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Proud to recognize Northern Virginia: Northern Virginia is one of five communities across the country named to the 2022 class of Great American Defense Communities. The Association of Defense Communities announced the selected communities at the Defense Communities National Summit this spring. Northern Virginia is home to Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall, Fort Belvoir and Marine Corps Base Quantico. “Our military needs America’s defense communities to support them,” said Bob Ross, president of the association. “We are proud to recognize Northern Virginia as a region that goes above and beyond to support service members, veterans, and their families.” The Great American Defense Communities program was launched in 2016 to recognize and celebrate the communities and regions that support military installations for their exceptional commitment to improving the lives of service members, veterans and their families. InsideNoVa has more. Click here to watch the video announcement.

Enormous economic potential: India’s Ambassador to the U.S. Taranjit Singh Sandhu spoke at a reception at the Embassy of India in Washington, D.C. last week organized for a business delegation representing Fairfax County. The FCEDA has a strong relationship with India, having maintained offices in India since 2004. Among those who attended the reception were Secretary of Commerce and Trade of Virginia Caren Merrick; Secretary of Agriculture and Forestry Matthew Lohr; President and CEO of the FCEDA Victor Hoskins; and Vice President of International Trade of the Virginia Economic Development Partnership Stephanie Agee. This has been a “momentous year” for India-U.S. trade and economic relations, Ambassador Sandu said at the reception. With 200 Indian companies present in the United States and more than 2,000 U.S. companies in India, the potential of the economic partnership between our countries is an enormous one,” stated Ambassador Sandhu.  Tribune India has more.

Towering tenants: The Meridian Group and Rockefeller Group, the developers behind the Boro Tower in Tysons, signed five companies this month to join the ranks of the office building, Commercial Observer reported. Located at 8350 Broad Street, the 440,000-square-foot tower is part of The Boro, a mixed-use development that includes office, residential, retail, entertainment and open park space. In the largest of the leases, software company NetApp inked 24,057 square feet. In addition, commercial real estate services giant CBRE leased 24,108 square feet; Lukas, LaFuria, Lantor & Sachs, a telecommunications law firm, took 6,425 square feet; MongoDB, a tech company, inked 5,130 square feet; and Cboe Vest, an investment management firm, leased 2,314 square feet. Along with the new leases, HII’s mission technologies division expanded its presence at Boro Tower, adding 3,942 square feet to its space. The 20-story building is now 96 percent leased, with 20,000 square feet of office space remaining.

And more Boro news: The Boro, a neighborhood central to the reinvention of Tysons, into a walkable, transit-oriented development, received approval in May from the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors and Planning Commission to expand, reported the Washington Post. This final phase of the development plan adds approximately 610,000 square feet of residential development to the area and consists of three buildings with 543 market-rate and workforce residential units. The development is a joint venture of the Meridian Group, a real estate investment and development firm, and Akridge, a commercial real estate company and investor and developer in the D.C. region.

Moving People Forward: Tysons-based Maximus pledged over $2 million worth of grants to aid nonprofits and humanitarian causes in the United States for its 2022 annual giving initiative. Offered through the charitable Maximus Foundation, the donations are expected to reach 167 different organizations and are designed to lend assistance to the three designated areas of need in this year’s efforts: community development, youth development and healthcare services. Bruce Caswell, CEO and president of Maximus, said that the company has rebranded its tagline as ‘Moving People Forward’ in order to emphasize the enterprise’s devotion to causing positive change, ExecutiveGov reported.

Springing forward with more development: Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment Trust, which recently executed a deal to sell part of Springfield Town Center to a hotel developer, plans to stay focused on leasing and entitling other parts of the 76-acre campus near the Franconia-Springfield Metro station, according to the Washington Business Journal. While the retail center is anchored by national tenants including JCPenney, Macy’s and Nordstrom Rack, PREIT CEO Joe Coradino said his eye is on reshaping the property into something that more closely resembles its title as a town center, with a greater mix of uses. The introduction of additional components, including the planned Lego Discovery Center and seven-story hotel will help further that aim, he said.

Unique incubator: Centreville-based Parsons Corporation announced the opening of an innovation laboratory focused on rapidly developing and delivering operational technology to the nation’s Department of Defense, Intelligence Community, and federal civilian markets in an open, experimental environment: the PALADIN Lab. “This unique incubator aligns with Parsons’ goal of pushing the boundaries of innovation and technology development to make our customer’s missions faster, safer, and more successful,” said Ricardo Lorenzo, CTO for Parsons. Intelligence Community News has more.

Continued investment in Northern Virginia: Boeing is partnering with the Commonwealth of Virginia to set up a new workforce development and education hub for veterans and their families at Virginia Tech’s campus in Potomac Yard, the company announced Monday. Boeing, which just last month made public its plans to move its global corporate headquarters from Chicago to Arlington, is digging deeper into the area with the new Boeing Center for Veteran Transition & Military Families. “This initiative will unlock new career opportunities for veterans and their families and help develop leading technical talent while affirming our continued investment in Northern Virginia,” Boeing President and CEO Dave Calhoun said in a statement. The Washington Business Journal has more.

Ribbon cutting: Soon-to-open Tysons café Mrs. Jo’s Petite Eats recently celebrated a ribbon-cutting event at its location on the ground floor of PenFed Credit Union’s headquarters at 7940 Jones Branch Drive. Owned and run by U.S. Army veteran Chef Erinn Roth, the roughly 2,800-square-foot café will serve as a cafeteria for the building, which also houses the consulting firm LMI, and is open to the general public. PenFed invested about $500,000 to build out the café through its PenFed Foundation’s Veteran Entrepreneur Investment Program. FFXnow has more on the event and on Roth’s journey from military retirement to chef and café owner.

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Contract Wins

General Dynamics Information Technology obtained a $121.8 million contract from the Department of Education to modernize the Federal Student Aid processing system. WashingtonExec

ECS received a $61.3 million contract from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to develop and execute its aviation and marine fleet recapitalization plans. ExecutiveBiz

Booz Allen Hamilton scored a five-year, $49.5 million contract from the U.S. Navy for a range of services in support of its Maritime Surveillance Systems program office. ExecutiveBiz

Northrop Grumman received a $40.6 million contract to conduct a full-scale fatigue test and an effect-of-defect evaluation on the U.S. Navy’s Triton MQ-4C unmanned aircraft system. GovConWire

ICF won a $30 million contract from the Defense Health Agency to perform research and operational assistance for mental health research endeavors. ExecutiveGov

Cognosante received a five-year, $16 million contract to help the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services modernize a statewide data-sharing platform for health information organizations and public health agencies. ExecutiveBiz