Perspecta says it's seeing 'booking strength' in background investigations, continuous vetting

Perspecta said this week it is winning new work in the burgeoning market it calls "trusted workforce," which includes background investigations, continuous monitoring, insider threat and supply chain security work.

In a call with analysts Wednesday evening, Mac Curtis, the company's chief executive, said Perspecta recorded $42 million in bookings in its most recent quarter on its Office of Personnel Management and National Background Investigations Bureau contract.

The company, he said, also won a $100 million other transaction agreement to modernize the IT systems that support background checks and insider threat programs.

Meanwhile, Curtis said Perspecta is also seeing movement in the Navy's Next Generation Enterprise Network contract recompetition.

"As part of the procurement process, bidders on the Service Management, Integration and Transport -- or SMIT -- have received evaluation notices," Curtis said. "Also, the Navy has indicated that they want to extend our current contract on a sole-source basis."

"NGEN-R is a very complex procurement," he added. "The underlying work is complex, and it's made even more difficult by splitting the work into the end-user hardware and SMIT components. We believe that complexity strengthens our incumbency advantage."

Perspecta reported that sales in its most recent quarter reached $1.1 billion, up 40% from the same three-month period a year earlier. The company's quarterly profit was $31 million, up 7% from the prior year.

The sales growth was a result of the merger that created the company, which was completed at the end of May 2018. Perspecta attributed the profit growth to "new business wins and growth on existing programs" in its defense and intelligence segment.