Vanquish/Front Range Training Company on the front page of Knoxville News Sentinel’s business section.

Posted on January 11, 2014 with No Comments

Contractors’ home base is local, work is far from home

Posted on May 20, 2010 with No Comments

Supporting the War Fighter – Eric W. Barton

• By Kay Brookshire
• Posted May 17, 2010 at midnight

http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2010/may/17/contractor-home-base-local/

Relyant Spray Foam Insulation

An explosion caused by a live shell left behind at a World War II-era military base killed two California boys in 1983 and triggered a new private industry funded by the U.S. Department of Defense: finding and clearing explosives from former military sites.

“That event really brought to light the issue of unexploded ordnance,” says Matt Kaye, president and CEO of EOD Technology Inc. in Lenoir City. “EODT was one of the first couple of companies started to respond specifically to that issue.”

The company – along with a Maryville firm launched by two former EODT employees – has seen its fortunes grow exponentially as the Defense Department has turned increasingly to the private sector to support the its efforts in the Middle East. Contracts awarded by the Defense Department grew from $170 billion in 2002, the year before the Iraq war began, to $365.9 billion in 2009, according to the federal government’s USA Spending website. EODT has capitalized on that trend since receiving its first contract in Iraq in 2003 to clear explosives from oil fields and industrial centers. “Certainly the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have fueled a lot of opportunity, a lot of growth for us. They have also put us on a bigger stage worldwide,” Kaye says.

Its core business remains explosive ordnance disposal, hence its name, but since adding security services to protect is own operations, EODT has expanded to provide security for military installations, embassies and borders. It has also added construction, building temporary housing for troops and contractors, along with services needed to support operations, including information technology and logistics, to its offerings. “A lot of the work that we have done in Iraq, and a lot of the work we are doing in Afghanistan now, is associated with cleaning up land mines, the explosive remnants of war,” Kaye says.

EODT, which expanded in 2008 into additional offices and a warehouse in Kingston, employs about 170 people locally and about 5,000 around the globe, including contract workers, with about 4,000 of them in Iraq and Afghanistan now.

The company was ranked among the top 600 U.S. Department of Defense contractors for fiscal 2009, receiving contracts worth $66.8 million, according to a federal government listing of contractors at www.USAspending.gov. The company was one of 84,079 contractors awarded Defense Department contracts totaling $365.9 billion in 2009, according to the spending report. Government Executive magazine ranked EODT as 86th among the Top 100 Defense Contractors and 118th among the Top Government Contractors for 2008. Competitors include giant companies with a broad scope of services, such as Tetra Tech and Shaw Environmental, as well as much smaller, specialized companies, Kaye says. “A lot of companies popped on the scene as Iraq and Afghanistan happened, as these wars came about,” he says. “There is a whole element of our business that is understanding how to work with the government within the regulations and being able to do that properly. It takes some time to gain a full understanding and appreciation for that.”

EODT won its first federal contract in 1992 for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and grew steadily to about $25 million in annual revenues in 2003. Entering Iraq in 2003, EODT doubled its annual revenues to about $50 million. “We have built from there and are projecting about $300 million this year,” Kaye says. Its strategic growth plan aims to take the company to $1 billion, he adds. Earlier this year, EODT was named prime contractor on a $945 million contract – its largest to date – to provide national and international military support services, including munitions clearance and hazardous waste cleanup. Among its subcontractors are Science Applications International Corporation and CAPE Inc., global companies with offices in Oak Ridge and Knoxville, respectively.

Developing infrastructure

Relyant, based in Maryville, entered the business of supporting military operations more recently, with its founding in 2006 as Critical Mission Support Services.

Barton and vice president of operations Daniel Smith, both former Marines, are equal partners in the company. “We consider ourselves to be an infrastructure development company that works in a war zone,” Barton says. In 2008, the company won contracts in Afghanistan to construct two- and three-story relocatable buildings and to provide spray foam insulation to tents. “A lot of what we do is smaller in scale, so you don’t have big businesses going after this business. We are the only company actively spraying foam in Afghanistan,” he adds.

Relyant’s technicians spray foam on military tents, coating them with an inch or two of insulation, and have them ready for occupancy in an hour. Barton ticks off the savings to the Army: a 66 percent reduction in fuel costs, 11,000 fewer troops on the road delivering fuel, a reduction from five to two gallons of fuel per hour for a generator. “This is a feel-good contract for us. At the end of the day we can go home and see the impact. The troops are sleeping better, the climate-controlled tent is easy to manage, not nearly as many troops are on the road delivering the fuel, which is dangerous,” Barton says. “Outside those FOBs (forward operating bases), the safety zones, it is cowboy country.”

