Monday, October 8, 2007

It's not every day that a company that performs top-secret work for the government also boasts of its employees' preferences for karaoke, gator hunts and water sports -- all while enjoying Caribbean cruises.

But that's apparently part of the culture at Dragon Development, a $32 million, 75-person firm acquired last week by CACI International, an Arlington government contractor.

The Columbia firm provides information technology services to the intelligence community. Its Web site features information about the Dragon Club, an effort kicked off in 2004 as "the way we reward employees for a great year of service." Employees qualify for company-paid cruises or other vacations by achieving certain business goals. Spouses and significant others can tag along at no cost.

The first four-day cruise set sail on Dec. 2, 2004, from Miami to Key West and Cozumel, Mexico. More than 100 employees and guests enjoyed a private reception aboard the cruise ship with the company's owners, Matt and Teresa Moore. The company's Web site posts pictures of employees enjoying the vacation.

CACI has been gobbling up smaller companies for access to their supply of employees with security clearances -- one of the hottest commodities in the Washington area. All employees at Dragon have top-secret clearance.

To compete for talent with security clearances, contractors have been offering perks, often in the form of a signing bonus. One company awarded BMWs to a couple of lucky employees with clearances. Dragon offers referral bonuses up to $9,000.

It wasn't clear late last week whether the program will continue once the acquisition is complete. Neither CACI nor Dragon executives responded to requests for comments.

-- Zachary A. Goldfarb