Deloitte Becomes Latest Example of Growing Cybersecurity Workforce in Colorado Springs, Colo.

(TNS) — The technology consulting arm of accounting giant Deloitte & Touche LLP has hired 25 cybersecurity specialists for an office it has opened near downtown Colorado Springs and hopes to double its staff during the next two years, a company partner said.

Most of the employees in the office work on a $5.1 million, one-year Cyber Defense Engineering and Training contract awarded nearly a year ago by Air Force Space Command to Deloitte Consulting that includes two six-month options to extend the deal. Under the contract, Deloitte will develop "defensive cyber capability" for the command's space mission systems and later train command personnel how to use the systems Deloitte developed.

The command said in the contract that it selected Deloitte because the company had already been working with Space Command to develop the defensive cyber capabilities.

Deloitte's expansion to Colorado Springs is the latest example of cybersecurity companies flocking to the area to seek a growing number of government contracts for such work that also includes startups and mid-sized firms. The National Cybersecurity Center opened late last year in a former satellite manufacturing plant to act as a think tank and catalyst for the growing industry as part of a vision by Gov. John Hickenlooper to make the city a hub for such work.

"We expect to grow (the office) significantly over two years and we could be looking at doubling the size," said David Rogers, a Denver-based partner in Deloitte Advisory's federal operation who also works in the company's office in Catalyst Campus, 559 E. Pikes Peak Ave. "The growth would come from the expansion of existing contracts, but we also are pursuing contracts with Fort Carson, Northern Command and the North American Aerospace Defense Command."

Deloitte located its office in the campus, which is designed to help small businesses focused on aerospace, defense and cybersecurity to grow, because of the innovative companies already located in the three-building complex, Rogers said. The 9-month-old office was part of an expansion of Deloitte's defense and national security consulting business that it eventually hopes to widen to include civilian federal agencies as well as state and local governments.

©2018 The Gazette (Colorado Springs, Colo.) Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.