CSRA To Buy Application Development Firm For $235M To Strengthen Intelligence Capabilities

CSRA plans to purchase a 350-person company focused on the practical application of software and systems engineering technologies to boost its presence in the intelligence community.

The Falls Church, Va.-based company, No. 14 on the 2017 CRN Solution Provider 500, said its $235 million acquisition of Annapolis Junction, Md.-based Praxis Engineering Technologies will help intelligence agency customers meet mission-critical needs by fusing together engineering best practices, domain expertise, cutting-edge commercial technologies, and proven agile management approaches.

"With customers increasingly ready to adopt next-generation technologies, CSRA will be better able to help customers leverage more efficient infrastructures as they rationalize and modernize their mission applications," Larry Prior, CSRA's CEO, said in a statement.

[Related: CSRA CEO: $498M Defense Contract Makes Company An Industry Leader In Cloud And Military IT]

The deal is expected to close during CSRA's third quarter, which ends Dec. 29. CSRA declined to make an executive available for interview.

The acquisition will provide CSRA will industry-leading talent under the direction of President Bill Dunahoo and Vice President of Sales, Marketing and Business Development Jerry Schepers, according to Leigh Palmer, CSRA's executive vice president for intelligence.

Praxis Engineering was founded in 2002 has enjoyed growth of more than 350 percent since its inception. The company has more than 50 active contracts, and satellite offices in Aberdeen, Md., Linthicum Heights, Md. and Chantilly, Va., according to Praxis's website. Praxis signed a lease last year to expand its footprint in Chantilly by 7,704 square feet to aid an expansion of its federal security business.

The company has extensive experience using the IBM Rational Software Platform to help government agencies automate, integrate and govern best practices for software development and delivery, according to the company's website. The company is an IBM Tier 1 Service Provider and holds more than 50 IBM Rational technical certifications, according to the website.

Praxis has also developed industry-leading wireless, discovery, intercept, and reconstruction products in-house to meet a wide variety of business needs, according to the website. As far as services are concerned, the company said it provides agile program management, enterprise app development, technology enablement, real-time embedded systems, IT infrastructure support, and technical training.

This is CSRA's second-ever acquisition since being formed in November 2015 from the combination SRA International and CSC's U.S. Government Services Practice. CSRA in July closed on its purchase of NES Associates, a network engineering firm focused on the military and other federal agencies.

In the most recent quarter, which ended June 30, CSRA's defense and intelligence revenue tumbled to $525 million, down 8 percent from $568 million the year prior due to declines in the Army Logistics Modernization Program and the U.S. Strategic Command Information Technology Capabilities Contract.

CSRA was also recently awarded a $498 million, eight-year contract to provide the Department of Defense (DoD) with robust and resilient private cloud infrastructure for highly-protected workloads. The deal will enable the Defense Department to consolidate its computing infrastructure by moving to an "as-a-service model," which is expected to lower the department's total cost of ownership.