Topping the charts: We are proud to congratulate the 11 Fairfax County-based companies that made Fortune magazine’s 67th annual Fortune 500 list: no. 47: Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp., aka Freddie Mac (Tysons); no. 84: General Dynamics (Reston); no. 86: Northrop Grumman (Falls Church area); no. 99: Capital One Financial (Tysons); no. 152: DXC Technology (Tysons); no. 248: Leidos (Reston); no. 383: NVR (Reston); no. 391: Booz Allen Hamilton (Tysons); no. 412: Science Applications International Corp. (Reston); no. 420: Beacon Roofing Supply (Herndon); and no. 473: CACI International (Reston). In addition, one company from elsewhere in the Northern Virginia Economic Development Alliance (NOVA EDA) landed on the list: no. 313: AES (Arlington). Fortune lists Amazon as having a Seattle headquarters but of course “HQ2” is in Arlington. Elsewhere in the Washington region, three suburban Maryland companies and two from the District of Columbia made the Fortune 500. Bottom line: 12 out of 17 Fortune 500 companies in the region are based in Northern Virginia — and 13 out of 18 including Amazon. Click here to see the entire Fortune 500. Virginia Business has more on companies on the list hailing from the Commonwealth.

And the Fortune-ate 1000: We are also proud to recognize an additional eight Fairfax County-based companies ranked in the Fortune 1000: no. 575: Perspecta (Chantilly); no. 596: Hilton Worldwide Holdings (Tysons); no. 625: Parsons Corp. (Centreville); no. 677: Maximus (Reston); no. 683: Gannett (Tysons); no. 756: Tegna (Tysons); no. 797: PAE (Tysons); and no. 835: ManTech International (Fairfax). In addition, two NOVA EDA jurisdiction companies landed in the top 1,000; no. 768: Graham Holdings (Arlington); and no. 896: AvalonBay Communities (Arlington). Two Washington, D.C.-based companies also placed in the Fortune 1000: no. 758: Carlyle Group; and no. 852: FTI Consulting. Takeaway: Fairfax County is home to 19 of the 29 Washington-area firms on the Fortune 1000 (30 including Amazon) and Northern Virginia is home to 22 of the 30.

Reston ribbon cutting: CACI International, one of the nation’s largest government defense, intelligence, and cyber security contractors, cut the ribbon on its new Reston headquarters last week. The corporate headquarters of the nearly $6 billion company is now located in a newly renovated 135,000-square-foot, six-story building at 12021 Sunset Hills Road across the street from the soon-to-open Reston Town Center Metro Station. “We’re very excited about our updated modern facilities and confident that this new building will be key to continuing this vital work for our customers’ important national security missions and groundbreaking technology,” CACI president and CEO John Mengucci said during the ribbon-cutting ceremony. Reston Now cut the ribbon on this story.

And more CACI news: Note that CACI International secured a spot on the 2021 Fortune 500, marking the first time the company made the list. The company attributed the recognition to continued growth, with fiscal year 2020 revenue of $5.7 billion, ExecutiveBiz reported.

Connecting the regional dots: Connected DMV, a coalition of leaders from government, business, higher education and philanthropy, is promoting collaboration within greater Washington to stimulate economic development and overcome the region’s chronic east-west economic divide. With Victor Hoskins, president and CEO of the FCEDA leading the cross-sector group advocating greater cross-border cooperation, Connected DMV last week issued its initial blueprint for a long-term Regional Economic Development Strategy (REDS 1.0). Recommendations focused on three areas: regional economic growth, including building a “DMV Atlas” to synthesize cross-sector data sets to improve regional planning, investment and programming, and focus on the east-west divide; regional branding, marketing and outreach; and a regional talent pipeline to develop a career opportunities platform with available upskilling/reskilling resources, internships, apprenticeships and jobs. Find out more in a Washington Post column penned by Robert McCartney and this Washington Business Journal story by Alex Koma.

Accent on the future: Arlington-based Accenture Federal Services (AFS) entered into an agreement to acquire Novetta, a Tysons-based federal contractor specializing in advanced analytics, machine learning, cyber services and cloud engineering. With 1,300 employees, Novetta is a subsidiary of The Carlyle Group, the Washington, D.C.-based private equity firm. “I am extremely excited about joining Accenture Federal Services,” said Novetta President and CEO Tiffanny Gates. “Because of our deep commitment to our staff and customers, it was critical to find the right fit, and AFS is an ideal home. They will provide new growth opportunities for our people, enable expanded capabilities for our customers, and allow us to accelerate our growth trajectory.” Virginia Business reported the story.

