Booz Allen plans to add 100 to 150 employees to its high-tech Melbourne staff

A relatively new player in the Space Coast's technology sector is making a big impression with its fast expansion.

After technology and consulting company Booz Allen Hamilton Inc. acquired Liberty IT Solutions LLC in June 2021, it expanded the company's 200-employee Melbourne operations to more than 300. And it now could be hiring 100 to 150 more people within a year for the Melbourne operation.

Booz Allen's Melbourne "Agile Center of Excellence" at 505 N. John Rodes Blvd. is primarily involved software development for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

The Melbourne operation also does work for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, as well as flight safety software applications for the Federal Aviation Administration.

Lynda Weatherman, president and chief executive officer of the Economic Development Commission of Florida’s Space Coast, said Booz Allen's acquisition of Liberty, followed by its expansion of the local operation, is a positive sign for the high-tech sector locally.

"The local presence of this esteemed global firm, and their addition of 100 jobs in its first year, reflects positively on our growing skilled workforce, which ranked the seventh-best for job growth in the U.S. by the Milken Institute," Weatherman said.

$725 million acquisition: Melbourne's Liberty IT Solutions being sold to Booz Allen as part of $725 million deal

Challenges in job market: Brevard employers continue to face hurdles of tight labor market in filling vacancies

Weatherman was among the officials attending a recent special reception at the company's Melbourne facility, at which Booz Allen Hamilton President and CEO Horacio Rozanski visited to talk with employees and local business officials. The event also marked a ceremonial "grand reopening" of the facility, following extensive remote work by staff during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In commenting on his visit to Melbourne, Rozanski said: “Booz Allen is thrilled to be part of the Melbourne community. The Space Coast region offers exceptional technical talent, strong partners and opportunities to drive transformation for our clients at the intersection of mission and technology. Our team’s commitment to making a difference, especially for our nation's veterans, is truly inspiring. I am excited to see all that our people will accomplish and the difference they will make for their clients, for their community, and for each other.”

McLean, Virginia-based Booz Allen acquired Liberty in June 2021 in a $725 million deal. Liberty was based in Herndon, Virginia, and its Melbourne facility was one of its largest operations.

At the time of the acquisition, Booz Allen estimated that Liberty initially would contribute $300 million to $340 million a year to the combined company's revenue.

Liberty was founded in 2013, and had about 600 solution architects, engineers and other technical employers at the time of the Booz Allen acquisition, including about 200 in Melbourne.

Since then, the Melbourne staff has grown to more than 300, according to Booz Allen Senior Vice President Mark Merz, who previously was chief operating officer at Liberty.

"The VA operates the largest electronic health care record system in the world," Merz said. "They have 22 million patients within their electronic health care system. There's many different software packages that comprise a VA health care system. We focus primarily on the health side, supporting various health care applications that clinicians would use when they are providing care for veterans."

Merz said about 95% of the company's local staff works on VA health care projects.

Among its projects not directly involving VA patients was one allow the VA to better track COVID-19 vaccination records for its volunteers and employees.

While Booz Allen's Melbourne staffing levels will depend on future contract wins, Merz said it's possible for the company to add another 100 to 150 people to its staff over the next 12 months to support its current projects.

"These are high-tech jobs for software engineering, technologists, software architects, business analysts, project managers — those types of positions," Merz said. "These are not low-level-type positions."

Booz Allen's local staff growth was driven in part by the need to support two large contracts received in the past year.

“Both contracts combined offer us a minimum $1.7 billion ceiling, with tremendous growth potential for our presence in the area,” said Travis Mashburn, a Melbourne-based principal with Booz Allen.

Merz said, as Booz Allen's local operation works on its existing contracts, it also is "aggressively pursuing" new contracts, not only inside the Department of Veterans Affairs, but also in "adjacent markets."

The Agile Center of Excellence derives its name from a category of software development.

"Agile is a method for developing software where you can iterate very quickly and provide functionality to your customer much more quickly, as opposed to a long, waterfall-type schedule," Merz said. "In some cases, we develop software and deploy it daily, which is unheard of, from what we used to do, five or 10 years ago even."

