Montgomery's tech scene gets $13.4B boost

Bill Woodhouse has answered a lot questions about Montgomery from startup companies across the nation since the Air Force announced $13.4 billion in technology contracts here.

Those company leaders were surprised when he told them how cheap it is to get office space here. They were even more surprised when he described the traffic. “They’ll announce it on television if there’s a five-minute wait on the bypass. They started laughing because they commute two hours,” Woodhouse said.

But he’s more interested in who they’ll hire.

Woodhouse is president of Tri-ESA, one of 20 small businesses that were awarded billions of dollars worth of IT service contracts this week through an office at Maxwell Air Force Base’s Gunter Annex. Tri-ESA has been based in Montgomery for 15 years. All of the others are out-of-town companies, most from the Washington area.

Now, many of them are considering opening a local office. Retired Brig. Gen. Trent Edwards, who now works with the Montgomery Area Chamber of Commerce, said three of the companies immediately reached out to ask about relocating. He’s flying to Washington this week to meet with others.

A similar contract award eight years ago paved the way for several tech startups to open local offices in Montgomery, including Array Information Technology, DSD Labratories and Indrasoft Inc. Those companies became part of a wave of tech investment and infrastructure along Commerce Street in downtown Montgomery.

More: 'Getting out': Tech entrepreneurs find a future in their hometown

Woodhouse’s company has 21 employees now but has had as many as 76 while fully staffed to fill a contract. The contracts announced this week involve software and application work for the military that could last up to 15 years, and now the companies that landed those contracts will be staffing up.

He’s going to be looking for local talent.

“I’m hoping that the other companies will do the same thing, that they’ll hire the kids out there locally and grow our labor pool,” Woodhouse said. “Even without this contract, it’s hard to find people because a lot of our technical (talent), they go to Chicago, they go to Atlanta, they go to New York because there’s just not enough high-paying jobs here.

“But this (contract), all of the sudden, becomes a vehicle where you can develop some high-paying jobs and they don’t have to leave the town. That helps the community. That helps everybody.”

He said workers with these kinds of tech skills command salaries of about $70,000 to $150,000 a year.

“And being in Montgomery, where the cost of living is really, really low, that generates a lot of disposable income,” Woodhouse said. “They can start investing in the community, buying homes or perhaps opening up their own companies. That’s what my hope is, anyhow.”

You can see a full list of the companies that were awarded contracts at https://www.netcents.af.mil/Contracts/SBEAS/.

Contact Montgomery Advertiser reporter Brad Harper at bharper1@gannett.com.