Centurum increasingly at center of major Gov’t contracts
December 4th, 2007 by Brian LustigIt is becoming clear that there is in fact a happy medium between the old – and currently unraveling – Japanese keiretsu system that guaranteed lifetime employment and a younger generation here in the U.S. that hops between jobs as if they were hopping from the Red Line to the Blue Line at Metro Center.
This successful middle ground plays out repeatedly among executives at government IT companies and contractors. Earlier, I profiled Lee Technologies founder John Lee as he approaches 25 years at the helm of the successful provider of solutions that enable commercial enterprises and government agencies to mitigate risk to their physical infrastructure.
Another area company with an equally impressive pedigree and legacy for information technology innovation – and one that has been heating up as of late with some major contracts – is Centurum. For more than thirty-five years, Centurum has been focused on building and deploying mission critical systems that enable government agencies and military branches to operate and communicate more effectively on a global scale.
Delivering a life cycle of IT services to the DoD and Federal agencies, Centurum has steadily grown into a 400+ employee company specializing in providing advanced IT life cycle solutions in six core areas: network engineering, systems integration, BPM, systems 
engineering and design, information operations and operational support.Much like John Lee, Centurum has also benefited from an executive who has remained an integral part of the company as it has grown. Sam Seymour, Executive VP and COO, has been with the company 16 years and is no doubt pleased with the momentum Centurum is carrying into 2008.
Centurum is among a handful of mid-tier contractors with an aggressive growth plan in place to raise its revenue up to the level of the larger competitors they also find themselves locked up against when competing for business. The first step for Centurum is the $100mm threshold – a milestone that is now a great deal closer after recently being awarded a $420 million IDIQ contract with just one other company to provide network-centric services to the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command. And just a few months in, Centurum has already been awarded over $7 million in competitively bid task orders for the contract.
Centurum quickly followed that with a $16+ million IDIQ contract for In-Service Engineering Agent (ISEA) support for multiple radio frequency and satellite communication programs and projects at the Space and Naval Warfare Systems San Diego (SSC San Diego). With options, the cumulative value of the contract could reach north of $84 million.
Centurum continues to pursue balanced growth across its core service areas, and Seymour sees 2008 shaping up as a year where the focus will be on “…developing a deeper and more rich compliment of core competencies that are established, viable swim lanes.” He adds this will be achieved by heightening employee skill levels by pushing certification training and assembling a deeper pool of high-level subject matter experts.
The road ahead appears bright for Centurum and Seymour – an avid motorcycle enthusiast – as 2008 approaches. At this rate, the $100 million milestone will be in the rear view mirror in short order.
Brian Lustig is co-founder of Lustig Communications, a Rockville, MD-based communications firm that works with growing technology and government IT firms. Lustig is also a contributor to local business and industry publications.
