What Orion Consortium does

Orion Consortium, LLC is a privately held, family-owned IT consulting firm founded in 2000 by Francesca R. Cartwright and headquartered in Crownsville, Maryland. The company operates as a "consortium" of security-cleared consultants delivering professional services across four core areas: Software Engineering/Integration, Systems Engineering/Infrastructure Support, Information Security, and IT Training. Its primary customer base is the U.S. Department of Defense, federal agencies, and the intelligence community, supplemented by Fortune 500 enterprise clients, municipal governments, and small businesses. Differentiated service offerings include ITSC Operations Management, a Center of Excellence for remote desktop administration, Citrix desktop virtualization, VMware server virtualization, Oracle Real Application Cluster (RAC) database architecture, knowledge management systems, and 24x7 service desk operations.

Orion generates revenue through professional services engagements (staffing and consulting contracts) awarded primarily via direct, relationship-based sales to government and enterprise clients. The firm maintains dedicated business development and technical staffing personnel to source prospective contracts and cleared candidates. Quantified outcomes cited include an ITSC efficiency rating above 99%, zero unplanned database outages, a 15% performance/output increase over an 18-month period, and scaling support from a few hundred servers to 60,000+ desktops. Pricing is not publicly disclosed; all engagements flow through government or enterprise contracts.

Leadership is concentrated around President and founder Francesca R. Cartwright, with Steven Henz as Director of Operations (12-year tenure), Jessica Standiford Barragan as Chief Administrative Officer/Chief Security Services Officer, Shelbye Schlange as Director of Workforce Development (since 2013), Tyler Masters as Business Development Consultant, Scarlett Ellis as Technical Staffing Manager, and Allen Neff as Vice President. The company has no disclosed investors, parent company, M&A history, patents, trademarks, or formal certifications. More recent activity includes exploratory international business delegation participation in April 2026 with a Samarkand Region, Uzbekistan delegation led by Hokim Adiz Boboev, and parallel discussions alongside Al Hijrah Global in Malaysia, suggesting tentative geographic expansion attempts beyond the firm's historical U.S. federal focus.

Name

Orion Consortium

Legal name

Orion Consortium, LLC

Website

https://orionconsortium.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2000

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Orion Consortium is a family-owned, Maryland-based IT consulting firm founded in 2000 that provides security-cleared consultants across software engineering, systems engineering, information security, and IT training to U.S. DOD, federal, intelligence community, Fortune 500, and municipal clients.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

IT Consulting Services

NAICS

Computer Systems Design and Related Services (54151), Management Consulting Services (54161), Engineering Services (541330)

SIC

Services-Management Consulting Services (8742), Services-Computer Integrated Systems Design (7373), Services-Engineering, Accounting, Research, Management (8700)

akta.pro primary industry

Enterprise Architecture & IT Operating Model (BPAHAEAB)

akta.pro secondary industries

Strategy & IT Advisory (BPAEAAAA), Infrastructure, Networking & Systems Administration Training (BPAEANAJ), Software/Application Support (SaaS, Enterprise Apps) (BPAAACAC)

Keywords

• IT consulting services
• Government IT services
• Cybersecurity consulting
• Systems engineering services
• Defense technology consulting

Headquarters

HQ city

Crownsville

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. IT Consulting Services: Orion Consortium generates revenue through providing IT consulting services to government agencies (DOD, federal agencies, intelligence community), Fortune 500 companies, small businesses, and municipal governments. The company employs consultants with security clearances who deliver solutions across software engineering, systems engineering, information security, and IT training. Revenue is derived from staffing and consulting engagements on various contracts.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels1 record

Core offering

Orion Consortium provides IT consulting services to the U.S. Department of Defense, federal agencies, the intelligence community, Fortune 500 companies, small businesses, and municipal governments. Core offerings span Software Engineering/Integration, Systems Engineering/Infrastructure Support, Information Security, and IT Training, staffed by security-cleared consultants with graduate-level expertise. The firm delivers additional capabilities including ITSC operations management, Center of Excellence support, Citrix and VMware virtualization, Oracle RAC database architecture, knowledge management, project management, telephony support, and service desk operations.

