INDIANAPOLIS – Numerous states already secure multiple billions of dollars in federal defense-related contract work, and a new company is providing resources to drive that market share even higher.

Principals from Sigma Strategic Solutions, LLC in northeast Indiana, Ernst & Rogers in Dayton, Ohio and The MEK Group in Indianapolis are combining their collective commercial defense knowledge to help companies secure or expand federal contract work. Their first product is a new online federal contract analysis tool called PursuitCAT, located online at www.pursuitcat.com. “The PursuitCAT online database strategically captures critical data that will aid companies in strategically pursuing thousands of federal defense contracts across the board,” said Bruce Stach, CEO of Sigma Strategic Solutions.

“Oftentimes a company has no reliable information about how successful the competition has been in winning DOD contracts,” he continued.”Even worse, they don’t know how much money a particular DOD agency has been spending in their own product or service area. With PursuitCAT on a business development team, companies will have the inside story.”

The new PursuitCAT software features a comprehensive and easy-to-use search function that enable users to effortlessly locate, sort and browse through hundreds of thousands of U.S. Department of Defense public contract records.

“Many company executives don’t realize that the Department of Defense buys products and services on a very wide spectrum, ranging from commodities like meat processing to medical products to high-end consulting services,” Stach explained. “These represent real opportunities for Indiana companies.”

Before starting his defense-related consulting firm, Stach served as an executive in business development for the ITT defense corporate office in Fort Wayne, where he was daily confronted with a vacuum of critical contract information.

“Based on that experience, coupled with Tom’s background at ITT developing innovative techniques for managing business opportunities, we built PursuitCAT to help large and small businesses alike in gathering critical contract information to produce a competitive DOD bid or proposal.”

With its specialty background in working with defense companies associated with the WestGate @ Crane Technology Park in southern Indiana, the state’s defense group and major defense companies in NE Indiana, The MEK Group brought technical and marketing resources to the group.

“When we were in DC for a strategic Congressional briefing last year, it became clear to us that many more companies could either extend their current contractual engagements or effectively get in the procurement game as a subcontractor to prime contractors if they had more of a clear pathway to engage,” said Michael Snyder, managing principal of The MEK Group.

Hosted in a high-speed secure environment, PursuitCAT allows commercial defense companies and university faculty seeking research grant information to dive deep into the previous history of awarded contracts. This competitive information allows companies to pre-plan a strategic contract pursuit, including locating key Congressional information to secure additional information and aid. All information in any given search can be captured and downloaded in an Excel file for insertion in competitive analysis reports or business development profiles.

“Our initial database product has numerous applications for economic development groups who are working to support local companies looking for opportunities to either break into the defense industry or to expand existing operations,” said Snyder.

“The federal government requires DOD to seek out small businesses to help service prime contracts, and PursuitCAT can help small-to-medium-sized businesses find these opportunities in existing contracts,” he added. “The search functions are also very useful for university faculty looking for potential applications of research.”

“PursuitCAT can help small companies find the government agencies that are buying the products they already make or services that they provide,” said Stach.

In building the first database product, the PursuitCAT team reviewed competitive products and services, developing an online product that is more frequently updated and features additional critical information required for a contract pursuit.

Companies and business development professionals researching competitive data or opportunities to engage as a sub-contractor can search and sort public contract records by industry or product key words, NAICS codes or other product and service categories.

“We’re competitively priced and have a superior product to what we can see out there on a national basis,” said Snyder. “Defense professionals who want to take PursuitCAT out for a walk before committing can see PursuitCAT’s advantage for themselves through a seven-day free trial using 2007 national contract data.”

The group is already planning new online contract products to include additional information from other federal agencies. Plans are also underway to add consulting services for firms targeting federal and defense-related work.

PursuitCAT will be available to sample at the upcoming NSWC Crane “Buy Indiana Expo” in French Lick on October 27.

About PursuitCAT Developed by defense industry professionals, PursuitCAT offers instant access to hundreds of thousands of federal DOD contracts issued each year for business development professionals, university faculty and others interested in expanding federal contract work. A comprehensive search function allows users to search through contract records and capture data by industry keywords, NAICS codes or other product and service categories. Structured pricing is available, as well as a seven-day free trial. For more information, please visit
www.pursuitcat.com. For media inquiries about PursuitCAT, please contact Michael Snyder at 317-805-4870 or msnyder@themekgroup.com.