Small Defense Player at Home in Innovation Park

In an industry dominated by giants such as Lockheed Martin Corp. and Raytheon Co., ProLogic Inc. has found its niche by filling defense contracts that are sometimes too small to attract the attention of bigger players.

Last year, the minority-owned information technology provider racked up $16 million in sales to the Air Force, Army and private-sector companies, among others.

That's not much by Washington's megabillion standards, perhaps, but it's enough to prompt ProLogic to open a new office in Innovation@Prince William, the county's industrial park in Gainesville, in an effort to boost its presence in the region.

"As a defense contractor, we needed to have a presence in the D.C. area," said Jay Reddy, ProLogic's chief executive officer, who founded the privately held company based in Fairmont, W.Va., a decade ago.

Prince William County added jobs faster than any other U.S. county in 2004, and part of the credit goes to small companies such as ProLogic, according to the county Economic Development Department.

In Prince William, ProLogic employs 80 people who make an average annual salary of $62,500, said Paul Maguire, ProLogic's vice president of business development and marketing.

Maguire, who was ProLogic's second employee, recalled the days when he met customers in hotels because the then-fledgling company didn't have any office space.

Fostering the growth of small businesses is important because "the bulk of jobs in Prince William County, in Virginia and in the greater D.C. area are provided by small businesses," said Martin J. Briley, executive director of the Department of Economic Development.

In the case of ProLogic, Briley said, the company not only opened an office here last month but already has plans to grow and add more jobs.

"They've come and already, boom, they're planning their next expansion," he said.

Last year, the Economic Development Department announced the opening of several businesses in the area, but none employed more than 200 people.

The county's biggest job gains will come from Eli Lilly and Co., which will build an insulin plant in Innovation and employ 700 people. That project was announced in 2002, but the company delayed construction because of increased costs for building materials. Lilly is expected to begin construction by the end of the year.

"The big ones you get like Eli Lilly don't happen on a regular basis like the small businesses do," said Linda Decker, president of the Flory Small Business Center. The center, which gets some funding from the Economic Development Department, helps small companies with business and expansion plans, among other things. "The new net jobs would have to be coming from the small businesses."

ProLogic's major projects include a $4.8 million contract awarded last year to digitize, monitor and analyze Air Force health records. Also in 2004, the Air Force awarded ProLogic a $2.6 million contract to deliver technology that allows communication between aircraft and ground facilities.

Next door to ProLogic's office in Innovation is Logis-Tech Inc., a privately held company that employs 75 full-time and 75 part-time workers. The logistics engineering and services company relocated to Prince William from Alexandria to make commuting easier for its employees and reduce its costs by constructing its own building.

"Like a lot of small businesses, when we looked at leasing versus buying, it reduced the cost to buy a building out here," said James Bounds, executive vice president and general counsel for Logis-Tech, which helps the military prevent corrosion, among its other specialties.

Another small company in the industrial park is Progeny Systems Corp., which specializes in electronic systems development for the Defense Department. Larger employers in the park include George Mason University, American Type Culture Collection and Comcast Corp.