Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility
Upcoming Event

Best Places to Work in Virginia

Hamburger Menu Hamburger Menu

byline: Jason Roop

GMU Center for Government Contracting taps two fellows

The Center for Government Contracting at George Mason University has named two senior fellows, it announced this week.

The Fairfax-based center added Stephanie Halcrow, who most recently served on the House Armed Services Committee as a professional staff member, and promoted researcher Eric Lofgren.

Halcrow is a graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy, who earned her MBA from the Naval Postgraduate School. She retired from a career with the U.S. Air Force in 2015, leaving as inspector general of Tinker Air Force Base in Oklahoma.

Lofgren holds undergraduate degrees in history and economics from Virginia Tech and earned his master’s degree in economics from George Mason University.

The center cites his work in budget reform, defense acquisition and cost estimation. Lofgren also produces the podcast “Acquisition Talk” and manages an accompanying daily blog.

The center, which falls under the university’s School of Business, says it aims to provide research, collaboration, education and training to “address business, policy, regulatory and other issues in government contracting.”

Subscribe to Virginia Business.

Get our daily e-newsletter.

Former counterintelligence official joins Peraton advisory board

The former director of the National Counterintelligence and Security Center, William “Bill” Evanina, has joined the advisory board of Peraton Inc., the Herndon-based national security contractor announced this week.

Evanina led the counterintelligence center since June 2014, serving under presidents Barack Obama and Donald Trump. He also worked for more than 16 years with the FBI and did a nine-month stint as chief of the CIA’s counterintelligence division/counterespionage group.

Evanina is a graduate of Wilkes University and earned his master’s degree in educational leadership from Arcadia University.

Peraton grew out of Veritas Capital’s 2017 acquisition of the former government services business Harris Corp. Peraton provides systems development and mission capability integration through the U.S. federal contracts.

In recent months Peraton made two big purchases: a $7.1 billion acquisition of Chantilly-based federal contractor Perspecta Inc. and a $3.4 billion acquisition of Northrop Grumman’s integrated mission support and IT solutions business. Now branded as Peraton Remotec, the Tennessee-based subsidiary provides mobile robot systems for hazardous duty operations.

Subscribe to Virginia Business.

Get our daily e-newsletter.

Gainwell Technologies acquires health care tech company for $3.4B

Reston-based Gainwell Technologies, a six-month-old spinoff company of DXC Technology, has completed its approximately $3.4 billion acquisition of HMS Holdings, a Texas-based health care technology company, Gainwell announced April 1.

The all-cash deal, announced in December 2020, was made for $37 per share.

Gainwell, which has more than 7,500 employees, was created in October as the result of a spinoff from Tysons-based Fortune 500 IT services company DXC Technology. New York-based private equity firm Veritas Capital bought DXC’s U.S. State and Local Health and Human Services business for $5 billion.

Gainwell said it would focus on Medicaid management information systems, fiscal agent services, program integrity, care management, immunization registry and eligibility services.

Veritas says it will bring the capabilities of HMS to Gainwell and another of its companies, Cotiviti Inc., which provides data-driven health care solutions.

“The combination of HMS and Gainwell gives states and Medicaid managed care organizations access to the broadest portfolio of offerings in the industry,” Gainwell President and CEO Paul Saleh said in a statement. “Together, we will empower clients through innovative technology and differentiated solutions to deliver great health and human services outcomes.”

Subscribe to Virginia Business.

Get our daily e-newsletter.

MCV Foundation names director of marketing and communications

Medical College of Virginia Foundation has tapped Eric Peters as director of marketing and communications, promoting him from other marketing communications roles he’s held there since 2017.

Peters is responsible for the marketing and communications strategies for MCV Foundation, which manages $800 million in assets. The foundation works to raise awareness and inspire philanthropic support for the schools, college, medical center and cancer center on the MCV Campus at VCU Health.

Peters previously worked in public relations for Virginia Commonwealth University before serving public affairs roles in the office of the U.S. Secretary of Transportation and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Development Virginia office.

A graduate of VCU, Peters earned his master’s degree in corporate and professional communication from Radford University, and a master of public administration degree from VCU.

Subscribe to Virginia Business.

Get our daily e-newsletter.

Hunton Andrews Kurth hires Hampton Roads government relations director

Former Norfolk Commissioner of Revenue C. Evans Poston Jr. has been hired by Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP to expand its public affairs and strategies consultancy to the Hampton Roads region, the firm announced April 6.

Poston, who will serve as the firm’s government relations director for Hampton Roads, reports to Todd P. Haymore, managing director of the firm’s Global Economic Development, Commerce and Government Relations Group.

“We are seeing tremendous economic diversification and other opportunities in this important region,” Haymore said in a statement, “and having Evans on the ground there will be a great asset to both our clients and our firm.”