SAIC expands portfolio: Reston-based Science Applications International Corp. entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Arlington-based Halfaker and Associates, a federal health technology solutions provider, for about $250 million to grow the company’s digital transformation portfolio. With their combined expertise and capabilities, SAIC and Halfaker’s solutions will strengthen the company’s robust digital transformation portfolio in areas such as DevSecOps digital engineering, automation and process improvement, according to ExecutiveGov.

With no banjo on my knee: Dewberry, a Fairfax-based professional services firm, announced that it acquired Alabama-based Edmonds Engineering, a construction engineering consulting firm. Edmonds has more than 75 employees in five offices throughout the Southeast. Potomac Tech Wire carried the release.

A bit of a new strategy: Continuing its acquisition and promotion of bitcoin, Tysons-based software firm MicroStrategy announced that it will raise $400 million in debt to buy more bitcoin and form new subsidiaries to hold its cryptocurrency. The company — one of the pioneers in acquiring the crypto currency for corporate treasuries — currently holds 92,079 bitcoins with a value of about $3.2 billion. The company said its current bitcoin holdings will be held by a newly created subsidiary called MacroStrategy. Potomac Tech Wire picked up the release. To watch MicroStrategy’s CEO Michael Saylor present an institutional case for digital assets, attend the Chamber of Digital Commerce’s free upcoming virtual conference on June 17 at 1 p.m. Click here to register.

Protecting paychecks: A federal relief program that recently ended contributed over $1.1 billion to the Tysons area to help workers. The money came through the CARES Act, the COVID-19 relief package passed by Congress in 2020 that created the Paycheck Protection Program. In the area, it helped around 1,700 businesses, nonprofits, and sole proprietors with forgivable loans of $150,000 and more. According to data from the Small Business Administration, the Tysons-area businesses and nonprofits that landed the most money in terms of a single award were: Digital Intelligence Systems ($10 million loan); Team Washington, the local Domino’s Pizza franchisee ($7.9 million); Favor TechConsulting  ($7.9 million); SourceAmerica ($7.3 million); and SecTek ($7.1 million).  See Tysons Reporter to find out more.

Making hay in May: The list of Washington-area companies with fresh funding is growing, according to the Washington Business Journal, including three deals in Northern Virginia that closed in May: Arlington auto refinancing startup MotoRefi with $45 million; McLean fintech Verituity with $10 million; and Fairfax junk-removal startup HaulShare with $2 million.

Five eyes: Falls Church area-based Northrop Grumman and U.K.-based security company Arqit partnered to explore the potential use of quantum-encryption technology in defense and national security programs. The partnership intends to initially assess government applications for Arqit’s satellite-based encryption platform and subsequently conduct technical assessments of the system across various projects, ExecutiveBiz reported. David Williams, founder of Arqit, said the two companies look to bring new products to government and defense customers within its “Five Eyes” network.

Satellite connection: South Korean defense company Hanwha Systems (HSC), which has a Tysons office, received U.S. regulatory approval for its $30 million investment into Redmond, Wash.-based Kymeta Corp., which also has an office in Tysons. HSC plans to support Kymeta’s antenna technology and gain a foothold in the Low Earth Orbit antenna market. Kymeta said this funding will support increased unit production, enhanced customer experience, and the ongoing development of Kymeta’s next generation capabilities, reported Via Satellite.

Supporting entrepreneurship in Puerto Rico: Tysons-based PenFed Credit Union and Friends of Puerto Rico formed a partnership to provide access to entrepreneurship programs for women and children in Puerto Rico. Friends of Puerto Rico, since 2015, has developed a combination of training, education, and mentoring initiatives to support communities in need by promoting entrepreneurship. The alliance includes the training of entrepreneurs and its entrepreneurship incubator, which has worked with more than 500 women since 2017, providing mentoring and networking support in a community driven by professional women. “The best way to support Puerto Rico is by empowering the community, creating opportunities, and helping people improve their finances. PenFed continues to invest in the resilient people of Puerto Rico,” said Jamie Gayton, executive vice president of member operations at PenFed. InsideNoVa has more.

