Comarco Buys Majority Stock in Virginia Firm

Comarco Inc. has purchased 82% of the preferred stock of a McLean, Va., government contractor and expects to acquire the balance of the company in a second step early next year. The value of the transaction was not revealed.

The Anaheim-based developer of computer technology and engineering support services for the defense and aerospace industries will offer either cash or stock for the remaining equity of Decisions and Designs Inc., according to Comarco President Glenn D. Buell, Jr.

DDI’s 1985 revenue is expected to be about $6 million, he said.

The acquisition of DDI will give Comarco an advantage in its pursuit of defense contracts involving special intelligence programs, Buell said.

In order to gain contracts in such programs, special security clearances must be acquired, he said; then again, to obtain the clearances a company must have a contract. The only way to get the clearances would be to buy a company with them. “It’s definitely a Catch-22 situation,” he said.

More than 50% of DDI’s 80 employees have the special security clearances required of companies with contracts in such programs, Buell said.

The purchase of DDI, a 14-year-old, privately held company which has developed technology for a moving map display compatible with Comarco’s pilot guidance system, would also help the Anaheim firm’s visibility in the Washington, D.C. area.