driven down how much education our workforce needs. We
have to take a different approach to positioning West Virginia
as part of the national economy. The approach we’ve been
following at the tech park is to try to build a business case or
a reason for knowledge sector companies to want to come
to West Virginia that is strong enough that even though we
have such a bad workforce demographic from an educational
attainment standpoint, they will come here anyway.”
Following the federal anchor model approach, Estep
looks to Washington, D.C. for federal operations with
specific characteristics. The targeted federal operations must
have a science, technology, engineering and math—or STEM—
orientation and generate a great deal of contracting oppor-
tunities for other knowledge sector businesses. Once these
federal operations are identified, the staff at the High Tech-
nology Foundation works tirelessly to entice them to set up
shop in the Mountain State.
“Once the federal operations that do all of this contracting
are here, other companies notice that there is a reason to be in
West Virginia—because there is all this money to be made,” says
Estep. “Then you start to create an ecosystem of businesses.”
Over the last 10 years, the High Technology Foundation
has had a lot of success drawing federal anchors to the I-79
Corridor, including the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration (NOAA) Environmental Security Computing
Center, NOAA Geostationary Operational Environmental
Satellite backup satellite ground station, NOAA Joint Polar
Satellite System backup ground station, U.S. Department of
Commerce Enterprise Security Operations Center, NOAA
Continuity of Operations Site C, Leidos and various Federal
Bureau of Investigation (FBI), National Aeronautics and
Space Administration (NASA) and U.S. Department of
Defense (DoD) programs.
Letting Down the Anchor
The ultimate goal of the federal anchor model is for the
anchor companies to eventually establish a larger presence in
West Virginia to bolster their regional headquarters, leading
to more corporate investments.
“The value is in the level of contracting activity,” says Estep.
“As that evolves, matures and grows and that critical mass gets
bigger, we hope that one day it gets big enough that it truly
forms the basis of an economic sector in the state that has as
much economic output as coal or natural gas.”
This is exactly where Leidos fits into the model. A high-
technology solutions and engineering company, Leidos has
locations in 39 states, 60 locations worldwide and 31,000
employees. A relatively new company built from two legacy
companies, Leidos is a merger of parts of the Science Applica-
tions International Corporation and Lockheed Martin. While
Lockheed Martin has had a footprint in the Mountain State
with the FBI since 1996, the company’s present-day locations
are a direct result of the federal anchor approach.
Today, Leidos has offices in Clarksburg, Fairmont and Morgan-
town and employs 332 West Virginians. The company actively
bids on work in the state and has several high-dollar contracts,
including a $364 million, 10-year contract with the National
Energy Technology Laboratory, or NETL, in Morgantown
for support services.
An NETL scientist evaluates a photonic
crystal optical fiber as a Raman sensor
for gaseous materials. Photo by NETL.
The company has two offices in Morgantown, including its
agile software center of excellence, which supports many of its
programs across the country with software development and
quick-turn solutions. The two Morgantown locations employ
140 West Virginians, many of whom were recruited straight
out of a state university.
Leidos also has a contract with the DoD for its Automated
Biometric Identification System, or ABIS, a biometric informa-
tion technology system for identity superiority that provides
critical identification services to soldiers. ABIS is parallel to the
FBI’s Next Generation Identification program, which Leidos
also built and actively supports.
“Any time people run fingerprints in this country for
anything, whether they are arrested or whether they are
applying for a job as a bank teller, they are run through the FBI
system,” says Art Ibers, senior vice president and operations
manager for the civil group at Leidos. “With ABIS, imagine
the technology you use every day in terms of biometrics—
iris, face, palm and finger—being used to identify known or
suspected terrorists. That work is in Fairmont and Clarksburg.”
Leidos recently won the bid on a contract for the NOAA
Enterprise Security Operations Center, which could evolve
into one of the largest cybersecurity programs in the country,
according to Estep.
“This program being located in West Virginia
ExEdge
is why cybersecurity was included in the West
Virginia Forward report,” he says. “It represents Passage of
an important basis for an industrial cybersecurity the Strategic
Withdrawal of
sector in the state.”
Agencies for
The Perfect Port
While Leidos has a national and international
footprint, the company enjoys the ease of access,
capable workforce and support infrastructure West
Virginia and the I-79 Technology Park provide.
Jim Preaskorn, Department of Justice/FBI
strategic account executive for Leidos, is a West
Virginia University (WVU) graduate who was able
to return to his adopted home state thanks to his
position with the high-tech company.
WWW.WVEXECUTIVE.COM
Meaningful
Placement Act
of 2018 would
give federal
operations
authority to
start relocating
outside of
Washington,
D.C.
Source: www.
congress.gov
FALL 2018
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