CSRA Inks Partnerships With AWS, Docker To Drive Cutting-Edge Technology Adoption

CSRA has launched strategic relationships with Amazon Web Services, Docker and Racemi to help more U.S. government customers modernize apps and migrate to the cloud.

The Falls Church, Va.-based public sector solution provider said its new partnerships with the next-generation vendors will include the sharing of development and go-to-market strategies as well as preferred product access and pricing.

"No one can provide our [vendor] partners the same level of delivery excellence to government IT customers as CSRA," CEO Larry Prior said Wednesday during the company's earnings call for its fiscal year 2017 first quarter, which ended July 1. "We can catalyze adoption of these technology innovations as we deliver IT capability for government customers with incredible critical needs."

[RELATED: Q&A: CSRA Execs On How To Fix Federal IT Infrastructure]

id
unit-1659132512259
type
Sponsored post

Revenue for CSRA jumped 30.8 percent from $959 million last year to $1.25 billion this year, falling short of Seeking Alpha's projection of $1.27 billion. But on a pro forma basis - which includes 2015 revenue from SRA prior to its Nov. 30 merger with CSC's North American public sector business - revenue fell 5.3 percent from $1.32 billion last year.

Meanwhile, net income inched up 1.5 percent from $67 million last year to $68 million, or 39 cents per share, this year. Pro forma net income held steady at $84 million, or 51 cents per share, beating Seeking Alpha projections of 47 cents.

The Docker partnership will enable CSRA's federal government customers to easily modernize legacy applications and quickly and efficiently move to the cloud, while the Racemi agreement will help public-sector customers accelerate their migration to the AWS cloud as well as AWS' GovCloud, an isolated AWS region designed to host sensitive data and regulated workloads in the cloud, according to CSRA.

CSRA has also achieved premier AWS network partner status, meaning the company has access to highly trained solutions architects, certifications and resources to help customers migrate and operate workloads in the cloud, the company said..

CSRA's leadership around digital innovation is not a recent development or the pet project of a couple of techies, Prior said. Rather, it's a motivating construct that unifies CSRA's customers and spurs the company's investments, he said.

The solution provider hosted an emerging technology partner day this summer, Prior added, when CSRA met with executives of 11 venture capital funds to discuss collaborative opportunities to work together and create offerings that address mission-critical challenges for customers.

Prior believes this effort will yield tangible success in the next two quarters that will be material to CSRA's earnings, and said it should help rev up the company's business development engine.

Additionally, Prior and senior CSRA technology leaders spent a week on the West Coast in late July meeting with established and emerging technology vendors, as well as representatives from a Department of Defense initiative focused on providing a bridge to the military and cutting-edge technology companies.

"With a robust volume of submitted proposals and strong positioning on upcoming next-generation IT and critical mission-support opportunities, we look forward to accelerating new business wins," CSRA Chief Financial Officer David Keffer said during the earnings call with analysts.

Prior said CSRA is open to acquisitions that will provide the company with a technology edge around cloud-enabled digitization and will directly result in the solution provider being much more competitive on future contracts. But Prior said CSRA's top current priority is reducing its debt load and repurchasing company stock.

"We'll consider acquisitions, but they have to really perform," Prior said.

Revenue from CSRA's defense and intelligence segment during the quarter fell 7.6 percent, from $615 million last year to $568 million this year due to reductions in the U.S. Army Logistics Modernization Program and a lower volume of direct material and cost purchases. Meanwhile, civil segment revenues – which include the Health and Homeland Security departments – fell 2.4 percent, from $703 to $686 million.

CSRA's stock remained unchanged in after-hours trading Wednesday at $26.28 per share. Earnings were released after the market closed.

For the entire 2017 fiscal year, which ends in March 2017, the company is projecting earnings of $1.91 to $2.03 per share on sales of $5 billion to $5.2 billion. Thomson Reuters had been projecting earnings of $1.97 per share on sales of $5.09 billion.