Accenture Federal Services Expands AI, Cybersecurity Skills With Novetta Buy

‘Novetta brings us new scale in the new technologies. And it brings in cutting-edge capabilities that we can lean in to when clients need the latest capabilities. Novetta expands our footprint. And they bring us new packaged capabilities that make our offerings more easily consumable and speed time to value,’ says Ira Entis, Accenture Federal Services’ senior managing director of growth and strategy.

Accenture Federal Services, the subsidiary of the global solution provider focused on working primarily with the U.S. Federal government, is in the process of acquiring Novetta, a provider of data management and cybersecurity predominately to the U.S. government.

Financial terms were not disclosed for the acquisition which was unveiled this month but is not expected to close until late July or early August.

Accenture Federal Services is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Arlington, Virg.-based Accenture, said Ira Entis, senior managing director of growth and strategy for the government-facing organization.

[Related: Accenture Cloud First Initiative: Annette Rippert On Making Cloud The Center Of Business]

“As a wholly-owned subsidiary, we can get security clearances and do cost accounting separate from Accenture so our parent company doesn’t need to be exposed to it,” Entis told CRN. “We have our own board of directors and our own security controls so our global entity doesn’t have control over Federal government requirements.”

Accenture is ranked No. 1 in CRN’s 2021 Solution Provider 500 list.

Accenture Federal Services is already a leader in applying new technologies, including artificial intelligence, cloud, and digital platforms to the needs of the Federal government, Entis said. Novetta will help it continue to do so in a more focused way.

“Novetta brings us new scale in the new technologies,” he said. “And it brings in cutting-edge capabilities that we can lean in to when clients need the latest capabilities. Novetta expand our footprint. And they bring us new packaged capabilities that make our offerings more easily consumable and speed time to value.”

Tiffany Gates, president and CEO of Novetta, told CRN that her company has 1,350 employees who provide mission support and niche services primarily to the U.S. Federal government as well as to some non-government clients.

“Teaming with Accenture Federal Services will be an opportunity for both of us,” she said. “Not only will we extend each others’ reach across our customers, but we will also have enabling technologies to be stronger, faster, better, and able us to stay on the leading edge.”

Accenture Federal Services and Novetta have some overlapping technologies, but in most cases the two have different approaches, Entis said.

“For example, Novetta may be doing AI in a client where we are doing an ERP (enterprise resource planning) deployment,” he said. “Or we may be focusing on different parts of a common client’s mission. We’re very complementary.”

Novetta, which is as of now owned by The Carlyle Group, a Washington, D.C.-based private equity firm, received interest in and a number of bids for Novetta, Entis said.

“Accenture Federal Services have known the Novetta executives for a long time,” he said. “We certainly had a positive perspective on them through their work and their people.”