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

Best Places to Work in Virginia

Hamburger Menu Hamburger Menu

byline: Richard Foster

Parsons Corp. lands $12.6B IT defense contract

Centreville-based defense contractor Parsons Corp. announced Tuesday that it has landed a 10-year information technology contract from the Defense Intelligence Agency worth a potential $12.6 billion.

Under the Solutions for Information Technology Enterprise III (SITE III) contract. Parsons will deliver strategic, technical and program management guidance and support services to facilitate the operations and modernization of DIA’s infrastructure, systems, and applications.

“We look forward to partnering with DIA on SITE III to deliver innovative IT solutions,” said Richard J. D’Alessandro, senior vice president of Parsons’ geospatial solutions market, in a statement. “Our expertise in program management, technology integration, IT infrastructure, and applications development will aid the modernization efforts of DIA and its mission partners.”

The SITE III contract supports warfighters, policymakers and acquisition leaders by providing managed services directed towards improving integration, information sharing and information safeguarding through the use of a streamlined IT approach. The contract will support critical federal defense and intelligence departments and agencies, including DIA, the Air Force, the Space Force, the Army, Marine Corps, Navy and Coast Guard.

Established in 1944, Parsons specializes in defense, intelligence, security, and infrastructure engineering. It employs more than 16,000 workers in 24 nations.

 

Subscribe to Virginia Business.

Get our daily e-newsletter.

Dominion Energy’s Tom Farrell to retire from Altria board

Dominion Energy Inc. Executive Chair Thomas F. Farrell II is retiring from Altria Group Inc.’s board of directors, which he has chaired since April 2020.

Farrell has served on the Henrico County-based tobacco product manufacturer’s board of directors since 2008. He will retire from the Altria board when his term ends in May.

Altria’s board intends to appoint its next chairman on May 20, following the company’s annual shareholders meeting.

“Tom’s contributions over the past 13 years have been immeasurable,” said Altria CEO Billy Gifford. “We thank him for his distinguished service and wish him the very best.”

In addition to serving as Altria’s board chairman, Farrell chaired the board’s executive committee and was a member of several committees, including Corporate Governance.

Farrell transitioned from his 13-year role as Dominion’s chairman, president and CEO in October 2020, taking the position of executive chair for the Richmond-based utility.

 

Subscribe to Virginia Business.

Get our daily e-newsletter.

‘Love Local’ launches to help National Landing businesses

National Landing Business Improvement District and the Restaurant Association Metropolitan Washington have launched a $100,000 joint relief initiative, Love Local, which will assist struggling restaurants and small businesses in Arlington’s National Landing neighborhood with minimum $1,000 grants.

“Restaurants and small businesses are the backbone of our community in National Landing – and without a doubt they are an essential ingredient to our recovery and future. We are grateful for our partnership with the Restaurant Association Metropolitan Washington, who will help us distribute this critical funding as just one small step towards building back an even stronger National Landing district,” said Tracy Sayegh Gabriel, president and executive director of the National Landing BID. “It is our hope that through community initiatives like ‘Love Local,’ we can continue to provide a lifeline to help our local restaurants and small businesses survive, thrive or just simply support their employees.”

The funding is intended to help qualified small businesses and restaurants cover pay for restaurant workers or necessary operator-related expenses. Applications will be accepted until March 28 at nationallanding.org/lovelocal.

In spring 2020, National Landing BID partnered with Arlington County on a small business grant program that assisted more than 70 local businesses.

Home to Amazon.com Inc.’s under-construction HQ2 East Coast headquarters campus, National Landing is comprised of the Crystal City, Pentagon City and Potomac Yard-Arlington neighborhoods.

Subscribe to Virginia Business.

Get our daily e-newsletter.

Va. unemployment fell to 5.3% in January

Virginia’s unemployment rate dropped from 5.6% in December 2020 to 5.3% in January, Gov. Ralph Northam announced Monday. The state saw a gain of 14,100 nonfarm payroll jobs during January.

The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 6.3% in January, falling to 6.2% in February.

Nevertheless, Virginia’s January unemployment rate was still significantly higher than in January 2020, when the state unemployment rate was 2.5%.

“While the COVID-19 pandemic continues to put incredible strain on our economy, we are hopeful that the unemployment rate will continue to fall as more people get the vaccine and return to work,” Northam said in a statement. “Thanks to President Biden’s American Rescue Plan, stimulus checks and extended unemployment assistance are now on the way to millions of Virginians, providing a critical boost to our recovery. We are turning the corner, and our commonwealth is moving forward.”

The number of employed Virginians rose by 7,468 to 4.02 million in January.

From January 2020 to January 2021, the private sector lost 160,800 jobs in Virginia, while the public sector shed 33,100 jobs.

Subscribe to Virginia Business.

Get our daily e-newsletter.

Framatome launches government solutions subsidiary

Lynchburg-based Framatome Inc. announced Monday the launch of an independent subsidiary, Framatome U.S. Government Solutions LLC, which will focus on nuclear energy initiatives and projects for federal agencies.

“Our Framatome team has been delivering solutions to the commercial nuclear industry for more than 60 years and Framatome U.S. Government Solutions consolidates our diverse areas of expertise to focus on serving the U.S. government,” said Jeff Whitt, president of Framatome U.S. Government Solutions, in a statement. “We are committed to furthering work with our government partners to deploy nuclear energy services and technologies, and secure our country’s clean energy future.”

Framatome U.S. Government Solutions will support contract work for Department of Energy, the Department of Defense, national laboratories and nuclear energy university programs. The company’s work will include the development of advanced reactor technologies and nuclear services involving fuel, instrumentation, controls, inspections, maintenance and engineering.

