AECOM opens downtown Augusta office

A multi-national engineering and construction firm with major operations at Savannah River Site has planted a flag in downtown Augusta to make inroads into the city's cyber industry.

Los Angeles-based AECOM on Tuesday cut the ribbon on its office at 973 Broad St., just two blocks from the Georgia Cyber Center complex on Reynolds Street. The Fortune 500 company, which is helping SRS close high-level radioactive liquid waste storage tanks, also has expertise in information technology and cybersecurity.

The Augusta-based employees will pursue business-development opportunities created by Fort Gordon's Army Cyber Command and the Cyber Center of Excellence.

"This is in anticipation of all the construction and cyber opportunities that are going on at the fort," said Earl Johnson, an AECOM senior vice president and retired Army colonel who will head the office. "We're also looking to work with the Georgia Cyber Center and Augusta University."

Hamp McManus, AECOM's vice president of defense programs, said the firm wants to build relationships with established and emerging cyber companies.

"A big part of our charter here is the business-to-business baseline we can build off of as we look at opportunities at Fort Gordon," said McManus, a retired Army major general. "It's a lot of fun – the market is wide open down here."

An Augusta Metro Chamber of Commerce-organized ribbon-cutting event featured AECOM making a $25,000 donation to the CSRA Alliance for Fort Gordon, a community organization promoting cyber-industry development in a seven-county area.

The group's executive director, Tom Clark, said AECOM has become one of the largest corporate contributors.

"They've been instrumental in helping us with our workforce needs. Two years ago, this region only had six CyberPatriot teams," Clark said, referring to the national cyber education initiative. "In the last two years, we've averaged about 80 or so a year."