VA Selects KCI and BES for the Mentor Protégé Program

VAMC Primary Care Facility, Mountain Home, Tenn.

February 02, 2012

Sparks, MD

KCI Technologies Inc., a multi-discipline engineering firm with offices throughout the eastern United States, and BES Design/Build LLC, a certified service-disabled veteran-owned small business, are pleased to announce that their team was one of two selected for the 2012 Veterans Affairs Mentor Protégé program in the architectural and engineering category.

The Veterans Affairs (VA) Mentor Protégé Program is designed to help veteran-owned small businesses become more competitive in the marketplace. Under the program, the mentor—KCI Technologies—will provide business assistance to the service-disabled veteran-owned protégé firm—BES Design/Build (BES D/B).

“After serving in the U.S. Navy for 21 years, it is an honor to be selected by the Veteran Affairs to provide design support services for them,” said BES D/B principal Joseph L. Banach, PE. “I know that our team will have a direct positive impact on all the service men and women that will use these medical and rehabilitation facilities.”

The pairing of the firms has revealed some unique synergies, both in complementary and supplementary services. Both KCI and BES D/B have in-house expertise in mechanical, electrical and structural engineering as well as construction management and surveying. Each firm also possesses capabilities independent of the other, including interior design; energy analysis and testing; natural, cultural and water resource management; environmental permitting; transportation and civil engineering; landscape architecture; geospatial solutions; and security. Combining specialties creates an opportunity for each firm to broaden marketing efforts and win projects that were previously out of reach. This agreement formalizes this existing relationship and spells out the types of development assistance that will be provided to grow the firm’s capabilities.

“Approval of this Mentor-Protégé Agreement is a natural next step in strengthening the relationship between KCI and BES D/B,” said KCI regional practice leader Bryan R. Lawson, EIT, LEED AP, CCM. “The firms have been working together in both complementary and supplementary roles for nearly two years and are currently serving together on contracts with the Navy and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers as well as the Veterans Administration.”

So far, the KCI/BES D/B team has been successful in winning a number of contracts. They are currently working together at the VA’s facilities in Mountain Home, Tenn.; Perry Point, Md.; Panama City, Fla.; and Batavia, N.Y.  The team’s agreement will be in effect until 2015.

KCI is an engineering, consulting and construction firm serving clients throughout the U.S. and beyond. With revenues of approximately $117 million in 2011, KCI is ranked 96 on the Engineering News-Record's list of the top 500 engineering firms in the country. Roughly 850 KCI employee owners provide environmental, transportation, telecommunications, construction, facilities, and land development services from more than 20 locations. For more information, visit www.kci.com.

For more information please contact:
George G. Perdikakis, Sr.
georgep@kci.com
410.316.7951