The new company’s board of directors will be chaired by Framatome Inc. President and CEO Gary M. Mignogna. Katherine Williams, senior vice president and chief financial officer for Framatome Inc., also serves on the board.

Framatome Inc. is the North American subsidiary of French nuclear reactor company Framatome, which has 14,000 employees worldwide, including 1,300 in Lynchburg.

Subscribe to Virginia Business.

Get our daily e-newsletter.

Bon Secours plans to build emergency clinic in Chester

Bon Secours St. Francis Medical Center plans to build a freestanding emergency clinic in Chester on six acres the health care system recently acquired for $1.95 million.

The facility will be built at the corner of Route 1 and Moore’s Lake Road. Bon Secours purchased the property from Americana Park LLC and Trollingwood Land LLC.

David M. Smith of Cushman & Wakefield | Thalhimer handled the sale negotiations for the seller.

Subscribe to Virginia Business.

Get our daily e-newsletter.

Health care AI company bringing U.S. HQ to Loudoun

Zasti Inc., a health care-related artificial intelligence technology company, is investing $5.9 million to establish its U.S. headquarters in Loudoun County, creating 60 jobs, Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam announced Thursday.

Founded in 2017 in India, Zasti, which is Sanskrit for “prediction,” develops AI-based risk screening, predictive analytics and climate change solutions for the health care industry. The company’s Loudoun-based headquarters will develop and embed its AI platforms in diagnostic devices and enterprise IT systems.

“Virginia represents a confluence of values given its workforce diversity, commitment to the environment and a strong academic research setting,” said Zasti CEO Krish R. Krishnan in a statement. “It is a great place for a transformative, vision-driven business like ours to thrive. Our AI platform offers valuable health risk screening and early disease detection for communities in need while creating low-carbon pathways for our stakeholders. With continued support from Loudoun County and Virginia, we hope to grow our workforce well beyond 60 jobs.”

The Virginia Economic Development Partnership (VEDP) worked with Loudoun County to secure the project for Virginia, which was in competition with Maryland. Northam approved a $150,000 grant from the Commonwealth’s Opportunity Fund to assist Loudoun with the project. VEDP’s Virginia Jobs Investment Program will provide funding and services for employee training activities.

“Virginia continues to push new boundaries in artificial intelligence, and we are excited to welcome a global company that is advancing both the technology and healthcare industries with its innovative platform,” Northam said in a statement. “Our commonwealth has the second-highest concentration of technology workers in the country, and Zasti’s Loudoun County operation will tap into the deep well of talent in the region to build on its mission of using artificial intelligence to address our most pressing challenges.”

SAIC hires senior VP of artificial intelligence

Reston-based Fortune 500 defense contractor Science Applications International Corp. (SAIC) has hired Michael Scruggs as senior vice president of artificial intelligence, effective immediately.

“In this newly created role, Scruggs will be responsible for driving organic growth through AI technology delivery and solutions development,” SAIC said in a statement. “He will broaden SAIC’s portfolio of AI technology delivery and customer relationships, as well as oversee strategic partnerships and development of the company’s solutions related to predictive analytics, machine learning, robotic process automation, and intelligent edge.”

Scruggs formerly worked for IBM Corp., working in cloud, data science and AI divisions.

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

Hotel revenues down 27% for January

Virginia hotel revenues for January 2021 were down 27% compared with January 2020, continuing the industry’s slow climb back to recovering from the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic, according to data released Thursday from STR Inc., a CoStar Group division that provides market data on the U.S. hospitality industry.

For the same period, rooms sold declined by 14%. The average daily rate (ADR) paid for hotel rooms dropped 15% to $82.56, while revenue per available room (RevPAR) fell to $34.84, a 27% decline.

“Performance of the hotels in the commonwealth during January 2021 was in general better than December 2020,” said Professor Vinod Agarwal of Old Dominion University’s Dragas Center for Economic Analysis and Policy in a statement released Monday. “COVID-19 continues to adversely impact this industry.”

Hotel revenues and rooms sold declined in most markets in Virginia during January 2021, compared with January 2020. Revenues fell 34% in Northern Virginia, 36% in Charlottesville and 11% in Hampton Roads. During December 2020, revenues fell 61% in Northern Virginia, 37% in Charlottesville and 23% in Hampton Roads. The number of rooms sold during January 2021 fell 28% in Williamsburg and 12% in the Newport News/Hampton region. However, rooms sold increased in Chesapeake and Suffolk by 3.8%.

Textiles startup opening Buchanan County sewing factory

Local textiles manufacturing startup Maine Five is opening a sewing factory at Buchanan County’s Council Industrial Park building.

Investing $350,000 in the 17,211-square-foot factory space, the company is immediately hiring 12 workers and has plans to employ to 100 total workers by 2026. Founded in 2020, Maine Five manufactures medical supplies, bags and field kits and is expanding into producing textile products such as nylon backpacks, uniforms and outdoor apparel.

“We believe the area has a lot of potential,” says Bill Smith, the company’s president, said in a statement, adding that he wants to help rebuild the area’s economy, which has been harmed by the declining coal industry. “There are a lot of intelligent, hard-working people there. The infrastructure is there and the skilled labor is there, and we want to work with them.”

The Virginia Economic Development Authority (VCEDA) helped land the deal, with the assistance of county officials, Virginia Career Works and the Virginia Economic Development Partnership.

“We knew Buchanan County had a building and in fact, equipment at the Council Industrial Park that would benefit Maine Five in its search to find a location to grow its business,” said VCEDA Executive Director and General Counsel Jonathan Belcher. “The Council Industrial Park was one of the earliest industrial parks and industrial buildings financed by VCEDA, so with our knowledge of that location, we were able to connect Maine Five to the county and also to other programs available to help businesses. … We welcome them to the region.”