SAIC reorganizes

In an effort to double their revenues over the next five years, Science Applications International Corp. officials are undertaking a massive internal reorganization that will reduce the number of business units and working groups within the company.

The goal is to streamline the diverse company so customers can work with SAIC more easily, said Benjamin Haddad, senior vice president of communications. Although the company historically has allowed its businesses relative autonomy to encourage innovative, entrepreneurial thinking, that decentralized structure has led the company to be less efficient than it could be, and often one customer will have multiple SAIC work groups on a contract.

SAIC will have three primary business areas: commercial, telecommunications and federal. Duane Andrews, an executive vice president, will become president and chief operating officer of the federal division, giving it a new single top leader. The federal division will be further subdivided into five groups and 25 business units, with Andrews to coordinate the efforts of the individual managers. Previously there were more units with no central guidance.

"There is a consolidation going on, but it's not going to change the way SAIC has operated for the past 35 years," Haddad said. "It's getting ourselves better positioned vis-a-vis our customers."

About 300 employees, mostly group and sector managers of business units that are being combined with others, will be reassigned in the company or laid off, Haddad said.

The reorganization is part of new chief executive officer Ken Dahlberg's ambition to double the company's revenues from $6 billion to $12 billion in the next five years, Haddad said.

"It's ambitious, but he feels it's very doable," Haddad said.

SAIC will remain entrepreneurial and decentralized, he said, something that employees, who learned of the plan this afternoon, are concerned about.

Dahlberg intends to have the reorganization completed by Feb. 1, Haddad said.