NCI acquires Scientific & Engineering Solutions

NCI Information Systems Inc. of Reston, Va., acquired Scientific & Engineering Solutions Inc. of Annapolis Junction, Md., NCI officials announced today.

The acquisition expands NCI's work in the intelligence community. Terms of the deal have not been disclosed.

NCI's primary business is the design, installation and operation of secure information systems, including telecommunications and network infrastructures and end-user applications that they support. Sixty percent of NCI's revenue is derived from the Department of Defense and the intelligence community, company officials said.

SES, which had approximately $20 million in 2003 revenue, specializes in information assurance, software engineering, and knowledge and enterprise management. The acquisition of SES, with 90 percent of its revenues derived from intelligence customers, will fuel NCI's growth in the intelligence community, according to NCI officials.

"SES provides us with an expansion of technical offerings and complementary customers," said Charles Narang, chairman of NCI. SES's customers include the National Security Agency and the Defense Intelligence Agency.

SES has "some really good expertise in high performance computing and networking," said Michael Solley, president and chief operating officer of NCI. "In the last 10 to 15 years, there has been a huge emphasis on distributed computing. All of our clients are interested in getting more computing power to synthesize and interpret information that has been collected. There is going to be some good synergies between the two of us in that area."

For SES, the acquisition "provides us with an opportunity to provide our existing customer base with broader resources and the capacity to respond to their real-time demands, while creating professional expansion opportunities for our skilled employees," said Reggie Daniel, president and chief executive officer of SES.

Solley said NCI's strategy is to selectively acquire companies such as SES, which have strong operational management, access to key government markets, high-end engineering talent and important IT skills.

NCI employs about 1,400 employees, has offices in 11 locations and provides field support to clients in more than 45 locations. Solley said Daniel will serve as a consultant to NCI, while other key SES managers will join the NCI staff.