ManTech To Buy Federal IT Contractor for $75 MillionManTech To Buy Federal IT Contractor for $75 Million

ManTech said this week it plans to purchase private federal contractor MTCSC for $75 million, a move that will expand its cybersecurity, network engineering, and systems integration practices.

Already one of the largest government contractors, ManTech said it will pay cash for the company, taking the money from an existing balance, it said.

It's the second acquisition for ManTech in as many months; last month the firm closed a $60 million purchase of QuinetiQ North America's security and intelligence solutions business.

The MTCSC purchase is expected to close by the end of the year and, once it does, MTCSC will become a part of ManTech's systems engineering and advanced technology (SEAT) group.

MTCSC, based in Chula Vista, Calif., specializes in providing command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (C4ISR) systems integration, cybersecurity, and network engineering solutions to U.S. government customers. The firm also has a significant presence near Washington in Stafford, Va.

Though MTCSC is private and doesn't typically publish revenue figures, it said it expects $83 million in revenue in 2010, according to ManTech.

One of MTCSC's largest customers is the U.S. Marine Corps, for which it is involved in a number of classified projects.

In a press statement, ManTech chairman and CEO George Pedersen said the acquisition matches up with his company's long-term strategy to focus its IT efforts on the high-end defense and intelligence sector of the federal government.

Some of ManTech's latest federal contracts reflect this aim, including several awarded this month.

Earlier this month, ManTech was awarded part of a $30 billion contract to provide, among other things, secured communications, cyber security, counter-terrorism analytics, tactical biometrics, and systems operation to the Federal Bureau of Investigations. That award came on the heels of a nearly $100 million contract from the intelligence agency in August to provide cybersecurity outsourcing services.

ManTech also won two significant military contracts this month, one from the Navy and one from the Army.

The Navy awarded the firm a $24 million, five-year extension of an existing contract for combat identification and air-traffic control systems. The Army contract also expanded ManTech's existing work, with a $68 million contract to provide cell phone coverage to U.S. forces in Afghanistan, where ManTech already supports U.S. military efforts.