Heidt Strategic Advisors — Advisory Service
Alex Heidt participated in more than $15 billion in M&A experience as a senior executive at Lockheed Martin, Harris Corporation, and Orbital Sciences. Heidt Strategic Advisors provides M&A targeting and due diligence advisory to defense contractors across the acquisition lifecycle — from target identification through post-close value realization.
CONTRACT PORTFOLIO REVIEW AND RISK IDENTIFICATION
CONTRACT RESTRUCTURING AND OPERATIONAL IMPROVEMENT POST-CLOSE
M&A Targeting & Due Diligence Advisory services are provided by Heidt Strategic Advisors and are distinct from and do not constitute legal representation by The Heidt Law Firm, PLLC. Engagement does not create an attorney-client relationship.
Defense contractor acquisitions present due diligence considerations that standard financial analysis may not capture. Government contract portfolios can carry risk and value that do not appear on financial statements. Acquirers who do not identify these factors may pay full price for hidden issues and leave negotiating leverage on the table.
The risks are specific and identifiable with the right expertise. Recoverable value is findable when the contract portfolio is reviewed by an executive with direct operational experience managing government contracts — reading them as financial structures with specific mechanics, vulnerabilities, and opportunities embedded in the contract language.
During due diligence on Lockheed Martin’s acquisition of OAO, Alex Heidt reviewed the target company’s government contract portfolio and identified significant recoverable value that was not reflected in the seller’s financial projections. The value was located in NASA IDIQ contracts that were underperforming due to improper invoicing structures and excessive material factoring costs — issues not visible in OAO’s financial statements but identifiable through review of the contract portfolio itself.
Alex Heidt used those findings to support negotiation of a lower purchase price — capturing the value before closing rather than discovering the issues afterward. Following closing, he restructured the contracts and invoicing structure, eliminating the cost drag and improving the performance of the acquired NASA operation.
The recoverable value was identified through direct government contract portfolio review — a capability rooted in operational experience with federal contract structures. Heidt Strategic Advisors applies this capability to defense sector M&A engagements.
Developing and executing the post-closing strategy that realizes the value identified during due diligence — contract restructuring, invoicing correction, operational improvement, and the actions that support the operational performance of the acquired business.
Defense contractor acquisitions involve government contract portfolios that carry risk and value invisible to standard financial analysis. Improper invoicing structures, FAR compliance exposure, defective pricing, cost accounting standard issues, and program performance obligations hidden in seller projections — none of these appear on a balance sheet, but all of them affect what a business is actually worth and what it will cost to own after closing. Identifying them requires expertise in government contract structures combined with financial analysis capability.
Government contract portfolio due diligence is a deep review of a target company’s active and recent government contracts — analyzing pricing structures, invoicing practices, FAR compliance, milestone obligations, subcontractor relationships, and the profitability assumptions embedded in each contract. The goal is to identify risk the seller has not disclosed and value the seller has not recognized, and to use both findings to inform the purchase price and post-close integration plan. This is distinct from standard financial due diligence, which focuses on historical financial statements but may not surface the contract-level mechanics that affect what those statements mean for a defense contractor.
By reading every contract in the portfolio with the perspective of an executive who has managed government contracts at scale — identifying the structural patterns that create cost drag, misstated margins, and recoverable value. In the OAO acquisition, the recoverable value was located in NASA IDIQ contracts with improper invoicing and excessive material factoring costs that made the contracts appear less profitable than they were structurally capable of being. Identifying that required understanding how those contracts should have been structured, how they were being billed, and what restructuring was available under the contract terms.
Yes. For defense contractor owners considering a sale, Heidt Strategic Advisors provides sell-side positioning advisory — helping owners understand how acquirers will evaluate their business, identify and address the contract portfolio issues that will create price adjustments during buyer due diligence, and present the business in the most compelling and defensible terms to the right strategic acquirers. The same knowledge that identifies problems on the buy side helps sellers get ahead of them before they become negotiating leverage for a buyer.
No. M&A Targeting and Due Diligence Advisory is a business consulting service provided by Heidt Strategic Advisors — not legal representation by The Heidt Law Firm, PLLC. Clients who require legal representation for the transaction itself — purchase agreement drafting, due diligence legal review, or post-acquisition dispute resolution — are served by The Heidt Law Firm separately. Many clients engage both practices for the same transaction, with Heidt Strategic Advisors providing advisory on the business and contract dimensions and The Heidt Law Firm handling the legal work.
Heidt Strategic Advisors advises on defense contractor acquisitions across a range of transaction sizes — from smaller tuck-in acquisitions of specialty government contractors to larger transactions involving established defense businesses. The contract portfolio due diligence capability is most directly valuable in transactions involving companies with significant government contract revenue, where standard financial due diligence may not capture the contract-level risks and value that affect acquisition outcomes.
Schedule a strategic consultation to discuss M&A targets, due diligence approach, or sell-side positioning.
