Home-based firm a world class player(continued from page 1)
Edmonds Beacon

Counselor Franz helped the Meggitts with many aspects of their business including marketing; federal and state small business certifications; the merits and disadvantages of forming a limited liability corporation or Subchapter S Corporation; cash flow; reviewing and preparing a pricing/overhead allocation spreadsheet.

"Every time we had a question we would call Michael," says Dallas Meggitt. "If he didn't have the answer right away, he would research it and get back to us."

Franz also referred them to John Tamble of the Snohomish Procurement Technical Assistance Center (PTAC). The PTAC is a national program established by Congress and funded by the Department of Defense to help small businesses understand and participate in the federal bidding process. The program has operated in conjunction with the Snohomish County Economic Development Council.

In July 2002 Sound & Sea Technology was awarded a $13.5 million five-year contract to provide ocean engineering support to the U.S. Navy.

To meet the broad scope of the contract, Sound & Sea assembled a team of other firms with specialist skills needed by the wide range of tasks on the contract. The company beat out several competitors, including a Fortune 500 company.

Having finished that contract two years ahead of schedule, the Meggitts successfully competed for a follow-on contract.

Among projects supported by this contract are the Advanced Deployable System (ADS), a next-generation undersea surveillance system; an undersea acoustic system for monitoring compliance with the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty: installation of an experimental acoustic system off the East Coast of the U.S; and experimental cable system installations at various locations.

In addition to this work for the Navy, there is a new component to the contract:  Anti-Terrorism & Force Protection for Navy facilities worldwide.

Dallas Meggitt says this involves evaluation and detection of any kind of threat to onshore Navy bases and docked ships, such as what happened to the USS Cole in 2000.

"Competing with very large corporations on a business level and for government procurement contracts is not for the timid," says Dallas Meggitt. "The biggest challenge is keeping customers satisfied by exceeding their expectations."

He says it's important to study customer requirements and give them what they need – "To take time to understand your customers."

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