Poston, who holds a history degree from the College of William & Mary, earned his master’s degree in public administration from Old Dominion University and his MBA from the University of Virginia Darden School of Business. He’s worked for the transport and logistics conglomerate A.P. Moller-Maersk Group, and is a member of U.Va.’s board of visitors and the UVA Health System board of directors. He was first elected Norfolk commissioner of the revenue in 2013 and served until March 2021.

In his new role, the firm says, Poston will help with state and local government relations, drive economic development efforts for clients and craft and implement legislative, budgetary and regulatory strategies.

Subscribe to Virginia Business.

Get our daily e-newsletter.

Caliburn International will separate into two companies

Calling it a “natural progression,” Reston-based professional services company Caliburn International announced Wednesday that it will split into two companies to focus on different capabilities.

The federal contractor, which has about 8,500 employees, says it expects to complete the separation by Sept. 30. It also announced shifts in leadership to oversee the new companies, Acuity International and Valiance Humanitarian.

Acuity will take on three of Caliburn’s business units: engineering and technology, advanced medical and global mission. Robert “Bob” Stalick, president of Caliburn’s engineering and technology unit, will serve as Acuity’s CEO. Stalick, who joined Caliburn in November, will continue to serve as president and CEO of Maryland-based Owl Cyber Defense, which will collaborate with Acuity. Stalick said Acuity plans to go to market with two software products in the second quarter, CostPro and MLINK.

Caliburn International and Owl Cyber Defense are owned by Alexandria-based private equity investment firm DC Capital Partners.

Caliburn’s migrant detention-related contracts, primarily for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Refugee Resettlement, will fall under Valiance Humanitarian, with headquarters in Los Fresnos, Texas. Melissa Aguilar has been named as Valiance’s CEO.

Caliburn CEO Jim Van Dusen will serve on the board of Acuity and advise both companies.

“Caliburn has reached a pivotal moment in its evolution and growth, Caliburn board chairman Thomas J. Campbell said in a statement, “and this decision to split the company into two separate entities will allow each company to have the strategic focus to better satisfy its respective customers’ missions.”

Caliburn International was formed in 2018 as a conglomerate of federal contracting businesses owned by DC Capital Partners. Caliburn’s wholly owned subsidiaries include the controversial Comprehensive Health Services, which has been described as the nation’s only for-profit operator of federally funded detention shelters for unaccompanied migrant children.

Former White House Chief of Staff John Kelly joined Caliburn’s board of directors in 2019; he had served on DC Capital Partners’ board prior to joining the Trump administration in 2017.

In early 2019, one out of six of the 12,500 migrant children in U.S. custody were housed at Homestead, a Florida detention center run by Comprehensive Services that was shut down by federal authorities in August amid heavy protests from human rights and immigrants groups. National Public Radio categorized Homestead as “the largest and most controversial shelter for migrant children in the U.S.,” noting that critics described it as a “makeshift prison camp.” Caliburn’s contract to operate the Homestead center ended in November 2019 and was not renewed by the Trump administration.

In February, the Miami Herald reported that the Biden administration was looking at reopening the Homestead center, which has changed names. Caliburn has been reported to be among the companies bidding for the contract to operate the facility.

Subscribe to Virginia Business.

Get our daily e-newsletter.

Reston-based SAIC lands $4.4B in defense contracts

On the heels of an $830 million U.S. Army contract won in February, Reston-based Science Applications International Corp. (SAIC) has landed two more Army contracts worth a combined $4.4 billion, it announced today.

The Fortune 500 defense contractor says both contracts will provide systems engineering services to support the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command, Aviation & Missile Center (DEVCOM AvMC) and its S3I Directorate — Software, Simulation, Systems Engineering and Integration.

Under a new $800 million, potential five-year contract, SAIC said, it will provide various modeling and simulation support to all branches of the Armed Services, multiple program offices and others. The support includes model-based systems engineering, battlespace effectiveness experimentation, and simulation-based exercise, war games and training.

“We look forward to extending our support to the Army and our warfighters for many years to come,” Gabe Camarillo, senior vice president of SAIC’s Army Business Unit, said in a statement.

SAIC also announced its win of a potential eight-year contract, with a possible six-month extension, worth $3.6 billion. Under that contract, SAIC said it would continue to provide hardware-in-the-loop and modeling and simulation development.

This makes four significant awards to support the S3I Directorate — more than $8.1 billion total, the company notes in its announcement.

Work on the $800 million contract will be dispersed among government operations at Redstone Arsenal in Alabama, Schriever Air Force Base in Colorado and the Pacific Warfare Center on Oahu, Hawaii.

