Dayton feels impact of $93M contract
Dayton Business Journal - by Joe Cogliano
Date: Monday, November 8, 2010, 5:00am EST
(MONDAY WEB EXCLUSIVE) As the 711th Human Performance Wing gears up to full strength at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, a Texas defense contractor is preparing to open a Dayton-area office.
Orvis Meador, co-founder and executive vice president of San Antonio, Texas-based Decypher Technologies Ltd., said his company has already hired workers in the double digits in Dayton since last December to support a $93 million contract issued by the 711th Wing. Now, he’s cautiously optimistic his company will win more orders from the contract, spurring the need to open an office in the next 30 days and possibly hire additional employees.
“I’m very excited about Dayton and the potential for our company there,” Meador said.
Decypher was one of six companies named to the five-year deal to provide services for the 711th Wing, which is forming at Wright-Patt as part of the Base Realignment and Closure Act, or BRAC. It combines human performance work from several bases, including Wright-Patt; Brooks City Base, Texas; and Mesa, Ariz.
The 711th Wing — with more than 2,000 employees and an annual budget nearing $400 million — includes the Human Effectiveness Directorate, the U.S. Air Force School of Aerospace Medicine and the Human Performance Integration Directorate.
During the course of the $93 million contract, the six companies will compete for numerous task orders issued by the 711th Wing. Tasks include things such as medical and biomedical research assistance and information technology support.
Local officials forecasted the massive contract would provide a significant boost to the Dayton economy. They expected the winning companies — five of which are from other states — to move here and add workers to support the contract, as well as future contracts from the 711th.
Nearly a year later, more than 60 new workers have been hired locally. More hires are expected and several companies are opening or expanding offices in the Dayton region.
Since winning a spot on the contract roster, San Antonio-based SpecPro Technical Services began sharing an office with one of its affiliated companies in the Dayton area and hired 14 people to work at the base.
SpecPro Technical also holds some bridge contracts, work being done in Texas that will transfer to Wright-Patt along with 22 workers, and probably will hire more as it wins additional work orders, said David Walker, a program manager for the company.
“We definitely recognize that there’s still more work there, that new requirements continue to come up,” Walker said. “So, we’re looking forward to the next couple years there and to build our presence up in the Dayton area”
Other companies named to the contract include P3S Corp., of San Antonio; Solutions Through Innovative Technologies Inc., based in Tulsa, Okla.; Prairie Quest Inc., of Ft. Wayne, Ind.; and Fairborn-based Peerless Technologies Corp., the sole local company named to the contract.
• Ben Gamble, a spokesperson for P3S, said his company plans to open an office near Wright-Patt in the next 12 months and hire more, but it is difficult to project how many. The company has about a dozen employees that live in the Dayton area and work on the 711th contract at the base. P3S had been working on a separate contract at Wright-Patt, but Gamble said the 711th contract could be a springboard to going after more work there.
“That was a very exciting time for us, when we got notice of the award,” he said. “Particularly as a small business ... for that kind of breakthrough, to really play with the big boys, you could say, is very exciting for us.”
• Solutions Through Innovative Technologies had been working on other contracts for Air Force Materiel Command and Air Force Research Laboratory, but quadrupled its Fairborn office space to 1,200 square feet during the summer as a result of the 711th deal. The company has 38 local workers, including seven that were hired for the new contract, said Charles Colon III, executive vice president and chief operating officer.
“We’re excited to be a part of the Dayton community and we intend to have a footprint there for a long. long time,” Colon said. “I think all six firms are going to have a pretty successful time up there.”
• Peerless plowed nearly $600,000 into creating a human performance research center within its walls before it was even named to the contract. The company and its subcontractors have added 40 employees since the inception of the contract, with the majority of them working at Brooks City Base, said Kurt Harendza, vice president of Peerless. While difficult to predict how many more it might hire, Harendza said Peerless is planning its business based on projections that it can capture enough work to need 15 to 30 new positions next year.
“(We) feel we have a distinct advantage when it comes to tasks that require local management at Wright-Patt as we are the only contractor with a significant local presence including all of the company’s management, leadership and functional support,” he said.
• In August, Prairie Quest opened an office in Kettering, where it has two employees. Stacey Smith, president and chief executive officer, expected to have more workers there but has pulled back to evaluate the possible impact of defense spending cuts and in-sourcing, the government practice of taking over work being done by contractors.
“We really want to see that market grow,” Smith said of the Wright-Patt area. “We have put years of time and effort into cultivating that market.”
All of the elements of the 711th Wing are slated to be at Wright-Patt by September 2011.
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