Amentum has recently made headlines for its acquisition of PAE and DynCorp in their short two year history. As we all observe the substantial investment of private equity in the U.S. Government contracting market, let’s examine who and what Amentum is today.
The true core of Amentum comes from URS Corporation’s legacy Federal Services business – an engineering, technical services, operations & maintenance and logistics business federal contracting market mostly focused on the U.S. Departments of Defense and Energy. The legacy of URS Corporation’s Federal Services business was formed from the acquisitions of EG&G Technical Services (2002), Lear Siegler Services (2002), Washington Group International (2007), and Apptis (2011).
In 2014, URS Corporation was acquired by AECOM, an engineering firm providing design, consulting, construction, and management of infrastructure assets worldwide. Post acquisition, AECOM re-organized the business in which the Federal Services business was largely re-constituted as AECOM Management Services.
In February 2020, AECOM sold its Management Services segment to Lindsay Goldberg and American Securities, LLC and was re-branded as Amentum. Later that year, Amentum acquired DynCorp International, an aviation, air and ground vehicle maintenance, and logistics services company, creating one of the largest providers of mission critical support services with more than $6 billion of combined revenue over the previous 12 months. The acquisition accelerated Amentum’s growth in new markets, such as aviation support services, intelligence solutions, and training, particularly within the U.S. Department of State and the U.S. Army.
Amentum continued this streak of growth around its two-year anniversary in February 2021 with its $1.9 billion acquisition of PAE, creating an entity with more than $9 billion in combined revenue over the last 12 months and a team of 57,000 employees. Historically a logistics company, PAE brings capabilities in synthetic training, intelligence, cyber and IT, sensor-based technologies, space operations, and environmental solutions. In addition, PAE brings Amentum significant customer footprints within the Department of State, Intelligence Community (IC), and NASA. In the fourth quarter of 2020, PAE began bolstering its intelligence analysis, training, and program support capabilities within the national security space through its acquisitions of CENTRA Technology and Metis Solutions. Amentum will also likely leverage PAE’s expertise in mission critical infrastructure management and support of space missions through PAE’s work at both Johnson Space Center (JSC) and Kennedy Space Center (KSC), where PAE provides maintenance, operations, engineering, and configuration control services.
A key concept to realize here is Amentum acquired two core competitors. While they did not compete in all markets, customers and contract pursuits, the overlap in interests and customers was significant. This was very much a “market share grab” powered by private equity funding. See Figure 1 below to compare core elements of each business pre-acquisition.
Figure 1 – Amentum’s three core components with their core services and customers.
The Impact of Amentum’s Acquisitions
Figure 2 – Amentum’s highlighted M&A history since 2014.
AECOM, DynCorp, and PAE all heavily supplied services in logistics and supply chain management, leading them to compete for the same contracts on a routine basis. With the backing of Lindsay Goldberg, Amentum was able to buy out its competitors and combine three rivals into a single entity. This allows Amentum to dominate large-scale contracts in facilities management, logistics, and supply chain management, specifically within the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD). In addition, DynCorp and PAE both bring a heavy presence within the U.S. Department of State (DoS), enhancing Amentum’s ability to provide international development, intelligence analysis, and rule of law development worldwide. Overall, these acquisitions better position Amentum to compete for technical services contracts that have been consolidated into large opportunities, requiring the contractor to take on wider responsibilities.
Sample of important contracts
Amentum’s acquisitions and its own organic growth demonstrate their capability to compete very well in large scale operations & maintenance, logistics and supply chain management contracts. This work is particularly successful at DoD. Examples of contracts now held by Amentum include:
- National Aeronautics Space Administration (NASA), Kennedy Space Center (KSC), Base Operations, Spaceport Services (BOSS) Contract – In October 2018, NASA awarded PAE-SGT Partners LLC (a PAE joint venture with KBR via legacy SGT) a five-year, $762 million ceiling value contract to provide institutional support services at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida and NASA facilities at its neighboring Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. Under the contract, PAE will provide mission-focused institutional support, including operations, maintenance and engineering of assigned facilities, systems, equipment and utilities; work management and spaceport integration functions; and mission support and launch readiness management. Note that this JV won BOSS from legacy AECOM (who won it as URS Corporation).
- U.S. Department of the Air Force (USAF), Range Support Services– In October 2017, USAF awarded AECOM (connected to legacy URS Corporation’s Federal Services) a 16-month, $3.6 billion ceiling value contract to provide range support services. Under the contract, AECOM provides critical mission and target management support for testing, tactics development, advanced training, and USAF and Joint urgent operational needs missions at multiple locations in Nevada and California. This was a win vs. PAE and it took away substantial legacy work from PAE.
- U.S. Department of the Navy, Naval Undersea Warfare Center (NUWC), Atlantic Undersea Test and Evaluation Center (AUTEC) Range Operations and Maintenance Support – In January 2022, the U.S. Navy awarded Amentum a 10-year, $462 million ceiling value contract to provide range operations and maintenance support services to the Atlantic Undersea Test and Evaluation Center (AUTEC). Under the contract, Amentum will also provide program management and business operations services; safety and environmental support; logistics support; and test scheduling. Note Amentum won this away from PAE who was a long-term incumbent.
- U.S. Department of the Air Force (USAF), Aircraft Maintenance Enterprise Solution (ACES), Maintenance and Support Task Order– In January 2022, USAF awarded DynCorp a five-year, $301 million ceiling value task order to provide repair and maintenance work at Vance AFB in Enid, Oklahoma. Under this task order, DynCorp provides maintenance services across the Organization level (O-level) and the Intermediate level (I-level) for multiple training aircrafts such as the T-6A Texan, T-1A Jayhawk and T-38C Talon. Historically, this is exactly the kind of work that Amentum, DynCorp and PAE competed to do on a routine basis.
The FedSavvy Strategies Takeaway
- Amentum’s history traces back to legacy URS Corporation’s Federal Services business and is comprised of three main components gained through M&A activity: AECOM, DynCorp International, and PAE, who all historically competed on a routine basis. After Amentum bought out its competition, it stands as dominant competitor providing logistics and supply chain management services worldwide for DoD.
- The company’s recent acquisitions of DynCorp and PAE have allowed Amentum to gain a heavy presence in new customer markets, including DoS, the IC, and NASA. Amentum will likely continue to dominate these customers with its new capabilities in rule of law development, intelligence analysis, training, and facilities management.
- Amentum’s portfolio of work gained from its acquisitions position it to compete for contracts covering a massive scale and breadth of technical requirements. Its past performance on BOSS, Range Support Services, and ACES contracts demonstrate its knowledge and experience building, operating, and maintaining test ranges and other large scale ground and aircraft maintenance services.
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