THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, July 31, 1996 TAG: 9607310457
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: D1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY CHRISTOPHER DINSMORE, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 49 lines
A Navy contract had been a big part of Milcom Systems Corp.'s growing business in recent years, but the company was facing stiff competition for the contract's renewal.
The Virginia Beach electronics company found out Monday that the Navy was going to let it keep the contract, which could be worth $134.1 million over the next five years.
``We've been sweating this one since last fall when it was supposed to be awarded,'' William W. Fleming, Milcom's executive officer, said Tuesday. ``They just kept extending it.''
Milcom was one of 12 companies vying to provide technical support of shipboard electronics systems to the Navy.
Milcom, which employs about 280 workers in Virginia Beach, is one of many growing government contractors in Hampton Roads that focus on technology.
Under this contract, Milcom provides professional and technical engineering-support services for Navy shipboard electronic warfare and navigation systems. It was awarded by the Naval Command, Control and Ocean Surveillance Center In-Service Engineering East Coast Division in Norfolk.
The initial contract value is $26.9 million for one year with four option years that will likely be exercised.
About 75 percent of the work will be done in Hampton Roads. The rest will be done by Milcom at the Mayport Naval Station near Jacksonville, Fla., where a handful of other Atlantic Fleet warships are based.
``It keeps our employees here in a secure position for the next few years,'' Fleming said of the contract.
Milcom is also growing through some nondefense work.
It plans to add at least 60 people to its payroll this year, Fleming said. The company employs mostly electronics technicians as well as some electrical and mechanical engineers.
In the past year the company has won at least five contracts worth more than $300 million, including one from the Atlanta Transportation Management System to develop ``intelligent highways'' in time for the Olympics.
The company was founded 26 years ago by Fleming's father, William Fleming Jr., and moved to Hampton Roads two years after that.
A fire damaged part of a warehouse in Virginia Beach in June. The damage is almost completely repaired, Fleming said.
``My main personal concern is that they find out who did it,'' Fleming said.
No one has been arrested yet, he said.
``We just want to move on and keep doing things successfully,'' he added.
KEYWORDS: U.S. NAVY CONTRACT by CNB