Navy Awards SST $13.5M Contract (continued
from page 1)
By Eric Fetters, Herald Writer
That one cable could carry 40,000 calls at once, much more
than the undersea copper cables and comparable to the volume
handled by numerous satellites.
During the late 1990s and through this year, numerous companies,
including now-infamous Global Crossing, have raced to lay
thousands of miles of undersea fiber-optic cables. Sound
& Sea benefited from that boom, which has ended with
more bandwidth capacity than needed and financial problems
in the telecommunications industry as a whole.
"As it became clear the telecommunications bubble was
going to burst, we wanted to diversity," Dallas said.
Indeed, Sound & Sea's work has flip-flopped dramatically
with the boom and bust of the telecom industry. Three years
ago, Dallas estimates, 90 percent of the company's work was
on commercial projects. That percentage is down to 20 percent.
"The people doing the commercial work only are out there
floundering, while we were able to transition to military
work," Judith said.
In July, the company got word it had landed the $13.5-million
contract from the Naval Facilities Engineering Service Center
in California.
To meet the broad scope of the contract, Sound & Sea
assembled a team of other ocean engineering firms. The Meggitts
credited the Snohomish County Economic Development Council's
Procurement Technical Assistance Center for helping them
get through the complex bidding process.
"There's an enormous amount of paperwork you have to
file for these government contracts," said Deborah Knutson,
president and chief executive officer of the Economic Development
Council. "Since Dallas had worked for the Navy, they
knew him, but he still had to go through all that."
For up to five years under the contract, Sound & Sea
and its team will work on cutting-edge undersea surveillance
systems and experimental cable installations for the Navy.
While the big assignment is welcomed by the Meggitts, it
undoubtedly will mean more time on the road, or the seas,
for Dallas, he said.
"The Navy goes worldwide," he said, "and
so do we."
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