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The Urbana Corporate Center will soon be home to a new 400,000-square-foot National Service Center for the Social Security Administration, according to the Urbana center's developer.

Thomas Natelli, CEO of Natelli Communities in Gaithersburg, said Thursday that the General Services Administration chose the Urbana site, where about 200 new jobs are expected.

The project will have a budget of $500 million and is expected to be complete by the end of 2013, according to Natelli. The new service center is planned for use predominantly as a primary data operations center for the agency, along with some office space.

The agency will join Fannie Mae and Banner Life Insurance at the Urbana location.

Digital Management wins $25 million SBA deal

Digital Management of Bethesda has won a $25 million contract with the Small Business Administration to continue supporting its Information Technology Investment Management program.

Digital Management is to apply portfolio financial analytics and improved data integrity for SBA programs to continue enhancing the agency's capital planning and governance processes, ensure strategic alignment between investments and objectives and implement technology, according to a company statement.

Digital Management has worked with the SBA for the past seven years, currently managing more than 15 major and 12 other IT investments for the agency.

Baltimore company to be sold for $182M

Open Text of Waterloo, Ontario, has agreed to acquire Metastorm of Baltimore for $182 million in cash.

Metastorm provides business process management, analysis and software services. Stockholders representing a majority of the ownership of Metastorm have conditionally agreed to the deal, according to OpenText information.

"Metastorm will add complementary technology and expertise that enhances our ... portfolio," said John Shackleton, OpenText president and CEO, in a statement. The transaction is expected to close by March 31.

SGT wins $110M for Transportation project

Stinger Ghaffarian Technologies of Greenbelt won a task order worth about $110 million from the U.S. Department of Transportation and Volpe National Transportation Systems Center of Cambridge, Mass.

The main focus of the contract will be in system analysis, development, operations and maintenance; deployment and information security; system architectures and framework; facility and operations support; and technology assessment and modernization, according to company information.

RLJ Lodging files for $550M IPO

RLJ Lodging Trust of Bethesda has filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission for an initial public offering of up to $550 million.

The real estate investment trust will own 140 hotels in 19 states and Washington, D.C., with more than 20,400 rooms upon completion of the offering and other transactions. RLJ officials could not be reached for comment.

Marriot, Bechtel eyeing

worker safety in Egypt

Executives with Marriott International of Bethesda, which operates seven hotels in Egypt, and Bechtel of Frederick, which is doing work there, say they are monitoring the unrest in the country with the priority of safeguarding their employees.

A Marriott spokesman said in an e-mail to The Gazette Tuesday: "We are aware of and continue to monitor the developing situation in Cairo, Egypt. Although the unrest is not currently affecting areas in proximity to the two Marriott hotels located in the city of Cairo, we are carefully monitoring the situation. At this time the civil disturbances are centered on the east side of the Nile River."

The spokesman said the Cairo Marriott Hotel is on an island on the west side of the Nile and the JW Marriott Hotel Cairo is about 10 miles outside the city.

A Bechtel spokeswoman said in an e-mail that Bechtel employees in Egypt are providing engineering and management support services for power facilities, and that the company is "taking steps to ensure employee safety."

Sinclair, Time Warner agree on new contract

Sinclair Broadcast Group of Hunt Valley has signed a multiyear agreement with Time Warner Cable to carry 28 television stations that Sinclair owns and/or operates in 17 markets, according to a Sinclair statement.

The agreement ends a standoff in negotiations that initially had threatened to terminate carriage in those markets on Jan. 1, when the old contract expired. Since then, an extension was in effect while talks continued. Financial details were not disclosed.

None of the affected markets is in Maryland. The closest to Maryland is Pittsburgh.

Bethesda firm awarded Justice contract

Development Services Group of Bethesda has been selected by the Department of Justice to support the goal of Assistant Attorney General Laurie Robinson to integrate evidence-based approaches into the work of the Office of Justice Programs, according to a company statement.

The company is to field a team of national and international scholars in criminal justice, juvenile justice and victimology from 30 universities, officials said. The contract's value was not disclosed.

SBA launches program for women-owned firms

The U.S. Small Business Administration is launching a new program today to help women-owned small businesses win federal contracts.

The program is to be fully implemented during the next few months, with the first contracts expected to be awarded by this summer, according to an SBA statement.

"Implementing the Women-Owned Small Business contracting rule has been a top priority for the Obama Administration and SBA," Administrator Karen Mills said in the statement. "Women-owned businesses are one of the fastest growing sectors of the economy. ... Federal contracts can provide women-owned small businesses with the oxygen they need to take their business to the next level."

Information: sba.gov/wosb.

Lanham NASCAR licensee signs with IndyCar

G&G Outfitters, a NASCAR merchandise licensee in Lanham, has added IndyCar to its portfolio of sports licenses.

G&G is one of two current licensees for NASCAR, according to company information.

Bankruptcy court approves Grace plan

A federal bankruptcy judge this week approved the Chapter 11 reorganization plan of W.R. Grace & Co. of Columbia.

The plan will next be considered by U.S. District Court in Delaware, Grace officials said in a statement. Grace filed for bankruptcy protection in April 2001.

Grace is a global supplier of catalysts and other products for a variety of industries, including petroleum, food and beverage and commercial and residential construction, according to company information.

Vertis to partner with Minnesota firm

Vertis Communications of Baltimore, which provides marketing and advertising services, is partnering with Grocery Shopping Network of Minneapolis, which provides digital grocery advertising promotion and planning services.

The partnership will improve the Inserts2online services by Vertis, which provides grocers with insight on customer behavior. Interim President, CEO and CFO of Vertis, Jerry Sokol, said in a statement,

"Grocers need to be online with savings opportunities and product information, as well as tool consumers can use to plan their trips to stores," said Jerry Sokol, Vertis' interim CEO, in a statement.

The Vertis 120 will allow grocers to meet the demand of online content while also generating revenues from the network's digital display ads, achieving greater return on their investments, building customer awareness, increasing store traffic and sales, and measuring impact, according to company information.

MedAssurant to help on insulin study

MedAssurant of Bowie is partnering with the University of North Carolina to study the relationship between the use of long-acting insulin to treat diabetes and the development of cancer. The study intends to clarify the relationship using clinical and administrative health care data sets, including one that contains more than 3.9 billion medical events from more than 76 million patients, according to a company statement.

"Depth of data is critical to this study and is believed to have been a significant limitation in past studies," John Buse, chief of endocrinology and professor of medicine at the university, said in the statement. "We are delighted to have access to the analytical capabilities and data insight able to be brought to bear by MedAssurant and look forward to the additional power that this will bring to our research on the topic."

"Unfortunately, previous studies have been challenged by smaller sample sizes, limited patient information, and short observation periods," Stephen DeCherney, a MedAssurant senior vice president of pharmaceuticals and life sciences, said in the statement. The new work will draw on "a rich database both in volume and in duration of information that will allow us to understand more deeply the long-term safety risks associated with long-acting prescription insulin."