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Weekly Roundup October 10 – October 14, 2016: DigitalGlobe Enters M&A Picture, L-3 Buys Again & more


October 10 – October 14, 2016

A Note From Our President & Founder Jim Garrettson

We have yet another player in the GovCon M&A scene in the form of the company whose satellites help governments and businesses around the world map every piece of planet Earth down to the finest details.

DigitalGlobe announced Tuesday it has struck an estimated $140 million deal for The Radiant Group, an information and technology services provider whose core focus areas include cloud computing and big data analytics.

This transaction represents DigitalGlobe’s first major acquisition since the company combined with its former satellite imagery competitor GeoEye in 2013.

Radiant Group will bring 400 new staffers with 250 of them software engineers to DigitalGlobe in an effort to combine knowledge and talent bases in cloud and analytics.

In a subsequent call with investors, DigitalGlobe services business lead Tony Frazier singled out demand for instant availability of data to analysts as an ongoing trend in the intelligence community and one Radiant’s team is actively focusing on.

Data and applications based in the cloud can help analysts respond to emerging security threats quicker and even pave the way for new forms of analytics, according to Frazier.

“The U.S. intelligence community is going through a period of transition as it modernizes its technology infrastructure to take advantage of the cloud… these trends have led to increased demand for technology solutions that take advantage of open source software, cloud based IT infrastructure, and nontraditional sources of intelligence information, ” he added.

L-3 Communications also finds its way here for a second straight week as the contractor said Monday it will buy the explosive trace detection business of Implant Sciences for $117.5 million.

We profiled L-3 last week as a company to watch in GovCon M&A and the New York City-based defense technology maker did not disappoint as it continues a focus on targeted acquisitions that have been a core component of its strategy since the 1997 launch.

A still historically-low interest rate situation, high valuations of companies seeking a buyer and general industry consolidation trends all combine to create an environment welcoming of deals.

GovCon sector observers and observers surely also welcome these interesting transactions too.

THE WEEK’S OTHER TOP 10 GOVCON STORIES

USDA Awards CGI Potential $824M Cloud-Based Financial Shared Services Contract
GSA and OMB announced USDA early this week a shared services provider of CGI’s Momentum Enterprise Solutions software to federal agencies.
Engility Vet Damian DiPippa Joins ManTech as Mission, Intell Solutions SVP
ManTech MCIS Group President Bill Varner said DiPippa will help the company pursue new technology and emerging service markets in his new role.
Former Sotera SVP Tina Kuhn Heads to CyberCore as President & CEO
CyberCore is a cyber supply chain risk management platform provider headquartered in Elkridge, Maryland.
Executive Mosaic’s Top General Counsels in Government Contracting Award
Our staff asked other government and industry leaders to find out who they viewed as the sector’s most influential general counsels.
Charles Bolden: NASA Lays Groundwork for ‘Journey to Mars’ Through NextSTEP, ISS Docking Port Programs
NASA’s administrator describes the agency’s partnerships with private companies to establish a foundation for future explorations.
NASA Performs Qualification Tests on SLS Rocket, Orion Spacecraft With Industry Team
Boeing’s Space Launch System and Lockheed Martin’s Orion vehicle both have a target launch date of 2018.
Rodin Lyasoff Promoted to CEO at Airbus’ A3 Innovation Outpost
A3 is the airplane maker’s advanced projects and partnerships outpost in Silicon Valley that focuses on new flight technologies.
Navy Discusses Large Displacement UUV Program at Industry Day
Vendors interested in the Large Displacement Unmanned Undersea Vehicle program discussed Navy leaders’ collective vision for the future class.
In-Q-Tel, Brainspace Partner to Support Intell Community With Machine Learning Tech
Intelligence community investment arm IQT aims to help agencies get new tools for digital investigations in the future.
DLT to Offer Govt Clients Endpoint Security Support Through Intel Partnership
Both companies announced a separate pact in March to build a new cyber lab for collaborations with agencies.

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