Work on the $3.6 billion contract is focused primarily in Huntsville, Alabama, ensuring that SAIC will continue “to grow and invigorate the local economy,” Camarillo said.

SAIC employs more than 25,000 people and has pro forma annual revenues of $7.1 billion.

Subscribe to Virginia Business.

Get our daily e-newsletter.

Lynchburg’s BWXT wins $690M contract extension

The U.S. Department of Energy has awarded a contract extension to Lynchburg-based nuclear components and fuel supplier BWX Technologies Inc. (BWXT) worth up to $690 million, the company announced today.

BWXT has worked with Irving, Texas-based engineering and construction firm Fluor Corp. on the project, an effort to decontaminate and decommission the former Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant in Piketon, Ohio.

The new agreement, which took effect March 29, includes a one-year extension with two additional six-month options, BWXT said. The original contract was awarded in 2010.

The joint venture, which employs 1,900 workers, is part of a cleanup program the DOE launched in 1989. The facility, which operated from 1954 to 2001, was one of three gaseous diffusion plants in the country constructed to produce enriched uranium, according to BWXT.

The company’s work across seven sites supporting the DOE’s environmental management mission “demonstrates the breadth and depth of our company’s waste management, environmental remediation and site cleanup capabilities,” BWXT’s Nuclear Services Group president, Ken Camplin, said in a statement.

BWXT also produces nuclear fuel in Lynchburg for the DOE, as part of a project it announced in November

Subscribe to Virginia Business.

Get our daily e-newsletter.

Carvana proceeds with $25M Chesterfield facility

After putting its plans in neutral, online used car retailer Carvana announced Tuesday that it plans to break ground this quarter on a $25 million, 191,000-square-foot vehicle inspection and reconditioning facility in Chesterfield County.

The project could bring more than 400 jobs to the county, economic development officials said in the announcement.

Carvana first announced the project in December 2019. It marked a win for Virginia, which competed against North Carolina, Ohio and Tennessee f0r the facility. But Carvana put the project on hold during the pandemic.

Chesterfield County Board of Supervisors Chairman Jim Holland hailed Carvana as a “strong addition” to the county’s corporate roster.

“Carvana’s new facility in Chesterfield County will provide access to strategic logistics connections,” he said in a statement released Tuesday, “along with a well-trained, business-ready labor force to support Carvana’s continued development.”

The site will be located north of Ruffin Mill Road, between Interstate 95 and Woods Edge Road. The company expects to complete construction by spring 2022.

Carvana allows customers to buy and sell used cars online, and promotes a seven-day return policy and touchless delivery. Part of the process includes Carvana inspecting, reconditioning and photographing cars at inspection centers such as the one planned for Chesterfield.

Carvana also is known for its massive vending machines, which allow customers to pick up their purchases from towering structures that use robotics to deliver the cars.

Carvana sold 244,111 units in 2020, reporting $5.59 billion in revenue — a year-over-year increase of 42%. The number of vehicles it purchased directly from customers was up 95% in 2020, the company reported.

Subscribe to Virginia Business.

Get our daily e-newsletter.

Teresa Carlson leaves Amazon Web Services

Teresa Carlson, the Herndon-based executive who founded Amazon Web Services’ public sector business, is leaving Amazon.com Inc.’s cloud computing subsidiary to become president and chief growth officer of Splunk Inc., the San Francisco tech company announced today.

Carlson was an influential and visible presence in the Washington, D.C., region for a little more than a decade in her role as vice president of worldwide sector and industries at AWS. She previously served as an executive at Microsoft.

Carlson’s former boss, Andy Jassy, was tapped to replace Jeff Bezos as CEO of Amazon in February. That led to some speculation that Carlson could be an internal candidate to become CEO of AWS. But Jassy announced in March that Tableau CEO Adam Selipsky was taking the job.

With Carlson moving to the data management and cloud services company Splunk, her replacement will be Max Peterson, currently vice president of the public sector’s international business, an AWS spokesperson confirmed.

Carlson’s will start her newly created role at Splunk effective April 19. The company says she will be responsible for driving go-to-market business segments, advancing cloud-first initiatives, accelerating growth and pursuing new market opportunities.

Splunk reported revenue of $2.23 billion last fiscal year — $554 million of which was attributable to cloud revenue, an increase of 77% from the previous fiscal year. Splunk’s customers include Tide, Lockheed Martin Space, California Pizza Kitchen, The New York City Fire Department and the U.S. Census Bureau.

“Together,” Carlson said in a statement, “we will build on Splunk’s legacy of innovation as one of the fastest growing companies in the history of enterprise software.”

Regarding Carlson’s departure, an AWS spokesperson said in an email, “We’re really proud about the work Teresa has done to help public sector customers around the world reimagine digital transformation and achieve mission success, and we wish her the best moving forward.”