SAIC relocates headquarters to Tysons Corner

Science Applications International Corp. soon will bring nearly 1,200 new jobs to the area when it relocates its headquarters from San Diego to Tysons Corner.

SAIC likely will relocate about 100 top-level employees from California, according to company officials. The other 1,100 employees will be hired locally.

“Only a handful of the 4,500 San Diego employees will be affected,” said SAIC board chairman Ken Dahlberg at a Sept. 24 press conference at the company’s Tysons campus attended by Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine (D) and other state and local politicians.

The company -- Fairfax County’s fourth-largest employer -- already has 6,000 people at its 18-acre Tysons Corner campus. It has another 11,000 at sites throughout Northern Virginia, including five locations in Sterling. Nationwide, SAIC has about 45,000 employees.

Overall, relocation of the headquarters will cost SAIC about $25 million, but Kaine said the company will receive $8.5 million in incentives to see it through.

Approximately $7 million will come from the Virginia Economic Incentives Program, while $1.5 million will be drawn from the Governor’s Opportunity Fund.

“We are proud of our pro-business credentials,” Kaine said Sept. 24. “We have again been named by Forbes magazine as the most business-friendly state, for the fourth year in a row.”

Under his tenure as governor, five Fortune 500 companies have relocated their headquarters to Virginia. Both Volkswagen of America and Hilton Hotels recently relocated headquarters from California to Fairfax County.

“SAIC has now been scooped up from California as well,” said Rep. Jim Moran (D-8th District), who also attended the press conference. “This is one of Governor Kaine’s legacies.”

SAIC is a federal defense contracting business that describes itself on its Web site as “a leading provider of scientific, engineering, systems integration and technical services and solutions.”

At the Sept. 24 announcement, CEO Walt Havenstein presented Kaine with a memento of the occasion, and called SAIC “a great company doing great things for our country, now headquartered in your state.”

Havenstein said SAIC is committed to being a good corporate neighbor and stressed the importance of “capturing the imagination of young people” with science and technology. “It is critical for our nation,” he said.

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