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Clearwater Firm Bids For Work At Space Center

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: December 2, 2007

Amid all the changes at the Kennedy Space Center, there are some opportunities for small companies in the Tampa Bay area.

One, Aerodyne Industries LLC, a small technology firm based in Clearwater, is bidding on a four-year contract to provide computer networking and technical support across the space center complex. If picked, its systems would effectively run much of the U.S. space program in Florida.

It's a big project, and NASA has set aside part of the work for small businesses such as Aerodyne.

"We decided to take a bite of a big fish," said Pablo Santa Cruz, executive vice president of Aerodyne. "We may not know how big a fish it really is until we have it on the hook."

If successful, Cruz said his company could generate $70 million a year from the work and employ 600 new people, about 90 percent of them at the space center, with the rest in Clearwater. They in turn would subcontract a minority of their work to technology giants such as Electronic Data Systems and Honeywell International Inc.

Cruz said he should know the winner of the contract by the end of March.

Richard Mullins

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