Fire When Ready

Members of that team also keep abreast of the fast-changing world of high-tech. “As part of the benefits package there are educational benefits for employees to further their education [if it] is relevant to the business,” says John Broyles, vice president of operations. “That keeps your employees competitive in terms of what’s going on in academia and those kinds of things.”

That strategy has helped Tec-Masters land projects such as:
– A $24.8 million five-year contract to provide systems engineering and technical assistance support to the Fires Center of Excellence at Fort Sill, Oklahoma.
– A portion of a $100 million five-year military contract to provide support services to the U.S. Army at the Maneuver Support Center of Excellence in Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri.
– A $12.2 million contract for the integration of payloads into the Microgravity Science Glovebox (MSG) aboard the International Space Station to ensure that interface and safety requirements are satisfied. The MSG is a controlled environment inside the station that allows astronauts to perform experiments.

VICTIM OF INSOURCING
Carroll acknowledges the challenges that lay ahead and looks to keep the company agile enough to react to changes in government spending. With increased pressure to cut spending, many former contracting opportunities were taken in-house by Uncle Sam. “In this environment we are looking for other areas where there are growth opportunities–areas, typically, we have not looked before,” he says. “We’re looking more at places such as the Department of Commerce, Department of Energy, or the Department of Education.”

While those aren’t areas Tec-Masters has sought business from in the past, Carroll contends that the company’s workforce has skills sets that are applicable to those areas. “I think that as a result of fully looking at opportunities in other areas, the company will still grow.”