M & A roundup

WetStone's market niches include malware and steganography investigation, live digital forensics, intrusion detection and digital evidence timestamping. Steganography is the act of hiding information by embedding messages within other, seemingly harmless ones.

Joining Allen of Fairfax, Va., will allow both companies to expand their market reach and product offerings, company officials said.

Lockheed makes another deal

Lockheed Martin Corp. closed out 2006 by announcing its fifth acquisition of the year. The company should close its deal with Management Systems Designers Inc. of Fairfax, Va., before the end of March.

The value of that deal, like the value of the other deals Lockheed completed in 2006, was not disclosed.

MSD supports life science, national security and other civil-agency missions. Capabilities include systems design, development and integration; systems engineering; application support; professional services; management consulting; and health and bioinformatics services, Lockheed said.

Perot bolsters govt. biz

Perot Systems Corp. will acquire QSS Group Inc., a federal government IT services company, for $250 million in an all-cash transaction. The deal is expected to close this month.

The acquisition gives Perot Systems several new governmentwide contracts and strengthens its IT capabilities, including information assurance, and applications development and management. It also expands both the scope of services and the areas Perot Systems serves within the Homeland Security Department and the Defense Department.

Among the contracts held by QSS Group of Lanham, Md., are the Homeland Security Department's Eagle, Army's Information Technology Enterprise Solutions, Treasury Department's Total Information Processing Support Services and General Services Administration's Millenia Lite.