When it comes to systems engineering and integration, ENSCO works in some of the most highly specialized spaces.
For the defense community, the company delivers an array of technology-driven services supporting satellite control networks, space trainers and defensive cyber operations. On the transportation side, the ENSCO team develops safety technologies for the railway and aviation markets.
“We support the safety and security of critical missions: On the ground, in the air and in space,” said Bindi Patel, ENSCO’s vice president of contracts & procurement and corporate risk officer.
In a crowded field of GovCons, Patel said ENSCO’s specialized capabilities help it stand out from the pack.
In aviation, for example, “we’re using human-machine interface tools, and we’ve designed that with an open architecture so that it is easy to integrate into any development environment,” she said.
In support of railway safety, “we have our own ultrasonic rail flaw system,” a technology that can identify faults inside the track before failure, she said. “That’s significant, because broken rails are a leading cause of railway derailments.”
That kind of highly specific, mission-targeted expertise has defined ENSCO from the start.
“We are an innovative company that takes R&D to market solutions,” Patel said. “That’s how we started out, and it’s a core part of our culture.” And the company’s workforce reflects that emphasis.
“Seventy-nine percent of them are scientists and engineers and 30% have advanced degrees,” she said. “That really helps differentiate us.”
Across the federal space, and especially in the defense community, Patel sees a lot of opportunity to bring that high-level expertise in support of the mission. There’s growing demand around defensive cyber architectures, innovative sensor data collection and processing, and advanced modeling and simulation.
To take advantage of those opportunities, Patel is helping to elevate ENSCO’s profile in the public eye.
“We’re growing from a midsize company to a larger company, and that means being more visible, getting that brand recognition and having our customers understand all that ENSCO does,” she said. “That’s a big focus of ours: Having people understand that we have the capabilities to perform all of this.”
Much of that effort comes from the marketing team, but it ripples through the organization.
“It’s about talking with individual customers and trying to see where we fit into,” Patel said. “We see the needs of our customers, and we want to build upon those existing relationships, while also finding new customers for the technologies that we have.”
From a contracts perspective, that involves “meeting with customers as much as we can, leveraging those relationships, keeping our eye on what’s happening moving forward, and getting on as many contract vehicles as possible for the solutions we provide,” she said.
To make good on current and emerging opportunities, ENSCO needs to ensure it has the right mix of talent on hand.
“That’s something I’m always thinking about, because there’s just a lot of competition in the industry,” Patel said.
To that end, “we have leaders that have really invested in developing that next generation workforce,” she said. “That is something that ENSCO, and I as a leader, really prioritize.”
With an eye toward recruitment and retention, the company looks to offer its people the most engaging and interesting opportunities, supported by a robust research and development program.
“One thing that we’ve heard is that they’re really interested in the R&D and innovation work,” she said. By creating cutting-edge opportunities, “it gives everyone at the company a chance to explore and develop new capabilities. It’s exciting for them, and it’s mutually beneficial to us, because these are new things that we can provide to our customers.”
With a strong R&D program, “we can be very comfortable about talent acquisition, because we know that is a draw for the kind of people that we’re trying to get, at these highly-technical levels,” she said.
As a 20-year veteran of the GovCon space, Patel said she too enjoys working in an organization that emphasizes that cutting-edge mentality.
“The company has such a wide range of technical capabilities,” she said. “It was founded by innovators, that’s a huge part of the culture, and I really like that.”
Patel studied engineering and worked in that field in the past. It’s an unusual combination of skills to bring to the contracts and procurement arena, and one that serves her well.
Engineering requires “understanding the technology, and also looking at operations and being able to make them more efficient and streamlined,” she said. In terms of contracting and procurement processes, “that background helps me see the bigger picture: where we can create efficiencies, where we can help solve problems.”
To grow the company, “we’ve got to be really efficient and cost effective,” she said. “Supply chain and contracts are a huge part of that. Effectively managing suppliers, improving productivity, even negotiating terms and conditions: All of that goes into mitigating risk, and it’s going to help the company grow.”