Product overview

Orion Consortium is an IT consulting firm providing professional services across four core areas: Software Engineering/Integration, Systems Engineering/Infrastructure Support, Information Security, and IT Training. The company operates as a consortium of highly qualified consultants with security clearances who support government (including DOD and federal agencies), defense, intelligence, fortune 500 companies, municipal governments, and small business clients. The portfolio includes specialized service offerings such as ITSC Operations Manager, Center of Excellence (COE), IT training, desktop virtualization (Citrix), server virtualization (VMware), database architecture (Oracle RAC), knowledge management, project management, telephony support, and service desk operations. Orion was founded in 2000 and brings over 30+ years of combined expertise in IT security.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Software Engineering / Integration Provides software engineering and integration services for government, defense, intelligence, and enterprise clients, including custom application development and deployment in enterprise environments.
• Systems Engineering / Infrastructure Support Offers systems engineering expertise and infrastructure support services for complex government, defense, and intelligence projects, including server/desktop virtualization and WIFI infrastructure delivery.
• Information Security
• IT Training

Quantifiable outcome

• Improved ITSC efficiency rating to over 99% with Oracle RAC environment deployment
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers5 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Two partnerships are on record, tiered minor.

• Samarkand Region, UzbekistanminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 4 April 2026Orion Consortium participated in discussions with a delegation from Samarkand region, Uzbekistan led by Hokim Adiz Boboev. Orion Consortium proposed establishing modern dialysis centers in Samarkand to improve kidney disease treatment services. This represents a potential international healthcare infrastructure project. Implementation is expected to enhance Samarkand region's investment attractiveness and strengthen its international economic ties.
• Al Hijrah GlobalminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerAl Hijrah Global also participated in the same delegation discussions in Malaysia. While Al Hijrah Global explored importing fresh and dried fruits from Samarkand into the Malaysian market, Orion Consortium's separate proposal focused on healthcare (dialysis centers). Both companies were part of the same business delegation but appear to be pursuing different project opportunities.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves3 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• CACI International: CACI provides enterprise IT, cyber, and systems engineering services to DOD, federal civilian, and intelligence customers — directly overlapping Orion's four core service lines but operating as a publicly traded incumbent prime.
• ManTech International: ManTech is a large federal IT and cybersecurity services provider serving DOD and intelligence agencies with cleared staff — the same buyer base Orion targets, but at meaningfully greater scale and contract breadth.
• ICF International: ICF is a public-sector and commercial IT consulting firm that combines management consulting with technical implementation for federal and commercial clients — overlapping Orion's IT consulting and cybersecurity offerings with greater scale.
• Parsons Corporation: Parsons delivers systems engineering, IT, and cybersecurity solutions to defense and intelligence customers — directly comparable to Orion's systems engineering and infrastructure support capabilities from a larger incumbent vantage.
• Leidos: Leidos is a Fortune 500 federal systems integrator offering software engineering, IT modernization, and cybersecurity across defense, intelligence, and federal civilian — competing for the same contracts and talent as Orion at much larger scale.
• SAIC: SAIC delivers IT, engineering, and integration services to DOD and federal agencies, including cleared staff on mission-critical programs — an incumbent prime in Orion's exact product and customer space.
• Booz Allen Hamilton: Booz Allen Hamilton is a major federal management and technology consulting firm with a deep cleared-consultant bench serving DOD and intelligence clients - directly overlapping Orion's cybersecurity and IT consulting positioning.

Direct peers

• Novetta: Novetta is a mid-sized federal advanced analytics and cybersecurity services firm serving national security customers — comparable in scale and cleared-staff delivery model to Orion, particularly on intelligence community work.
• ECS Federal: ECS Federal provides IT, cloud, cyber, and engineering services to DOD, intelligence, and federal civilian agencies — comparable in size and service portfolio to Orion, with similar clearances and prime-sub relationships.
• KEYW Corporation (now Jacobs): KEYW was a mid-sized cleared-staff federal IT and cyber services contractor focused on the intelligence community before its acquisition — directly comparable to Orion in size, customer focus, and reliance on cleared talent.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles7 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Orion Consortium