SciCast International Recently Won a $50 Million Military Contract

BECHTELSVILLE - SciCast International recently won a $50 million military contract to engineer weaponry for U. S. Troops. For the next five years the 55-employee Berks County die-casting business will be competing for $50 million in engineering services work in support of the Armament Research, Development and Engineering Center at Picatinny Arsenal in New Jersey. "Its quite exciting. Its by far the biggest contract weve ever been awarded, " said SciCast CEO Hank Leipert. "This will change the company once again. It gets us into engineering services and more sophisticated manufacturing. " The contract work means creating "products that will benefit the warfighter in the field...Mostly for research and development, " according to Leipert, and may enable SciCast to create local jobs. "Hopefully we can build it up here and hire some more people, " said Leipert, an Army veteran who joined SciCast as president in 1994 and purchased the company in 1997. "We would like to hire some veterans. " Jay Reid, vice president of military business development for SciCast, wrote the contract proposal. "This was a highly sought-after contract, and we put forth a great proposal, " said Reid, who noted that SciCast had the benefit of being veteran owned through the vetting process. "Only two awards were given on the contract. So, we will compete on RFQs (requests for quotations) for the next five years with the other company. " Reid explained that the contract is an IDIQ (Indefinite delivery/indefinite quality) agreement that provides for an indefinite quantity of supplies or services during a fixed period of time. This could mean manufacturing, engineering and support services for things like small caliber arms and munitions, according to Reid. "The other company can say no or yes (to any request). We will respond to everything within our ability. So we may realize the lions share of the contract - maybe $25 million. We could make more...Or less. The benefit for us is we have low overhead here. " SciCasts has partnered with Serco Inc., Reston, Va. To complete software development for the contract work. SciCast hasnt received any direct work from the contract yet, but the company is preparing for the day that request comes through by performing necessary security upgrades to its computer systems, among other preparations. The type of work required for this contract isnt new to SciCast: Leipert said the company is already involved in precision die casting for weapons systems. "Weve done a lot of work for the Israeli Army, " Leipert said. Since that time, SciCasts focus has been overhauled. "If you were to look at SciCast 15 years ago, our customers were Black & Decker, and we were making items that wound up in China: Stanley tools, lighting parts, " Leipert said. "But after we became an ISO-certified company it changed the culture of the organization. " For even a small company, having the ISO certificate that says a company meets international standards of quality can give a serious advantage over competitors. After achieving ISO certification, SciCast began working with companies like Lockheed Martin and Spartan Electronics. "We started doing much more sophisticated die casting, " Leipert said. "Now we do tool and parts design. " According to Leipert, major contracts such as the current military contract are "the next step in the evolution of the company. Our big future lies in the military area. " Reid added, "Now we can grow and bring in additional people to the Bechtelsville area. Now we can be competitive in future contracts. " In business since 1959, SciCast continues to produce its own product line of commercial boating and water heater anodes with innovative wear indicators. The company also manufactures sensor tags for new refrigerators that can alert an owners cell phone when theres a leak, Leipert said. Source:business-news.thestreet.com