3-way deal helps Booz close Aquilent acquisition and avoid potential conflict of interest

In a three-way deal, Booz Allen has closed its $250 million acquisition of Aquilent while simultaneously shifting a piece of the business that represented an organizational conflict of interest to another company.

Octo Consulting has assumed full control of Aquilent's SeaPort-e contract. Financial terms of the deal with Octo were not disclosed.

Buying Acquilent was a way for Booz Allen to bolster its capabilities around digital government, with Aquilent bringing capabilities focused on the end-user experience and cloud migration.

The company will become the foundation of a digital business hub for Booz Allen in Laurel, Md., where Aquilent is headquartered.

Booz Allen is picking up about 310 IT professionals as a result of the acquisition, and Aquilent will add about $20 million in revenue to Booz Allen’s fiscal 2017 numbers, which will end March 31, 2017.

In order to avoid any organizational conflict of interest arising from the Aquilent SeaPort-e contract, Aquilent worked with the government to divest its people, data, code rights and associated assets to Octo Consulting Group, according to a FedBizOpps release.

"We were delighted for several reasons when Aquilent approached us about divesting and acquiring the Navy's SeaPort-e contract because we felt that closely aligned with two key areas that represent our position in the marketplace," Octo CEO Mehul Sanghani told Washington Technology.

First, Sanghani said, the company's past performance around digital services and modernization efforts lends itself well to picking up the work from Aquilent. Second, he said, the company's ability to have the scale and flexibility that comes from being a mid-market company, as well as an aligned corporate culture, led the company to feel that they were a natural fit.