We last examined Booz Allen Hamilton in August 2020. At the time, the company was experiencing steady business growth (which we also noted in our August 2018 blog) and continues to maintain that steady growth now. The company announced at the end of its fiscal year 2022 that it earned $8.4 billion in revenue, up 6.4% from fiscal year 2021, and increased its headcount to more than 29,000 employees worldwide.
Figure 1 – Booz Allen Hamilton Avenue Revenue 2015-2021. Source: Booz Allen Hamilton Fourth Quarter and Full Year Fiscal 2022 Results
New Corporate Strategy – VoLT
In October 2021, Booz Allen Hamilton unveiled their new corporate strategy, called “Velocity, Leadership, and Technology (VoLT),” to which they credit their continued growth. This new strategy is focused on external technology scouting, as well as making efforts to scale the production of innovative and emerging technologies for public sector use. Additionally, VoLT seeks to maintain focus on higher-end technology government contracts, and this can be seen in its recent corporate investments and contract wins in analytics, artificial intelligence/machine learning (AI/ML), 5G, and cybersecurity. An interesting aspect of VoLT is Booz Allen Hamilton’s decision to spinout two of its promising product lines into independent companies, in which they retain a minority share:
- SnapAttack – Originally launched in October 2020 as a cloud-based software solution that brings together actionable threat intelligence and hacker detection. Booz Allen Hamilton announced the spinout of SnapAttack in November 2021.
- Modzy – Originally launched in November 2019 as an enterprise-AI platform designed to create a tech stack layer for AI in other software products and platforms; it was intended to streamline the process of training and deploying AI and provide explanations for why AI models made certain decisions. Booz Allen Hamilton announced the spinout of Modzy in December 2021.
Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A)
Figure 2 – Chart depicting Booz Allen Hamilton’s acquisitions which also shows their activity has increased in recent years.
Noteworthy recent acquisitions
A short map of M&A activity for Booz Allen Hamilton is shown in Figure 2 above, but some noteworthy acquisitions are listed below. Note the increase in M&A activity since 2020 which is atypical for Booz Allen Hamilton who had traditionally focused on non-acquisitive growth. VoLT is surely driving this as their focus on technology increases and to keep up with changes in technology is a challenge.
- EverWatch – In March 2022, Booz Allen Hamilton announced the acquisition of EverWatch, a company that builds and operates classified platforms to defend against sophisticated cyber threats. The company has a legacy of service to defense and intelligence community agencies in the fields of software development and architecture, cloud, analytics, AI/ML, and technical signals intelligence (TechSIGINT).
- Tracepoint– In September 2021, Booz Allen Hamilton announced the acquisition of Tracepoint, a company specializing in digital forensics and incident response (DFIR) and cyber risk and resilience management.
Strategic Investments & Partnerships
Booz Allen Hamilton has made use of other investments and partnerships to accelerate its execution of VoLT.
- 5G Lab – In December 2021, Booz Allen Hamilton announced the opening of a new 5G lab in Annapolis Junction, MD. The lab also delivers a testbed for cyber resiliency, AI/ML modeling, and integrated IoT application development.
- Synthetaic– End-to-end AI company providing organizations with an end-to-end pipeline for AI-enabled solutions without dependency on human-labeled data, accelerating AI adoption.
- Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. – Wireless technology company focused on developing, launching, and expanding 5G infrastructure. Booz Allen Hamilton announced in September 2021 that it had joined Qualcomm’s Smart Cities Accelerator Program, where the company will serve as a system integrator focused on various smart connected spaces, including smart marine bases and naval fleet carriers using vision intelligence and AI-cameras.
Notable Contract Wins
- U.S. Department of Defense, Washington Headquarters Services (WHS), Advana Platform Support–In June 2021, Booz Allen Hamilton was awarded a five-year, $674 million contract ($182 million obligated) to provide support for the DoD’s Advana platform; Advana is a data analytics platform integrating systems and data across the entire DoD.
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO), Cybersecurity and Privacy Enterprise Solutions and Services (CyPrESS)– In June 2022, Booz Allen Hamilton was awarded a ten-year, $622 million ceiling value IDIQ – CyPrESS – to provide NASA’s OCIO with a range of cybersecurity and privacy enterprise solutions.
- U.S. Department of Defense, 5G Experimentation and Testing–In March 2021, Booz Allen Hamilton was awarded a $600 million ceiling value contract to support the Department of Defense (DoD) in 5G experimentation and testing, specifically supporting two projects: prototype and optimize the military utility of 5G-enabled AR/VR live training from the individual soldier to brigade level; deliver an AI spectrum sensing application as part of a prototype that will enable the Air Force’s airborne radar systems to dynamically share spectrum with 5G cellular services.
The FedSavvy Strategies Takeaway
- Booz Allen Hamilton has made a strong effort to build its 5G portfolio, between the opening of its dedicated facility in Annapolis Junction and joining the Qualcomm Smart Cities Accelerator Program. These moves were likely intended to capitalize on the company’s contract award to perform 5G experimentation and testing for DoD and maintain momentum going forward as 5G begins to expand.
- With its strategic investments in AI companies and facilities, Booz Allen Hamilton seems to continue its historical trend of emphasizing AI and analytics capabilities. Especially since they have taken a flexible business approach, namely with the spinout of capabilities such as Modzy into independent companies, it is likely that Booz Allen Hamilton will continue to be a strong contender in the space of AI and analytics.
- Booz Allen Hamilton has demonstrated continued interest and growth in both cyber and enterprise IT, as evidenced by M&A activity (Tracepoint, EverWatch, Liberty IT), and its trend towards growing its high-end technological service portfolio continues. This has led to major contract wins, such as CyPrESS and support for Advana. Additionally, Booz Allen Hamilton’s continued investment in cyber, enterprise IT, 5G, and AI/analytics, along with its divestment of business segments unrelated to innovative and emerging technologies, are demonstrative of its VoLT strategy.
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