Bob Genter on SAIC’s Integration of Unisys Federal Amid COVID-19

Bob Genter, executive vice president and general manager of civilian business at Science Applications International Corp., said the fast completion of the acquisition of Unisys’ federal arm has helped SAIC navigate the integration process during the coronavirus pandemic, the Washington Business Journal reported Thursday.

SAIC finalized its $1.2B cash purchase of Unisys Federal in mid-March and Genter said the expedited timeline helped SAIC and Unisys to quickly address issues that somehow served as a continuity exercise as the country deals with COVID-19.

“We wanted to move very fast to get to the close,” Genter said. “It was a super-fast period for us to get through that, which caused a lot of intense conversations. Whenever you have that forced interaction, where there’s a lot of meetings and topics brought up in a tight period of time, it sort of forms some bonds and builds a team in advance of close, which was great.”

He noted that the retention of Unisys Federal’s senior leadership team to ensure business continuity and use of video teleconferencing software to facilitate communications have helped SAIC address challenges related to integration.