lanza.Michael Strianese, the New York company's chief financial officer, was named interim CEO.Other highlights from the second quarter: Accenture had the highest quarterly net revenues in its history with record net revenues in its five operating groups and three geographic regions. Its consulting and outsourcing net revenues were also the highest of any previous quarter. The company's government operating group had net revenue of $599 million, compared with $577 million for the year-ago period, an increase of 4 percent in U.S. dollars. In April, the company repeated its previous guidance for 2006 revenue of between $3.5 billion and $3.7 billion, and net income between $2.7 billion and $2.85 billion. However, officials said the company expected its operating income to drop to between $150 million and $200 million for the same period, instead of its previously forecasted range of $180 million to $250 million. BearingPoint said the adjustment was a result of $80 million to $120 million of higher than expected costs for various finance, compliance and infrastructure initiatives. CACI was selected as one of six prime contractors for the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency's five-year, $200 million Support for Management and Resources for Technical Services contract, called SMARTS. The Arlington, Va., contractor will offer management and technical services for NGA's infrastructure. Although CACI has worked on several smaller efforts for NGA, this award is its first prime contract with the intelligence agency. CSC won a three-year, $276 million contract extension from New York's Health Department to continue providing processing services for the state's Medicaid Management Information System, known as eMedNY. The company will continue as fiscal agent for the Medicaid program by processing more than 100 million eligibility verification requests, and 350 million claims and payments in excess of $43 billion annually for state Medicaid providers. DRC won its first task order under the Air Force's $5.4 million Design and Engineering Support Program contract. The Andover, Mass., company will provide support for the Item Unique Identification umbrella program for the Air Force's depots. The program will track repaired, overhauled and manufactured parts. GD completed its $2.2 billion acquisition of Anteon International Corp. in early June, and created a new business unit called General Dynamics Information Technology. GTSI signed new credit agreements worth $135 million with SunTrust, Bank of America and Crystal Capital Fund LP to replace a previous facility that ended May 31. The new credit facilities will let the company borrow money so it can continue focusing on developing and selling technology solutions to the government, said Jim Leto, the company's president and CEO. Harris won a one-year, $10 million contract from the Army to provide the preliminary design for its secure wireless transmission system architecture. The work is part of the Warfighter Information Network-Tactical program. Harris is a member of General Dynamics Corp.'s team on the $10 billion program. The team also includes Lockheed Martin Corp. and BAE Systems Inc. Michael Strianese, the New York company's chief financial officer, was named interim CEO, while the board of directors searches for Frank Lanza's replacement. Lanza, L-3's co-founder, chairman and CEO, died June 6. In late June, Lockheed Martin completed its acquisition of ISX Corp, a provider of military decision systems and other IT solutions for government customers, and Savi Technology Inc., a provider of radio frequency identification solutions. The company did not disclose the terms of the transactions. ManTech is a subcontractor on a team headed by Lockheed Martin, which won a spot on the $20 billion Information Technology Enterprise Solutions-Services (ITES-2S) contract. The Army and other federal agencies can buy IT products, services and solutions through ITES-2S. ManTech is also on the QSS Group Inc. team ? one of three small businesses awarded an ITES-2S contract. MTC is a subcontractor on the teams of four of the 10 prime contractors that won the Air Force's $850 million Consolidated Acquisition of Professional Services (CAPS) contract. Under CAPS, MTC will help the teams compete for task orders in 17 labor categories to provide services for Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio. Services include acquisition management, test and evaluation, financial management, acquisition logistics and engineering support. The company won an $18.6 million task order from the Air Force to provide specialized computer systems needed to support F-22 fighter aircraft operations in the field. The Air Force issued the award under the Network Centric Solutions contract. The IRS picked Northrop Grumman as one of 21 companies that can compete for work under the Total Information Processing Support Services-3 contract vehicle. The company and others will try to win work orders to provide systems support, security and business services for the Treasury Department and other federal agencies. The five-year TIPSS-3 contract program is worth a maximum of $3 billion. Raytheon won a $61 million research and development high-performance computing system contract from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The company's Information Solutions business unit will maintain, operate and upgrade high-performance computing platforms at NOAA's three primary weather and climate research labs. The contract's ceiling value, including options, is $368 million over eight years. In April, SI International was part of the USfalcon Inc. team that the Army picked to compete for task orders under its $19.3 billion Strategic Services Sourcing contract for engineering, logistics, and business operations services. As one of seven teams awarded 10-year contracts, USfalcon will provide support services for command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance systems. SRA won a five-year, $125 million blanket purchasing agreement from the U.S. Agency for International Development to provide IT and advisory services for the agency's Office of Economic Growth, Agriculture and Trade. Some of the company's services will include network design and implementation, application development, technology assessments, information communications technology policy development and implementation and strategic consulting. Minneapolis awarded Unisys a five-year, $6.8 million contract to provide managed services for its 911 emergency services computer-aided dispatch system. The Blue Bell, Pa., company will provide support and management services for the system's server, desktop and network.Staff Writer Roseanne Gerin can be reached at rgerin@postnewsweektech.com.