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Duke City Tech Flies in $12M ‘Big Crow’ Deal
Applied Technology
Associates
(ATA) of Albuquerque has teamed up with Texas-based Miratek Corporations
to form a new joint venture that will begin life with a $12 million
Department of Defense Contract.
The two have jointly
formed ATAMIR, Inc., an Albuquerque company that will operate from
Miratek’s existing space at Kirtland Air Force Base.
The company has been
formed to capture and work on a $12 million contract as part of the DOD’s
“Big Crow” Program, which is to use modified aircraft to develop an airborne
laboratory for military testing and training. The Big Crow platform will
perform in-flight tests of refueling systems, lasers and electronic
countermeasures, as well as weightlessness training for astronauts and other
testing of aerospace technology.
ATAMIR will provide
air service support, logistics management, inventory and financial
management for the Big Crow Program.
ATA, a privately held
company with roughly $11 million in FY 2005 revenues, specializes in
precision sensing, measurement and control systems and works on large-scale
DOD projects. Under federal guidelines set forth by the Small Business
Administration (SBA), it qualifies as what’s known as an “8(a) certified
small business. The 8(a) program is designed to help jump-start small
businesses in securing economic development opportunities.
Miratek is a privately
held company in El Paso, also with about $11 million in 2004 revenues, that
specializes in high technology information systems, engineering and
business, according to the company.
While both companies
bring technical expertise important to the project, ATA’s 8(a) status that
would help secure a contract. Tenorio says the two companies then proposed
combining their expertise to maximize the kind of government contracts both
companies could procure.
“It’s the first time
we’ve partnered with a small company to go after opportunities that are much
too big to go after on our own,” Tenorio says.” The joint venture will open
up some additional opportunities.”
The partnership
between the two companies will blend Miratek’s expertise in the information
technology sector and ATA’s expertise in engineering, allowing ARAMIR to
seek contracts in both fields and Tenorio says he is optimistic the joint
venture can secure future million-dollar contracts.
Miratek Corporation
President Joe Diaz says his company was forced to find an innovative way to
stay on the federal government’s radar for DOD contracts.
“We created a limited
liability program made up of dedicated employees that will guarantee the
continuity of our workforce and keep costs down,” Diaz says. “In our
business, what wins contracts is past performance and costs.”
Under ATAMIR, ATA will
oversee operations on the Big Crow project from its existing office at
Sandia Science and
Technology Park.
ATA’s Nils Hochhäusler
will become CEO of ATAMIR, Diaz says. Miratek will oversee its portion of
ATAMIR’s operations from El Paso, but has committed 22 of its employees
already working on other contracts at Kirtland Air Force Base to ATAMIR’s
future operations.
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