Russian market unearthed by Geocomp

Geocomp Corporation, the infrastructure risk management experts based in Boxborough, MA, recently announced it had signed Engineering Centre Of Urals Energetic, a Russian utility company to the largest single-order contract for sale of fully automated soil testing systems in the company's 23-year history.

The agreement is valued at approximately of $422,000 with a potential second phase of the agreement worth an additional $180,000.

"This is a significant achievement for our company," said Rachid Hankour, vice president and director of Lab Systems at Geocomp. He added, "It took many months of intense negotiations but in the end, we were able to provide Engineering Centre Of Urals Energetic with the advanced technology they needed to do the job."

Geocomp's client base includes universities, private labs and government agencies and the company is well established in the United States. Among the Geocomp's clients are the US Corp of Engineers , Lawrence Livermore National Lab at the University of California, and x number of DOT and Universities. The company also took an active role in Boston's Big Dig including the instrumentation of the Zakim Bridge, which has become a landmark in Boston since its construction in 2002.

According to Dr. W. Allen Marr, President and CEO of the company, "This sale follows a trend we have seen for the past two years where growing companies outside the US are buying US made products for their high quality, robustness and ease-of-use."

Geocomp has clients overseas as well including Korea, China, Brazil, Vietnam in the educational and private sectors but this agreement is the company's first into Russia.

"Our company receives hundreds of overseas requests per year and it does take some time to weed out the truly serious inquiries," said Hankour. "It requires a great deal of work to establish a client outside of the US, it involves translation of materials knowing the culture and establishing a trust between both parties."

To that end, Geocomp has registered with the United States Export Center and the Massachusetts Export Center, affiliations Hankour feels were instrumental in contract negotiations. Julia Dvorko, program director for the Massachusetts Export Center and helped break the language barriers. "I basically helped structure the deal and basically helped to make sure everyone was on the same page," said Dvorko. "It is always a risk when you are doing business internationally on both sides because each knows very little about the other. I feel this is a very good deal for both sides and in the process each company has learned a great deal about each other and their countries."

Hankour also worked closely with Ms. Sabina Yushakova of VVS-Engineering in Russia who served as the agent representing Engineering Centre Of Urals Energetic. It is also expected an engineer from Engineering Centre of Urals Energetic will spend time at the Geocomp facility in Boxboro beginning in late October.

"There were times when we were skeptical about whether this contract would ever get done," said Hankour. "They kept in contact with us and spent time and money getting our specs translated from English to Russian and asking many technical questions. They entertained bids from other European countries but I think the overall value package of our knowledge, advanced technology, and cost led them to the decision to choose Geocomp."

Established in 1982, Geocomp Corporation is headquartered in Boxborough, MA. The company helps clients identify and manage risks associated with construction and operation of infrastructure. It is a technology-based company focused on identifying and applying the most appropriate technologies to help our clients manage risk cost effectively. The core strengths of the company include: analysis methods to identify and quantify significant sources of risk, materials testing to reduce uncertainty in structural behavior, developing client specific software and hardware solutions, and real-time WEB-based monitoring to reduce consequences of unexpected performance.

For additional information about Geocomp Corporation, please visit their website, www.GeoComp.com, or call (978) 635-0012.