And more PenFed programs: The PenFed Foundation, founded by PenFed Credit Union, launched a Black Veteran Student Loan Repayment Program, with funding provided by Purefy, a D.C.-based technology platform. PenFed Foundation aims to support Black veterans in the Washington D.C. region with student loan assistance. The PenFed Foundation will award $5,000 to 20 selected applicants by issuing a monthly payment up to $500 until $5,000 has been paid down on their student loan balances, reported citybizlist. This is one of several PenFed initiatives to support military members, veterans and their families. The PenFed Foundation’s Veteran Entrepreneur Investment Program includes assistance programs such as a year-long Master’s Program that helps grow veteran-owned startups through training, mentorship, access to networks and investor funds. PenFed Foundation also recently launched a Women Veteran GovCon Bootcamp Accelerator, which engages women veteran entrepreneurs with businesses in government contracting.

Didn’t miss a beat: George Mason University president Gregory Washington took the helm in February 2020, three weeks before the campus shut down because of the pandemic. Last summer the university is estimated to have had a 10 percent budget shortfall, or nearly $109 million, caused in large part by lost student housing revenue and state budget uncertainty, and Washington had to postpone new initiatives. Despite this, Mason was one of the region’s few higher education institutions to gain enrollment. “He’s done a masterful job,” said Bob Witeck, a member of the Mason Board of Visitors. “We didn’t lose a great deal of tuition. I don’t think he’s missed a beat.” Now, as some semblances of normalcy start to return, Washington intends to resurrect portions of his initial agenda and update the remainder through the lens of not only the COVID-19 health crisis, but also the heightened sense of racial justice across the country and region. And among the top items on his list are equity and affordable education, according to the Washington Business Journal.

Getting back to the office: Newport Beach, Calif. based commercial real estate investor KBS, which as a regional office in Arlington, signed a lease renewal with the anchor tenant at Dulles Station East, a 186,922 square-foot office building in Herndon. This transaction demonstrates tenants’ ongoing desire for premier office space as businesses emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Marc DeLuca, Eastern regional president for KBS. citybiz has more. And Strayer University renewed its 33,102-square-foot lease in the same building, according to KBS. Strayer was in the last year of a 12-year lease and serves as the anchor tenant for the building, reported Commercial Observer.

A business to launch every 17 years: In response to the Brood X cicada emergence, a McLean High School student launched a cicada clean-up and protection business. With her older brother’s help, Michelle Martinkov started Cicada Defender to sell netting and other products and services to assist people during the cicada emergence and mating season, which happens on this magnitude only once every 17 years. “I started Cicada Defender to learn about entrepreneurship and e-commerce and to spread awareness about Brood X,” Martinkov said. “My goal with Cicada Defender is to see how many homes/businesses we can help and how much of our online presence we can expand over the next two months of the emergence.” Tysons Reporter has more buzz about the initiative.

Notable contract wins by firms in Fairfax County

AT&T Public Sector secured a $725 million, 12-year task order to modernize the Department of Veterans Affairs’ data network. Virginia Business

Booz Allen Hamilton secured a five-year, $674 million contract from the U.S. General Services Administration to maintain and support growth of a Department of Defense data-analytics platform. ExecutiveGov

Leidos won a five-year, $470.7 million contract from the Transportation Security Administration to provide checkpoint screening equipment deployment services. GovConWire

Mayvin secured $95 million contract to research and develop military weapons for the U.S. Special Operations Command. GovConWire

Northrop Grumman received a five-year $80 million contract from the Army contract award for the production of visible and infrared spectrum flares. ExecutiveGov

General Dynamics Mission Systems secured a $72.8 million contract with the Navy to retrofit 10 unmanned underwater vehicles designed to provide countermeasures against mine threats. GovConWire

Serco North America won a seven-year, $70 million contract from the Navy to develop integrated systems, networks and supporting infrastructure for Naval Information Warfare Center Atlantic. ExecutiveBiz

Featured business events

June 9 — Maximizing Your Membership. The Greater Reston Chamber of Commerce presents a panel discussion featuring Chamber staff, Alicia Liddle and Carrie Pulliam, and Board Member, Michael Delpierre with Conversion Pipeline. The event is part of the Business Education Series sponsored by the Fairfax County Economic Development Authority. Click here to register.