The acquisition last month of classified solutions provider Novetta by Accenture’s [ACN] federal business segment will bolster existing capabilities by adding depth and scale in a number of areas that will strengthen the company’s position for new work, according to Tiffany Gates, lead for the National Security Portfolio of Accenture Federal Services (AFS).
Novetta has core capabilities in data analytics, cyber, DevSecOps, cloud, sensor integration, and artificial intelligence and machine learning which “are not new capabilities necessarily but just a little bit more richness in what we’re providing,” Gates, who was Novetta’s CEO until the acquisition by AFS, told Defense Daily in an interview after the deal closed.
“What I also hope that we are going to be able to provide is an intellectual property portfolio of some very interesting cutting-edge technologies around data analytics and machine learning and DevSecOps,” Gates said.
Novetta’s and Accenture Federal’s core capabilities are in line with federal priorities, she said.
“There is no lack of momentum in the fields that we are in,” Gates said. “We’re certainly going to be able to have a lot more presence at scale.”
In addition to the legacy Novetta business, AFS also added some of its existing national security and intelligence community work to Gates’ National Security Portfolio. This additional work represents nearly $200 million in annual sales and about 530 employees, she said. Novetta brought with it nearly 1,350 employees, about 85 percent of whom hold security clearances, she said.
Novetta brought with it between 15 and 20 customers, all of which are in the U.S. intelligence community, federal law enforcement and Defense Department markets, Gates said.
Accenture Federal already counts these areas as its customers, she said, adding that “We bring new programs, new people, new IP, new perspectives to some of those customer sets.”
In addition to the depth and the strengthened capabilities at scale, Gates said that AFS and Novetta will be able to leverage each other’s past performance to enhance growth.
“That’s where you get one plus one to equal three,” she said.
AFS closed the deal for Novetta on Aug. 19. Novetta had been a portfolio company of the private equity firm The Carlyle Group. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. AFS had about 11,000 employees before the acquisition.