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byline: Sydney Lake

General Dynamics receives $327.8M submarine contract modification

The U.S. last week awarded the Electric Boats subsidiary of -based Fortune 100 contractor Corp. a $327.8 million contract modification to continue development studies, design work and lead yard support for the branch’s Virginia-class submarines, the U.S. Department of Defense announced Oct. 9.

Electric Boat originally received a $434.4 million contract in October 2019 to help the Navy update the design, drawings and data of the nuclear-powered fast-attack submarine platform. 

Work on this contract modification will primarily be done in Groton, Connecticut, according to the DOD. Some of the work will also be conducted in Newport News as well as and Newport and Quonset Point, Rhode Island. Work on the contract is expected to be completed by April 2021.

Naval Sea Systems Command, the contracting activity, will obligate $134.6 million at the time of the award, according to the DOD, with nearly $66.8 million of the initial obligated funds expiring at the end of the current fiscal year. 

General Dynamics has a global workforce of more than 100,000 employees and generated $39.4 billion in 2019 revenue. In December 2019, General Dynamics won the largest Navy contract ever awarded, a $22.2 billion multiyear order for nine (or potentially 10) nuclear-powered, fast-attack submarines capable of launching Tomahawk missiles.

 

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EY names five Virginians as mid-Atlantic entrepreneurs of the year

Virginia businesspeople took home five of the 12 Entrepreneur of the Year Mid-Atlantic Awards announced last week by multinational company LLP.

The Virginia winners for the 2020 Entrepreneur of the Year Award were:

  • 3Pillar Global Inc. | David DeWolf,
  • HUNGRY Marketplace | Jeff Grass and Shy Pahlevani,
  • Intelligent Waves LLC | Jared Shepard,
  • Somatus Inc. | Dr. Ikenna Okezie,

The regional award program recognizes entrepreneurs and leaders of high-growth companies in Virginia, Maryland and Washington, D.C. Nominees are evaluated based on overcoming adversity, financial performance, societal impact and commitment to building a values-based company, innovation and talent management. All regional winners are eligible for EY’s 2020 Entrepreneur of the Year U.S. National , which will be announced Nov. 19.

“There are many successful entrepreneurs in this world, but building something of long-term value takes grit, persistence and a sense of ambition where nothing is impossible,” AJ Jordan, EY Americas Entrepreneur Of The Year program director, said in a statement. “EY is proud to honor these unstoppable visionaries who are inspiring innovation without limitation and fueling growth around the globe. They are a wonderful addition to our global alumni community of past winners, and we look forward to serving as a resource as they continue to make an impact.”

Since its 1986 inception, the program has recognized more than 10,000 business leaders in more than 145 cities in more than 60 countries. 

“I’ve always endeavored to make 3Pillar a company that is not only the best of the best professionally, but also a business that recognizes and invests in our and community,” DeWolf said in a statement. “It’s an honor to join this community of fellow business leaders working to build values-focused organizations.” 3Pillar was founded in 2006 and creates software for media and publishing companies, information services companies and retail companies. 

Intelligent Waves is a service-disabled veteran-owned small business, founded in 2006 by Shepard, who served in the U.S. Army as an infantryman. The company provides systems engineering, cloud computing and managed services, cyber and security architecture, mobility and operations and intelligence analytics. 

Founded in 2016, HUNGRY Marketplace hosts a national platform for top chef-made food production and delivery services including business and event catering, contracted meal delivery services and home meal delivery. Also founded in 2016, Somatus partners with health plans, health systems, nephrology and primary care groups to provide care for patients with or at risk of developing kidney disease.

“When I founded Somatus in 2016, I did so because patients with or at risk of developing kidney disease deserve to be empowered to achieve their best health. To do so well, though, takes a team,” Okezie said in a statement. “This award is recognition of the outsized performance and perseverance of the Somatus team in delivering a higher quality and more efficient healthcare experience for our patients and partners.”

 

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VCU study: COVID-19 accounted for 67% of March-Aug. U.S. deaths

For every two deaths attributed to in the U.S., a third American dies as a result of the , according to a led by researchers published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

The study shows that deaths between March 1 and Aug. 1 increased by 20% when compared to previous years — but deaths attributed to COVID-19 accounted for only 67% of those deaths.

“Contrary to skeptics who claim that COVID-19 deaths are fake or that the numbers are much smaller than we hear on the news, our and many other studies on the same subject show quite the opposite,” lead author Dr. Steven Woolf, director emeritus of ‘s Center on Society and Health, said in a statement.

State reopening policies in April and May could have fueled the June and July surges, according to the study. 

“The high death counts in Sun Belt states show us the grave consequences of how some states responded to the pandemic and sound the alarm not to repeat this mistake going forward,” Woolf said in a statement.

