McDonald Bradley to buy Infodata

McDonald Bradley officials disclosed plans today to extend the company's reach in enterprise content management by acquiring Infodata Systems.

The IT solutions provider, based in Herndon, Va., has signed a letter of intent to purchase Infodata for $7.56 million in a cash transaction. The deal, subject to the approval of Infodata's shareholders, is expected to close by July 31. Upon completion of the deal, Infodata will merge into McDonald Bradley and become private.

Kenneth Bartee, McDonald Bradley's president and chief executive officer, said Infodata's core business complements the integrator's work with the Pentagon's Horizontal Fusion Portfolio effort. This program sets aside space on the military's intranet, allowing troops and intelligence analysts to rapidly post and access warfighting and intelligence data. In 2004, McDonald Bradley won a $20 million contract to oversee the Horizontal Fusion Portfolio Collateral Space Initiative at the Defense Intelligence Agency.

Bartee said he hopes that Infodata will provide access to CIA decision-makers. McDonald Bradley does business with DIA, the National Intelligence Agency and other intelligence organizations, but company officials would like to expand work to the CIA. The majority of Infodata's 55 employees have security clearances, Bartee added.

Bartee also cited Infodata's work in health care and projects with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and Environmental Protection Agency.

Infodata provides enterprise content management software products and services. Bartee said the product business would mark a new venture for McDonald Bradley. He said Infodata's product business will operate as a separate division within McDonald Bradley. Edwin Miller, Infodata’s president and CEO, will run that piece of the business for some period of time, Bartee said.

Infodata announced first-quarter results today, reporting a net loss of $364,000 on revenue of $2.2 million. In a statement, Miller said McDonald Bradley has the resources to expand Infodata's business backlog and opportunity pipeline "without the constraints and costs of being a small public company."