E-Newsletter

Fairfax County E-Bird for May 9, 2019

Home / Fairfax County E-Bird for May 9, 2019
  • E-Newsletter
May 9, 2019

Now hear this: Award-winning financial planner Ric Edelman was the featured speaker Wednesday when the FCEDA hosted Build It With #FairfaxEDA, a half-day workshop to celebrate National Small Business Week. “If you could pick pretty much anywhere in the country that you wanted to start a business, I would have to argue that Northern Virginia and, in particular, Fairfax County, is probably the place to be,” Edelman said. To access a Facebook Live recording of Edelman’s keynote speech, click here.

Flying start: Parsons, the Centreville-based engineering company, launched its IPO Wednesday, raising more than $500 million. Carten Cordell of the Washington Business Journal reports the company issued more than 18 million common shares on the New York Stock Exchange at $27 per share.

Fine with China: Is Five Guys, the burger and fries chain headquartered in Lorton, preparing to open a location in Beijing this year? Drew Hansen of the Washington Business Journal cited a Beijing media outlet report that the location would be in an upscale mall less than 3 miles from the Forbidden City. Five Guys has nearly 1,600 locations around the world, including one in Hong Kong.

Positive vibes: According to Dan Fulton of Reston-based Fulton Research, the Richmond Highway corridor in Fairfax County stands to benefit from Amazon’s HQ2 move to National Landing as well as the county’s Embark Richmond Highway plan for bus rapid transit (BRT) service, a wider highway and transit-oriented commercial centers. “Amazon’s selection of National Landing for its HQ2 provides a major branding lift for the Washington region and for Virginia as a business-friendly state,” Fulton told Lori Ostrow of the Fort Hunt Herald. The county plan includes nine BRT stations and six community business centers and would support 18,000 housing units along with nonresidential development.

Engaging proposition: Harris Healthcare, a Herndon-based provider of software and tech services to healthcare organizations, acquired New Jersey-based Uniphy Health Systems, developer of a communication and collaboration platform. According to a release picked up by Potomac Tech Wire, Harris, a unit of Canadian software company Harris Computer Systems, expects to offer clients new ways to improve care coordination and physician/patient engagement.

Take care: Capital Caring, a hospice-services provider, signed a 15-year lease for space at 3180 Fairview Park Drive in the Falls Church area. Katishi Maake of the Washington Business Journal reports that the nonprofit plans to sell its current 31,000-square-foot space near the Mosaic District in Merrifield as it moves into 50,000 square feet of recently renovated space.

Manning the unmanned: Herndon-based Center for Innovative Technology’s  Virginia Unmanned Systems Center, an information resource and growth catalyst for unmanned systems, formed a board of advisors. The 24-member board, according to a release cited by Potomac Tech Wire, will guide strategies within four domains of the unmanned systems market: land, sea, air and space. The center is working with several state agencies to develop pilot projects that using unmanned systems for agency missions.

By design: Network Designs Inc. of McLean, a developer of cybersecurity operations and resiliency tools, opened a Cyber Operations Office at the Georgia Cyber Center in Augusta, Ga. According to a release picked up by Potomac Tech Wire, the new office is in close proximity to the U.S. Army Cyber Command and the Cyber School of Excellence at Fort Gordon.

Corporate pride: Booz Allen Hamilton and Jon Munoz, vice president of global diversity and inclusion at Hilton, are among the Washington Business Journal’s Business of Pride honorees. Click here to see the full list.

Notable contract wins by firms in Fairfax County

  • Boeing won a $5.7 billion long-term deal to provide post-production combat capabilities for its KC-46 Pegasus aerial-refueling tankers. Washington Business Journal
  • Lockheed Martin received a $90.7 million contract modification from the Naval Air Systems Command to create a depot-repair process for the F-35 integrated core processor. GovConWire
  • Intelligent Waves secured the first task order on a $12.1 billion IT contract supporting the Colorado Army National Guard Information Management Office. Potomac Tech Wire carried a release.
  • SE Solutions received a task order to provide computer network defense support to the U.S. House of Representatives. Potomac Tech Wire cited the release.

Upcoming Business Events

  • May 17: Small Business Expo. 15th anniversary networking event featuring business speakers and exhibitors. Presented by BL Networking. Click here.
  • May 22: Boost Your B2B Authority with Savvy Social Marketing: Learn to focus on what really matters to clients and how to achieve success through social media and content marketing. Part of the Business Education Series presented by the Greater Reston Chamber of Commerce. Click here.

FAIRFACT: It’s National Small Business Week! Ninety-four percent of Fairfax County business establishments have 50 or fewer employees, and these firms account for one-third of all the jobs in the county.