This year, Relyant also entered the security contracting business, winning a $10 million contract with the Joint Contracting Command in Afghanistan to provide escorts for construction contractors at the forward base at Sharana, Afghanistan. Barton said 125 people will be working on that contract by June. Relyant now has more than 200 employees and contract workers in Afghanistan and Iraq, with most in Afghanistan, and about 20 employees in its Maryville office. Barton expects to have contracts worth $30 million by mid-year and projects that Relyant will expand significantly as the need for its services grows, even as the United States. eventually withdraws from the Middle East war zones.

Planning for war’s end

What happens when most U.S. troops head home?

The CEOs say their companies have strategic plans addressing their growth as the military diminishes its presence in Iraq and Afghanistan. And both say the companies aren’t totally dependent upon U.S. military contracts now. “Somebody has to come in and deal with what’s left behind,” Kaye says of peacetime contract possibilities. “As Iraq redevelops, the legacy of Saddam’s regime and the legacy of the wars are still there. There is still a tremendous amount of de-mining and explosive cleanup that has to be done in order for oil exploration to go on.”

He expects his company’s role to continue to be as important as military needs to change.

“A lot of our services in the future will be employed under the smart power concept, applying a bit more effort before conflict to avoid conflict,” he says. While 65 percent of EODT’s business is in Iraq and Afghanistan, the company also maintains offices in South Africa and Costa Rica, where it provides security at U.S. embassies, and in Kuwait and Nigeria. Besides the federal government, Kaye says the United Nations, United Kingdom and NATO are among EODT clients.

Stability operations around the world are the future for the company – work that requires getting to some remote location and supporting those there with food, shelter and security, whatever the reason. “That whole integrated stability operations package is our business model going forward. We look to grow that to about $1 billion,” Kaye says.

Barton says an estimated 90 percent of Relyant’s work is in Iraq and Afghanistan, but the company is seeking to increase its commercial business here and overseas by marketing its infrastructure development capabilities for use wherever needed. Similar to EODT’s stability operations, Barton said he envisions the company setting up everything needed to support a camp – relocatable buildings, tents, information technology and other life-support systems – anywhere in the world. “The revenue from Iraq and Afghanistan is not going to be a forever opportunity,” Barton says. “That makes us work that much harder to get our business established in the U.S.” Relyant also has offices in Uganda, Jordan and Libya.

Litigious split

EODT and Relyant may be neighbors, but they’re not all that friendly.

Litigation and accusations included in lawsuits – allegations that those founding Critical Mission Support Services stole trade secrets from EODT while working for EODT, and counter-allegations that EODT violated arms export laws and overcharged the government – make it unlikely that the two would ever partner to bid on a military contract. A lawsuit filed by EODT against CMSS resulted in an agreement in January that CMSS would change its name. The CMSS name was similar to the name of a business unit of EODT’s, Kaye says, and that was confusing to clients.

Barton said the name change to Relyant, which officially occurred April 1 and was rolled out at a celebration at the Tennessee Theatre on April 12, had been in the planning stages before the settlement was reached. Both would comment only briefly on the lawsuit.

“That was what we wanted out of the suit,” Kaye says of the other company’s name change.

Barton says, “The name change was something we were happy to embrace.”

While Relyant is privately owned, EODT employees have a share of the business through an employee stock ownership plan. Barton, as a former EODT employee, says he remains connected to his former employer through that plan and hopes EODT continues to do well.

The two CEOs bring back different backgrounds and management styles to their roles.

Kaye, an Oak Ridge native with a bachelor’s degree in finance from Auburn University, worked at SAIC and Westinghouse before joining EODT in 1993 as a marketing assistant was subsequently promoted to marketing director, finance director and vice president before assuming his current role. His understanding of the “nuances of working with the government,” he says, complimented the experience of the skilled bomb technicians that founded the company.

Barton, originally from Illinois, joined the Marines at age 17 and later received his bachelor’s degree from Southern Illinois University in electronics management. Barton went on to earn two masters’ degrees and began work on a doctorate before joining EODT in 2005 and then Critical Mission Support Services in 2007. He became president and CEO in 2008. One of his Dobermans often accompanies him to work in Maryville.

Kaye divides his time between EODT’s corporate headquarters in Lenoir City and its office in Washington, D.C.. Barton said he spends an average of one to two weeks each month traveling to various Relyant locations, including Iraq and Afghanistan.

Kay Brookshire is a contributing writer to the Greater Knoxville Business Journal.