Recruitment efforts

Merz said recruiting staff can be a challenge, with Brevard County's low unemployment rate and the competition for high-tech workers, but Booz Allen is well-positioned to meet its hiring goals.

"It's hard, but I think by recruiting well, early and upfront, it makes your job a lot easier when you get to a time like we're in today, where it is a little bit more challenging to hire," Merz said.

Merz said, at a time when recruiting staff is difficult in all industries "what I found is that, if you work on the right things, and do so in the right way, that you're going to attract the right people. And if you get those right people, you're going to execute projects really, really well."

Merz said the company "set out from the very beginning to be a true technology company. And we stayed very true to that. And I'm very proud of what we've built. And what I've found is that if you recruit really, really well, you start to see a snowball effect, where good people tend to know really good people and want them to work alongside them. And it just exponentially starts to compound, and next thing you know, you've got these 300 people. These are really, really good technology folks that we're really, really proud to work with."

Merz said he has had good luck recruiting at his alma mater, Melbourne's Florida Institute of Technology, where he received bachelor's and master's degrees, and was an all-conference shortstop on Florida Tech's baseball team.

"So going back to my alma mater to recruit, which I've been doing since 2013, gives me great pleasure," Merz said. "We've really, really enjoyed recruiting Florida Tech students. We've got a great relationship with the university."

Upgraded facilities

Booz Allen has made major upgrades to its 40,000-square-foot Melbourne facility’s information technology infrastructure. That includes installing more expansive and reliable Wi-Fi, and adding new video teleconferencing technology in conference rooms.

Merz said, even with the staff expansion, he does not believe expanding facilities is necessary, at least for the time being, because many staff members work in a hybrid model since the COVID-19 pandemic began, splitting time between the office and working remotely.

Merz was one of the first hires when Liberty was started in 2013, after working for 15½ years at Melbourne-based Harris Corp., now L3Harris Technologies Inc.

"I've been a part of the company since 2013," Merz said. "I've been a part of some amazing growth leading up to the acquisition. And having a company like Booz Allen, with the reputation that they have on a global level, to have a company like that on the Space Coast, is really good news for all residents in Brevard County."

He said Booz Allen — a Fortune 500 company with 29,300 employees worldwide — acquiring Liberty was a key development for the local high-tech sector.

"When you look around the area, and you see companies like L3Harris, Boeing, SpaceX, Raytheon, on and on and on — and now to have a company at the same stature and level as those folks — it's a big deal for the area," Merz said. "This is another company that is going to provide opportunities for new employees and  tremendous opportunities for its current employees."

Merz said Booz Allen is committed to its Melbourne operations for a number of reasons.

"Booz Allen's all-in" on the Space Coast, Merz said. "They've made some major renovations to our building, and then made investments in our employees, and are well-positioned for growth in this area."

Merz said the Space Coast remains a "fairly low-cost" area, compared with other high-tech regions, and has "some amazing talent."

"When you're working on mission-critical projects, like what we're working on for the VA, people care about the job that they're working on, and it's really easy to get motivated to work on projects like this," Merz said. "And then to work alongside some of the talent that we have. You don't see that happen often in a technology job, where you're working with something so cool, and then get to work alongside people who are extremely brilliant."

Merz said he looks forward "to seeing how much more we can grow here in the next couple of years. And the employees that are at Liberty, the amount of opportunities that are going now be in front of those folks, is really exciting for me. I've hired a lot of these folks. Personally, I've known a lot of these people for a long time. It's just exciting to see this next step in our in our business growth, and it's going to be a fun ride here. It's an exciting time for all of us."

Dave Berman is business editor at FLORIDA TODAY. Contact Berman at dberman@floridatoday.com. Twitter: @bydaveberman.

Support local journalism and journalists like me. Subscribe today.

This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Fast-growing Booz Allen plans increasing Melbourne staff by 100 to 150