Scott Pfister is the president and CEO of Precise Systems, where his leadership has fueled the company’s growth as a government services solutions provider. On his watch, Precise has expanded to over 1,300 employees and successfully completed three acquisitions, broadening its footprint both nationwide and internationally. Pfister’s commitment to “Putting People First” and “Delighting the Customer” has cultivated an energetic and positive culture within the organization.
Before joining Precise Systems in June 2001, Pfister served 11 years on active duty in the U.S. Marine Corps as a decorated CH-53E Crew Chief, completing multiple overseas deployments. He holds a bachelor’s degree in professional aeronautics from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, graduating summa cum laude. Pfister’s personal awards include the Air Medal with Combat Valor (Strike/Flight), the Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal, two Navy and Marine Corps Achievement medals, and the Marine Corps Aviation Association’s 1996 Danny L. Radish Award for Enlisted Aircrewman of the Year.
We sat down with Pfister to discuss his growth strategy, the company’s foundational values, its recent acquisitions and much more.
GovCon Wire: What are Precise Systems’ core values? How do you think these values translate into continued success and growth in the GovCon market?
Scott Pfister: At Precise, we live by two simple core values: Putting People First and Delighting our Customers. Our commitment to our people is the cornerstone of our culture, fostering a supportive environment where collaboration, empowerment and innovation drive success for our employees.
We prioritize an atmosphere where employees feel valued and motivated because happy employees mean happy customers. With our customers, we focus on continually exceeding expectations by providing great employee resources and going above and beyond wherever possible.
These values are constantly reinforced across our leadership team, and every employee at all levels within Precise lives by these simple yet impactful values.
GCW: What factors or GovCon industry trends are influencing your growth strategy as you look toward Precise Systems’ future?
Pfister: As we look toward Precise’s future, several factors and trends are shaping our strategy, including an increased emphasis on open architecture development as well as advanced and digital. As our competitors’ technology advanced and, in some cases, surpasses ours, those of us on the defense side—within the U.S. and the contractors supporting this industry—must maintain a competitive edge on the battlefield for our warfighters. Our focus remains on delivering the capabilities that matter most to our customers and allow them to achieve mission success.
Our growth is centered on three key capabilities: advanced engineering, digital engineering and open architecture development.
Our advanced engineering expertise focuses on electronic warfare and adversarial system modeling, delivering high-fidelity threat emulation, advanced RF signal processing and next-generation EW countermeasures. We develop solutions that strengthen warfighter survivability.
Our digital engineering approach integrates a cybersecurity-driven, model-based engineering approach. We leverage advanced tools and simulation environments to enhance system development and sustainment. Our approach and tools improve design accuracy, interoperability and rapid integration to ensure secure, resilient solutions are built for a variety of complex defense environments.
The critical element of design within the Department of Defense is ensuring an open system architecture, or OSA, solution. Our approach provides scalable, modular framework that adapts to evolving operational requirements. An OSA design ensures the field system is ready for rapid reconfiguration for upgrades, mission-specific adaptations and enhanced multi-domain interoperability. These capabilities allow for faster integration, reduced downtime, and greater operational effectiveness in dynamic threat environments.
By combining these core competencies, Precise delivers adaptable, cyber-secure and mission-driven solutions that meet the operational demands of modern defense systems.
GCW: What can you tell me about Precise Systems’ recent M&A efforts?
Pfister: In the past 12 months, we have completed three acquisitions—a significant and propelling undertaking for our company. As of January 2025, we have fully integrated all three companies with Precise, aligning with our strategy to expand our capabilities, penetrate new markets and diversify our contract portfolio. Throughout this process, we have remained committed to preserving the strong company culture we have all worked so hard to build and cultivate.
Each acquisition begins with a fundamental question: Will this create a “one plus one equals three” scenario? In other words, will it generate more long-term enterprise value than simply combining two companies? We do not pursue acquisitions solely for growth; each one must enhance our capabilities, open new markets, or deliver meaningful value.
With the acquisitions of Excet, Jardon & Howard Technologies, or JHT, and Tucson Embedded Systems, a.k.a. TES, we have met that goal. Each acquisition has been a strong cultural fit, with key leadership teams transitioning seamlessly and working closely with my leadership team to integrate both the people and operations into Precise with minimal disruption.
Each acquisition has opened new doors, enabling us to enter new markets and solidifying our position for continued success in the future.
GCW: Do you think it’s a seller’s or a buyer’s market right now and why?
Pfister: I believe the GovCon market is currently experiencing a seller’s advantage. This is primarily driven by the increasing demand for specialized services in areas such as advanced defense technologies and modernization initiatives. The government’s focus on critical defense sectors, paired with significant budget allocations, has created strong demand for contractors with expertise in our core capability areas.
Another important factor is the evolving role of private equity within the GovCon space. In the past, strategic acquisitions were largely focused on scaling large businesses. Today, however, with private equity increasingly involved, the market has become more dynamic. Private equity tends to follow the financial trends, and as the federal government continues to make substantial investments in acquiring innovative solutions and specialized talent, competition among buyers has intensified in ways not seen before.
Ultimately, this situation reflects a basic supply-and-demand dynamic. Companies that are strategically positioned in the right markets, offer the right capabilities and hold a diversified contract portfolio will be well positioned to achieve higher valuations.