East Tennessee Business Journal – Relyant

Posted on May 13, 2010 with No Comments

Maryville Company Launches Global Branding

After two years of solid growth, expanding service offerings and a fast start for 2010, Mayville-based Critical Mission Support Services (CMSS) is changing its name and initiating a global rebranding campaign. The company will now operate under the name RELYANT.

“Through a combination of hard work and enthusiastic customer acceptance, our company has achieved significant results in a relatively short period of time,” said Eric Barton, CEO of RELYANT. “The name change to RELYANT is a direct reflection of our success and reflects the company not only as it is today, but our vision for the future. In the company’s vision statement, we say ‘working with our company is a promise delivered.’ Our new name accurately reflects that promise, communicates the type of organization we are, the confidence we have in our capabilities and our customer dedication.”

Founded in 2006, RELYANT is a global “turn-key” service provider dedicated to delivering world-class solutions to complex projects around the globe. The company’s services include construction, life support, logistics/procurement, security and IT communications. In addition to its Maryville headquarters, the company operates another U.S. office in San Antonio and offshore offices in Iraq, Afghanistan and Uganda.

RELYANT’s revenue growth over the past three years has increased from $7 million in 2006 to a projected $80 million in contract revenue for 2010. RELYANT’s services offerings have also expanded with the addition of relocatable building services for commercial companies in Afghanistan, spray foam insulation services for military bases in the states, expanded vehicle maintenance in Iraq and Afghanistan, a contract to provide staffing for forward operating bases and the teaming with new partners to develop rapid housing deployment capabilities.

East Tennessee Business Journal
Feb 28, 2010 – Mar 31, 2010

Tennessee Theater Rebranding Celebration

Posted on April 14, 2010 with No Comments

Relyant Team

MARYVILLE, Tenn. – On Monday, April 12, RELYANT (formerly Critical Mission Support Services or CMSS) hosted a celebration to recognize the tremendous growth of the Maryville-based company over the past three years and to officially unveil its new name. The event, which was hosted at the Tennessee Theatre, welcomed employees, business partners and customers of the company.

Founded in 2006, RELYANT is a global “turn-key” service provider dedicated to delivering world-class solutions to complex projects around the globe. The company’s services include construction, life support, logistics/procurement, security and IT communications.

“We want to thank all of our employees, customers and business partners who have helped us become the successful company that we are today,” said Eric Barton, President, CEO and Founder of RELYANT. “Our remarkable growth could not have been achieved without everyone in the room tonight.”

In addition to its Maryville headquarters, the company operates another U.S. office in San Antonio, Texas and offshore offices in Iraq, Afghanistan and Uganda.

RELYANT’s revenue growth over the past three years has increased from $7 million to a projected $30 million in contract revenue in 2010. In March, RELYANT announced the win of a $10 million contract with the Joint Contracting Command, Afghanistan. This contract serves as a vehicle to provide third country national or U.S. National personnel in support of the coalition efforts in Afghanistan.

“When the Afghanistan escort contract was awarded, we secured a significant portion of our total new business revenue goal for the year,” said Daniel Smith, Vice President and Founder of RELYANT. “Besides new revenue, this contract means more employees, thus a larger footprint in Afghanistan.”

“Our business in Afghanistan has expanded dramatically as a result of the contract. The number of employees has grown 75 percent in the last three months alone,” said Ryan Bennett, Country Manager for RELYANT’s Afghanistan branch.

RELYANT’S Afghan contract includes building two and three-story barracks as well as installing spray foam insulation on United States Armed Forces soft sided surfaces. So far, RELYANT has sprayed more than 2.5M square feet of foam insulation in the last year and a half.

Since the foam provides incredible insulation, it helps significantly reduce the amount of diesel fuel needed to power the generators for the soldiers’ living quarters. In turn, this reduction in diesel fuel means fewer trips needed for trucks to transport the fuel, reducing threat to our troops.

RELYANT’s foam insulation application has already eliminated 5,000 truck trips. Each truck trip must be accompanied by armed security, so this means that the spray foam insulation produces a dramatic increase in energy efficiency and a significant reduction in the use of military personnel.

The company expects to eliminate 10,000 truck trips over a three year period in Afghanistan.

RELYANT was recognized in 2009 by BusinessTN Magazine as one of Tennessee’s Top 100 Fastest Growing Companies. For more information on RELYANT, visit www.GoRelyant.com.

Respectfully,

Eric W. Barton
President & CEO
www.ericbartononline.com

Rebranding – Tennessee Theater

Posted on April 9, 2010 with No Comments

Relyant has reserverd the Tennessee Teather for this coming Monday. We are celebrating our rebranding, as well as entertaining friends, collegues, vendors, and sponsors.

I will be posting pictures and a recap next week. Check us out at www.gorelyant.com

Eric