Our last highlight of Booz Allen Hamilton explored the company’s Velocity, Leadership, and Technology (VoLT) corporate strategy and other company updates. For this blog, we will be exploring the impact of Booz Allen Hamilton’s acquisition of PAR Government Systems, as well as new contract wins and corporate capabilities that continue to align with the VoLT strategy.
PAR Government Systems Acquisition
Figure 1 – PAR Government Systems’ prime federal portfolio between FY2019 and FY2023, in millions of actual spend (vs. ceiling and potential values). Any classified prime contract spending will not be available. Source: sam.gov
This acquisition aligns with statements made in a recent quarterly earnings report, in which Booz Allen executives emphasized an interest in strategic acquisitions that bring unique and niche capabilities and help accelerate technologies like cyber, 5G, artificial intelligence (AI), and battlespace awareness. Rather than investing in companies to expand scale, the company is interested in small to mid-sized “tuck-ins” to expand capabilities.
PAR Government Systems’ Contracts of Interest
PAR’s government prime portfolio is centered on supporting defense customers across research and development initiatives. Example contracts include:
- U.S. Department of the Air Force, Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), Counter-small Unmanned Aircraft System (C-sUAS) IDIQ – In September 2021, PAR Government Systems was awarded an eight-year, $490 million contract to provide Counter-small Unmanned Aircraft System (C-sUAS) software, hardware, and technical documentation. Under the contract, PAR provides research, design, prototyping, testing, operational evaluation, experimentation, integration, technical installation, transition and support through initial operations of C-sUAS technologies.
- U.S. Department of the Army, Special Projects Support, Analysis and Support – In April 2020, PAR Government Systems was awarded a five-year, $50 million contract to provide analysis and support to the U.S. Army. Under the contract, PAR provides research and development, analysis and support, and procurement and production of Army ISR technologies.
- U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), Semantic Forensics (SemaFor) Research Project – In June 2020, PAR Government Systems was awarded a four-year, $12 million contract for a research project under the Semantic Forensics (SemaFor) program. The SemaFor program develops methods exploiting semantic inconsistencies in falsified media to perform tasks across media modalities and at scale.
Noteworthy Booz Allen Hamilton Wins
Aside from new work brought by PAR Government Services, Booz Allen Hamilton has scored the following widely diversified set of significant wins across both defense and federal civilian customers. These include:
- U.S. Department of Energy, Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E), Technical, Professional and Administrative Support Services– In January 2024, Booz Allen Hamilton was awarded a 10-year, $550 million contract to provide broad professional services in support of ARPA-E. Under the contract, Booz Allen supports the entire lifecycle of early-stage technology for ARPA-E with an emphasis on supporting APRA-E awardees’ efforts to de-risk their emerging technologies.
- National Science Foundation (NSF), Information Technology Mission Application Support (ITMAS) – In January 2024, Booz Allen Hamilton was awarded a seven-year, $419 million recompete contract to directly support the modernization and IT operations of the NSF’s merit review and grants management system that facilitates investments in scientific research. Under the contract, Booz Allen Hamilton is leveraging innovation like scaled agile principles, DevSecOps automation, cloud platform resiliency, and AI services.
- U.S. Department of the Navy, Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard & Intermediate Maintenance Facility (PHNSY & IMF) Detachment Naval Base Guam (NBG), 5G Implementation– In September 2023, Booz Allen Hamilton was awarded a two-year, $10 million contract to design, implement, test and operate a private 5G cellular network and asset tracking solution to Guam. Booz Allen leads as the prime technology innovator and integrator, working alongside partners across the 5G, telecom, IoT and smart warehousing industries. While small in scale, this contract is significant because it marks Booz Allen’s first 5G full-scale implementation in the Indo-Pacific region, an area of strategic importance to the company.
New Booz Allen Ventures
This year, the company’s corporate venture capital arm, Booz Allen Ventures, has made two strategic investments aligning with Booz Allen’s VoLT business strategy to expand capabilities across defense, AI/ML, cybersecurity, and emerging/deep technology. In January 2024, Booz Allen Ventures invested in Second Front Systems™ (2F), a public-benefit corporation accelerating the delivery of mission-critical solutions in the U.S., Europe, Australia and NATO. The investment supports and powers 2F’s Game Warden DevSecOps platform, a tool configuring, securing and deploying Impact Level (IL) 1-7 accreditations for companies to deliver software to U.S. Government customers. 2F’s Game Warden enables non-traditional vendors and technology providers to innovate at the speed of need to meet Day One mission demands in a heightened geopolitical environment.
This was followed by an investment in July 2024 in Quindar, an early-stage commercial space technology company focused on automating and democratizing satellite operations. Quindar’s virtualized, cloud-scalable platform improves the ability to command fleets of spacecraft using non-proprietary technologies, opening a path to create near-autonomous command and control (C2) capabilities to support space battle management. This is the second space-focused investment made by Booz Allen Ventures and its tenth investment overall.
The FedSavvy Strategies Takeaway
- Booz Allen Hamilton’s acquisition of PAR Government Systems fits within its corporate strategy to acquire small to mid-sized contractors who bring differentiated technology capabilities in unmanned systems, AI/ML, cyber and data.
- The acquisition of PAR specifically strengthens Booz Allen’s ability to bring emerging technologies to defense missions and improve battlespace situational awareness.
- Booz Allen Hamilton’s wins within APRA-E and NSF represent successful recompete wins where the company has a strong legacy of support, continuing opportunities for science and technology focused agencies.
- On the other hand, the U.S. Navy 5G Implementation win aligns with the company’s corporate commitment to the USINDOPACOM Area of Responsibility (AOR) and strategy to support the area across cyber, 5G and AI technologies.
- Booz Allen Ventures continues to fund early-stage technology serving the public sector in areas like space and AI/ML through its new investments in 2F and Quindar.
Do you want to know more? Learn more about this leading federal contractor as a competitor or partner.
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