DynCorp expands reach with GTE buy

DynCorp, already a large information technology services provider to the government, should be able to expand the range of services it offers to federal customers since completing its purchase last week of GTE Information Systems LLC.

The acquisition of GTE Information Systems, which is the last of four divisions GTE divested from its GTE Government Systems Corp., will enable DynCorp to increase its high-end information and networking services, according to Charlene Wheeless, DynCorp's director of corporate communications.

"We have offered information technology to our customers in the past, but not at the same magnitude as [GTE Information Systems LLC]," Wheeless said. "We want to be a one-source solution for our customers."

The acquisition of the Chantilly, Va.-based company will make it possible for DynCorp, a $1.4 billion company, to bid on a larger variety of projects and meet more of its customers' needs. One example would be DynCorp's ability to not only conduct maintenance on military aircraft but to upgrade information and communications systems as well, Wheeless said.

"We were having trouble getting parts to maintain the technology components for our customers," she said. "Now, we will be able to create a direct supply chain for them."

GTE Information System's contracts and sales are expected to increase DynCorp's annual sales by $300 million in 2000.

"We don't have contracts which overlap, so this expands our reach with the federal government," Wheeless said. "It will also open the door to agencies we did not have contracts with before such as [the Defense Information Systems Agency]."

The change of ownership should not affect the completion of any GTE Information Systems contracts or the way in which the company addresses IT problems, Wheeless said.

"The people who worked at GTE will simply become DynCorp employees," she said. "We are not going to change anything within the company."

DynCorp's newly formed subsidiary DynCorp Information Systems LLC, which includes GTE Information Systems, is helping build the new integrated global system for secure electronic messaging for the Department of Defense. It also is working on the Federal Wireless Telecommunications Services contract to provide integrated nationwide cellular voice and data services to the federal government.

The FWTS is expected to save government agencies up to 60 percent on cellular services.

In 1997, GTE decided to sell off most of GTE Government Systems Corp. and focus on its core communication services, such as wireless communications, the Internet and local telephone service, said Bobbi Hennessey, spokeswoman for GTE. GTE was the fourth-largest systems integrator for the federal government when the decision to sell was made.

Three units — GTE's Communications Systems Division, GTE's Worldwide Telecommunications Service Division and GTE's Electronic Systems Division — were sold to General Dynamics Corp. in June [FCW, June 28].

"General Dynamics was only interested in three of the four units, so we continued to seek a buyer," Hennessey said.

GTE, General Dynamics and DynCorp would not disclose the purchase price for the four units of Government Technology Systems, but it surpassed GTE's expectations, Hennessey said.