The big score.

Navy awards $698 million contract to woman-led TeamQualtec

The Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) has awarded the largest single Small Business Administration 8(a) contract ever to a team of defense contractors headed by an African American woman from Maryland.

The $698 million, 10-year contract has been awarded to TeamQualtec, a group of 12 companies headed by J. Maria Whitmore, president of Qualtec Inc. According to Nancy Tarrant, director, Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization for the Department of the Navy, President Clinton initiated this landmark deal for Whitmore. "Last year, President Clinton issued an executive order asking federal agencies to increase their efforts to contract with women and small and disadvantaged businesses," says Tarrant.

Whitmore assembled 11 other firms for the contract, which calls for a major upgrade of operations and logistics at the Patuxent Naval Air Station in Maryland and across the United States. "It was apparent that any single 8(a) prime contractor would have difficulty in bidding as well as executing this contract alone," said Whitmore, who started her company in 1992 with 10 workers. "The joint venture enables us to perform the requirements of this contract from a capacity standpoint while at the same time enhancing our capabilities and size in terms of technical range and depth."

Today, Qualtec, an engineering, logistics, and information technology and management consulting service, has 60 employees among its four offices in Beltsville and Patuxent River, Maryland, San Diego, and Huntsville, Alabama. The company had approximately $4 million worth of contracts last year.

Whitmore and one of the 11 subcontractors, CCI Inc., are both certified 8(a) companies that jointly bid for this huge contract. Qualtec Inc. and CCI will get 51% of the $698 million contract and the other firms will split 49% of the contract. Whitmore said that, in addition, she gets 51% of the split with CCI.

Of the remaining subcontractors, there are two black-owned firms: General Scientific Corp., a northern Virginia firm owned by Henry Nash, and Metters Industries Inc., in McLean, Virginia (No. 80 on the BE INDUSTRIAL/ SERVICE 100 list).

A 1980 University of Maryland graduate, Whitmore started working for the federal government in the late 1960s, where she remained for 28 years until 1996, when she took on Qualtec full-time. "I gained most of my experience through the federal service," said Whitmore.