Orlando, Fla.–(ORLANDO BUSINESS JOURNAL)– The last two years have been a test of patience for Command Post Technologies Inc.

The Suffolk, Virginia-based government cybersecurity contractor expanded to Orlando in February 2020, starting with an office at the University of Central Florida Research Park Incubator before it settled on a permanent office. However, the Covid-19 pandemic began to trigger stay-at-home orders and remote work only a couple of weeks after Command Post cut the ribbon at the UCF incubator.

More than two years later, Command Post in June opened its new office, a 3,500-square-foot space in Orlando’s Research Park. Despite all the disruptions the last two years threw into Command Post’s plans, CEO Scott Bisciotti told Orlando Inno the firm never questioned its decision to grow into Central Florida. “We just had to be patient.”

After graduating from the UCF Business Incubation Program, Command Post is poised to return to its pre-pandemic hiring plans and add jobs at its new office at 12001 Research Parkway. The incubator’s soft landing program for existing businesses expanding to Orlando from outside the market enabled Command Post to wait patiently to sign an office lease until the federal government worked out the kinks of its pandemic-era contracting process.

However, the tech company may create even more high-wage jobs, thanks to a big contract win earlier this year.

Command Post was one of 14 companies picked to work on the U.S. Army’s $2.4 billion National Cyber Range Complex lot 2 contract. The award is a 10-year deal to support the military’s initiative to create a network of facilities able to host large-scale cybersecurity missions.

The firm aims to add up to 20 employees to its five-person Orlando team in the next two years, but may hire even more if the contract goes well, Bisciotti said.

The company lists 20 open Orlando positions on its website. They’re primarily high-wage analyst, developer, cybersecurity and engineer roles.

The Research Park area adjacent the University of Central Florida is a hub for defense work, especially in high-tech areas like modeling, simulation and training. In fact, the National Cyber Range Complex program is based in Orlando, and Orlando-based Dignitas Technologies LLC and Lockheed Martin Corp.’s east Orlando campus were winners on the contract alongside Command Post.

For many people, modeling, simulation and training invokes thoughts of flight simulators and virtual reality headsets, said George Cheros, president and CEO of the Orlando-based National Center for Simulation. However, that’s the simulation side of the industry; the modeling component is the science that lets companies create virtual environments to safely run cybersecurity exercises, he said.

Because of that, the National Cyber Range Complex may be a boon for Orlando companies, Cheros added. “There’s going to be, over the next several years, hundreds of millions if not billions of dollars coming out of that.”

Defense contractors are a major part of Central Florida’s technology sector, and the region wins billions of dollars in federal deals each year. For example, there was $6.2 billion of federal contract work ongoing in metro Orlando in fiscal year 2021, according to federal contracting data.