COVID-19 reporting delays could have to do with the gap between reported deaths and all unexpected deaths, according to the study. It could also be led by miscoding or other data limitations. 

“Some who never had the virus may have died because of disruptions caused by the pandemic,” Woolf said in a statement. “These include people with acute emergencies, chronic diseases like diabetes that were not properly care for, or emotional crises that led to overdoses or suicides.” 

The study showed increases in deaths from dementia, heart disease and Alzheimer’s. Woolf also says early death rates related to cancer may also have increased due to treatments being disrupted during the pandemic. It also stated that long-term conditions such as diabetes and emotional health issues could be compromised in the long term.

States such as New York and New Jersey, which were hit hard during the early months of the pandemic, were able to bring down death rates in less than 10 weeks, while states such as Texas, Florida and Arizona, which avoided an early hit, experienced a summer surge that lasted 16 to 17 weeks after. 

“We can’t prove causally that the early reopening of those states led to the summer surges. But it seems quite likely,” Woolf said in a statement. “And most models predict our country will have more excess deaths if states don’t take more assertive approaches in dealing with community spread. The enforcement of mask mandates and social distancing is really important if we are to avoid these surges and major loss of life.”

The study was conducted using data from March to Aug. 1 and builds on a previous JAMA article by the same authors. Authors of the study included Derek Chapman, Latoya Hill, DaShaunda Taylor and Roy Sabo from VCU, as well as Daniel Weinberger from Yale University.

“This isn’t a pandemic involving a single virus,” Dr. Peter Buckley, dean of the VCU School of Medicine, said in a statement. “This is a public health crisis with broad and lasting ripple effects. VCU researchers have been diligent in their investigations into both treatment of COVID-19 and in understanding the long-term repercussions of the pandemic, so that fellow doctors, policymakers and community members can fight these battles on multiple fronts.”

 

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Herndon defense contractor wins $102M Navy contract

Herndon-based contractor Peraton announced Monday it has been awarded a $102 million follow-on contract by the U.S. Strategic Systems Programs (SSP) for work on the branch’s strategic weapons systems.

Under the engineering services contract, Peraton’s services will include , development, deployment and operational support of the reentry body aspects of the Navy’s Fleet Ballistic Missile (FBM).

“Receiving the recompete award for this program further demonstrates the longstanding, trusted partnership between the U.S. Navy and Peraton and represents a critical next step in the modernization of our national capabilities,” Roger Mason, Peraton president of the space, intelligence and cyber sector, said in a statement. 

Peraton has worked with the SSP for more than 60 years. The company will continue to support the current reentry body development, refurbishment and life extension programs through technical, programmatic, system safety and operational services. 

The bulk of contract work will be conducted in Colorado, with additional work to be performed in Washington, D.C., New Mexico, Florida and Nebraska. 

Peraton focuses its work on warfighting domains in space, cyber and intelligence and builds mission capability solutions. The company employs 3,500 across the U.S. and Canada.

 

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Carilion receives nearly $1M USDA telehealth grant

-based announced Monday it received a nearly $1 million from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) for its Telemedicine Expansion and Optimization Project.

The USDA awarded Carilion Clinic a $947,983 grant through its 2020 distance learning and telemedicine grant program. The grant will fund virtual care centers, teleneurology service access and portable video devices.

“We are honored to receive this grant and excited to get to work,” Dr. Steve Morgan, Carilion senior vice president and chief medical information officer, said in a statement. “This will allow us to build on our existing network, offering rural patients throughout Western Virginia increased access to high-quality primary and specialty care services.”

Virtual care centers will be established at the Carilion Family and Community Medicine sites in Galax and Wythe County and at Carilion Tazewell Community Hospital to offer telemedicine tools allowing rural patients to connect to specialty care. 

The grant will also expand inpatient and outpatient teleneurology offerings through Carilion’s hospitals in Franklin, Giles, Montgomery, Rockbridge and Tazewell counties. The system will also deploy 80 portable telehealth devices for patient use in primary care practices and assisted living centers. Patients without broadband access can use the devices to transmit health data and video via a local virtual care center or other Carilion facilities.

 

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Armada Hoffler buys Richmond apartment complex for $25M

Virginia Beach-based Properties Inc. announced last week it has completed the $25 million of the Edison Apartments in . 

The 174-unit, 12-story property was originally built in 1919 as the headquarters for the Virginia Electric and Power Co. (now Dominion Energy Inc.) and was renovated and repurposed in 2014 as apartments. 

The acquisition included the assumption of debt and issuance of operating partnership units. The total value of the property is assessed at $26.88 million, according to Richmond property records. 

Armada Hoffler’s purchase also included a 365-space parking garage with 24/7 paid public access and dedicated parking for Edison residents. The apartment complex is currently 97% leased, according to Armada Hoffler. 

