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Weekly Roundup December 12 – December 16, 2016: Impending Moves for Boeing Defense, Mark Sopp & more


December 12 – December 16, 2016

A Note From Our President & Founder Jim Garrettson

This week reminded us that change is always a constant in the government contracting arena as we learned of an impending relocation by a large defense contractor and the return of a veteran GovCon executive to the scene.

Boeing confirmed to GovCon Wire and other media outlets this week it plans to move the headquarters of its defense segment from the St. Louis metropolitan region after almost two decades there to the Washington, D.C. area at an office in the proximity of the Pentagon.

As of the turn of the New Year, Boeing’s defense CEO Leanne Caret and a dozen other senior leaders will be based out of the company’s Arlington, Va. facility that also houses the headquarters of the segment’s network and space systems unit.

Caret has prioritized bolstered relationships with government customers in her 10 months as CEO of the roughly $31 billion Boeing Defense, Space & Security segment and the move is intended to facilitate increased interactions with key decision makers.

Click here for GovCon Wire’s full report on the implications of this transition for both the St. Louis and Washington regions.

The world’s largest airplane maker was not the only GovCon entity to announce a change as KBRannounced the appointment of former Leidos finance chief Mark Sopp to the same role.

Sopp will officially start at KBR in the first quarter of 2017 and brings to the Houston-based engineering services contractor a career that includes 10 years as Leidos’ CFO and seven in the same role at the former Titan Corp.

KBR became a significant, “non-traditional” player in the GovCon market landscape this year through its estimated $900 million in acquisitions of El Segundo, Calif.-headquartered Wyle and the former Honeywell Technology Solutions business based out of Columbia, Md.

Those transactions led KBR to create a new $2.5 billion government services segment the company expects to represent close to 41 percent of total revenue per year and help diversify sales beyond the shorter-cycled hydrocarbons business.

With KBR now a significant GovCon player, Sopp will be key in the company’s relationship with government market-focused investors as the acquisitions bring increased attention from “The Street” on that area of the business.

THE WEEK’S OTHER TOP 10 GOVCON STORIES

Honeywell Subsidiary Lands Potential $2.6B Sandia Labs Mgmt Contract
Sandia National Laboratories oversees non-nuclear engineering development of nuclear weapons across four sites in the U.S.
RSA President Amit Yoran to Join Tenable as Chairman & CEO
Yoran is a founding director of the U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team and also led the start of Riptech prior to RSA.
Lockheed’s Venture Capital Arm Buys Minority Stake in Chip Maker IQ-Analog
San Diego-based IQ-Analog builds semiconductor chips to process data at high speeds and for potential integration with military sensors.
Dell EMC’s Cameron Chehreh on Federal IT Trends to Watch in 2017 & Cyber’s Info Mgmt Aspects
Chehreh, federal chief technology officer for Dell EMC, also overviews the company’s post-merger activities in this wide-ranging Q&A.
SpaceX Postpones Manned Dragon Capsule Launch to May 2018; Boeing Reschedules CST-100 Test Flights
Boeing and SpaceX received their contracts in 2014 to transport astronauts to and from the International Space Station.
Parsons Subsidiary Lands Cybercom Support Task Order
Carey Smith, Parsons’ federal lead, said Secure Mission Solutions aims to help Cyber Command protect the Defense Department’s information network.
AT&T to Help NASA Update Deep Space Network’s Comms Capacity Through VPN
Mike Leff, head of AT&T’s civilian public sector arm, said this project continues the telecommunications company’s two-decade partnership with NASA.
Paul Smith: Red Hat’s Operating System Cryptographic Modules Get NIST Data Security Certifications
Smith, head of the Red Hat public sector unit, said the new certifications reflect the company’s efforts to help users in high-security environments.
Raytheon to Begin Cryptographic Unit Production for Air Force Under $459M IDIQ Award
This potential six-year contract calls on the company to start full-rate production on devices for secure voice and data communications.
Former Maximus Exec Helene Fisher Named DLH Danya President
Fisher’s appointment comes seven months after DLH’s $38.75 million purchase of health IT contractor Danya to create the DLH Danya subsidiary.

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