Titan acquires BTG

After nearly 20 years of serving the federal government information technology community, BTG Inc., an information systems and technical services company, announced Sept. 20 that it is being acquired by Titan Corp.

Founded in 1982, BTG has more than 1,400 employees nationwide and specializes in intelligence systems, knowledge management, and information and network security.

BTG's core competencies and customer base should mesh well with the offerings from Titan Systems Corp., a wholly owned subsidiary of Titan and its largest business unit, company officials said.

Titan provides information solutions, system support and products for national defense agencies, including the deployment of information systems, systems engineering and support, and research and development.

Wil Williams, vice president of corporate communications at Titan, said the acquisition will not affect government customers of either firm or result in any personnel cutbacks. Rather, it will enable Titan to pursue larger government contracts, he said.

"There's very little overlap on this," Williams said. "Titan's overall capability in government IT has just expanded." BTG will be a wholly owned subsidiary of Titan and operationally will fall under Titan Systems.

Eric DeMarco, executive vice president and chief operating officer at Titan, echoed those thoughts and said the deal would "expand Titan Systems' reach into the U.S. military and intelligence operations market and provide us with new opportunities to aggressively pursue new business."

"For our government customers, it means that we have far more resources that we can bring to bear to do the work that we do," said Ed Bersoff, BTG's founder, president and chief executive officer.

Right now, he said, that means bringing in people from all over the country to aid with the reconstruction work at the Pentagon.

"I was at the Pentagon today [Sept. 20] talking to other folks there, and it's just amazing what they're doing to fix the place up and make it functional again," Bersoff said. Two BTG employees died in the Sept. 11 terrorist attack on the Pentagon. "The folks we lost are always on our minds, but the [BTG staff] is working to make things right," he said.

Larry Allen, executive director of the Coalition for Government Procurement, said that being acquired by Titan should serve BTG well in the federal market.

"They may have more resources they can use to expand their federal presence," Allen said. "Being acquired by a larger company means they won't have to do everything on a pay-as-you-go basis."

The deal is valued at about $141.9 million. The acquisition will be accounted for as a purchase and is expected to close by the end of 2001.BTG INc.

Revenue (2000): $249 million

Headquarters: Fairfax, Va.

Employees: 1,400

Government customers: Air Force, Census Bureau, Immigration and Naturalization Service, Securities and Exchange Commission, and many defense and intelligence agencies

Titan Corp. Revenue (2000): $1.03 billion

Headquarters: San Diego

Employees: 7,600

Government customers: Army, Navy, NASA and the commonwealth of Massachusetts