The project, located at 700 East Franklin Street, was developed by Richmond-based Genesis Properties Inc. and was completed in 2015. 

“We are pleased to add another high-quality, urban, core, multifamily asset with onsite structured parking to our portfolio,” Armada Hoffler President and CEO Louis Haddad said in a statement. “Consistent with prior transactions, the OP units were issued at a significant premium to the current market price of our common stock, demonstrating our new partners’ confidence in the value proposition presented by our company. With the Edison acquisition and the recently announced Solis Gainesville project, we will have added nearly 400 conventional apartment units owned or under development to the approximately 2,000 units in our portfolio and pipeline.”

 

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Hampton Roads residential median sales prices rose 10%+ last month

saw residential median sales prices rise 10.04% during September, Real Estate Information Network Inc. (REIN) reported Monday. This is the largest annual increase in more than six years. 

September 2020’s median sales price was $275,000, compared to $249,000 during the same period last year.

“Housing has been one of the strongest economic performance sectors in this era,” REIN President Barry Nachman said in a statement. “Homes placed under contract and closings (settled sales) continue to skyrocket with impressive year-over-year gains in almost every area of Hampton Roads. This has also had a strong effect on median sales prices, which continue to escalate year-over-year across our region.”

Regional active listings also continued to drop, with 4,839 units for sale this year compared to 8,384 homes last year — a 42.28% decrease. Hampton Roads’ inventory supply also dropped to 1.82 months, compared to 3.49 months last year. 

“Inventory may be low, but sales remain strong,” according to REIN. There was a 41.9% increase in residential pending sales in September, with 3,417 homes going under contract this year as opposed to 2,408 during the same time last year. 

“This trend is expected to continue throughout the fall and winter months due to a large pipeline of buyers with mortgage pre-approval applications as a result of unprecedented low interest rates,” Nachman said in a statement. “This is great news for property owners, but homebuyers trying to take advantage of these rates will find they need to come to the market with realistic expectations regarding prices, as our inventory of available housing is at its lowest point ever percentage-wise.”

Infographic courtesy REIN
Infographic courtesy REIN

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Divaris names senior VP, office leasing

Virginia Beach-based real estate company announced last week that it has hired Trib Sutton as senior vice president of office leasing in its office. 

Sutton joined Divaris after 21 years with commercial real estate firm CBRE | Richmond, where he handled tenant and landlord representation, investment sales and oversaw 27 Richmond-based brokers. 

“We are thrilled to have Trib joining our Richmond team with his extensive experience and relationships it will enable us to deepen the level of services to our clients,” Loretta L. Cataldi, principal of the Richmond office, said in a statement.

During his career, he has been involved with the development of 2.5 million square feet of Class A office, medical and industrial space totaling a value of more than $225 million. He has also completed more than 1,200 lease transactions totaling more than 10 million square feet.

Sutton earned his bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of Richmond. Outside of work, he is a member of the Richmond Community Board of Virginia Commonwealth Bank, vice chair of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation of Virginia board of directors, a trustee of Richmond Boys and Girls Club of America and past president of Richmond Real Estate Group. He has also previously served on the boards of the Greater Richmond Association for Commercial Real Estate, Richmond College Alumni of the University of Richmond and Alumni Board of Directors of The Collegiate Schools.

Reston government contractor to buy Alexandria tech company

-based government IT contractor Xenith Solutions LLC announced Thursday it will acquire -based tech company TRI-COR Industries (TCI).

Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. 

Founded in 1983 by Louis Gonzalez, TCI provides large-scale, enterprise agile tech services to federal and local governments. Xenith Solutions is a service-disabled veteran-owned small business that provides both consulting services such as strategic planning, IT systems management and business intelligence as well as enterprise tech services including architecture, implementation, sustainment and modernization.

Under the , Xenith Solutions will acquire TCI’s assets, team members, industry certifications and customer contracts. TCI will be a wholly owned subsidiary of Xenith.

“The Xenith team consistently brings a high-level of ingenuity and confidence to every project,” Gonzalez said in a statement. “Our customers are going to appreciate the added depth of skills and experience the combined team will bring.”

 

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Reston health care tech company names CTO

-based company careMESH on Thursday announced that Gustavo Bonany has been hired as chief technology officer. 

With more than 20 years of experience, Bonany was most recently senior vice president of and development for health care tech company Voxiva. In his new role, he will oversee development and delivery of careMESH’s health care services, software engineering team and technology strategies.  

“Our focus is on reshaping how the health care industry quickly and securely shares patient health information,” careMESH President and Chief Operating Officer Justin Sims said in a statement.  “I’m confident Gustavo will accelerate the services we deliver to our health care customers and know he will further expand our culture of innovation and agility.”

Founded in 2016, careMESH provides a health care communications platform that includes a national provider directory, patient event notifications, secure communications and transition of care workflows. 

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