From constructing roofing to providing pest control and military uniforms, DuPage County suburbs and other communities throughout Illinois have been at the forefront of the war on terror.

Illinois firms selling goods and services won defense contracts totaling nearly $14 billion since September 2001, according to a GateHouse News Service analysis.

Defense contractors are based throughout the state and represent a wide range of industries, from advertising and manufacturing to engineering and construction.

Clarke Mosquito Control in Roselle has been providing mosquito abatement equipment to the military for more than a decade, according to Dave McLaughlin, spokesman for the company.

The company is now in its fourth year of a five-year, $400,000 contract with the military to provide insecticides, spray units and surveillance equipment to monitor mosquito populations and species. The supplies are currently being used to help keep insect pests away from troops overseas in the current war, McLaughlin said.

“The Department of Defense views mosquito control in a different light than we do,” McLaughlin said. “They assume they have to be ready to battle mosquitos or insects at any point in time, at any place in the world. ... The military always needs some specific modifications done to the equipment in order to make it field-rugged, as they call it.”

Their contract is part of a billion dollar industry in Illinois that has fluctuated over the years. Annual contract awards in Illinois dropped slightly from $1.97 billion in 2000 to $1.95 billion in 2001 but then climbed steadily to $3.6 billion in 2005 as the war on terror progressed.

McLaughlin said the military demands of the contract have pushed the company to improve its own equipment and insecticides. The military has a grant program from which Clarke has applied for funds, which helps develop and perfect equipment.

McLaughlin said any time a new product is being designed, the company keeps the intense conditions under which the military operates in mind.

“The military’s needs are quite demanding and they are constantly pushing the industry to progress,” he said. “For them, it’s not only what the environment or habitat is, it’s whether the insect is carrying a virus. ... It’s expanded our horizons and (given us) an understanding of broadening needs in a global sense.”

Lombard’s 1st Army Supply store has been supplying uniforms, backpacks and other supplies for the troops since around the beginning of the current war, five years ago.
“We ship out their uniforms, backpacks and a little bit of everything,” said Anna Marie Murguia, the store’s manager. “I just finished sending out shorts and backpacks for the Army.”

The most recent contract was for $1,000, but this was not the first and will not be the last for this year, Murguia said. While she did not have a total available for contracts received in 2007 so far, she said last year’s contracts totaled around $20,000.

The military contracts helped get the five-year-old business off the ground, Murguia said, and continues to support about 30 percent of its annual revenue today. The majority of the contracts come from the Army and Navy branches, she said.

“The amount of contracts we get varies,” Murguia said. “You’re put on a list for being able to provide these services and ... it all depends on what they’re looking for.”

Delta Structures, out of Wood Dale, has been building canopies for the Department of Defense for about 10 years now, according to Vice President Ken Olson. Olson said the past decade has seen about 15 contracts, which range in value from $100,000 to $500,000, with the most recent contract coming in around $325,000.

“We’ve done this for years, and the contracts come and go,” Olson said. “We’ll make inspection canopies or entrance canopies. ... They will use them by site; some on a naval base port or entry points along the borders.”

Of the 15-year-old company’s 30 employees, about 10 people work on creating the canopies for the government contracts. This may increase as they are currently looking at bidding on a $1 million contract with the military.

The roof structures they create for the government represent a significant and rewarding portion of their work, Olson said.

“It’s a good business as far as exposure is concerned,” Olson said. “It opens up the door for us to do other government contract work and ... other projects that show our experience and capability.”

The greatest increases in Illinois companies winning Department of Defense contracts occurred in 2002, with a 23 percent jump over the previous year, and in 2004, with a 40 percent jump.

Afghanistan was invaded a month after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Iraq was invaded in 2003.

Even so, Illinois isn’t basking in federal dollars. The state has long been a donor, in the sense that it contributes more to the federal government in tax dollars than it gets back in spending.

A study by the Tax Foundation in Washington found that Illinois enjoyed just 73 cents in federal spending for every dollar it contributed in 2004, the last year for which data are available. Illinois ranked 46th among states in bang for its buck.

“It’s good to have it (in Illinois) as opposed to someplace else,” says J. Fred Giertz, a University of Illinois economist. “But generally, when military spending goes up and taxes go up, Illinois tends not to be a net beneficiary because we end up paying more in taxes than we get in procurement. States like California or Mississippi or Connecticut — or other places where they have lots of airplanes or missiles or boats — tend to do better.”

John Lewis, a Northern Illinois University economist, sees a potentially positive impact for Illinois with the increase in defense contracts. Studies show that every $1 million in federal spending can create as many as seven to 10 direct and indirect jobs.

“The question becomes, is Illinois continuing to get less than its share, or will these contracts actually move Illinois closer toward its proportional share of federal expenditures?” he said.

The contract data used by GateHouse News Serif are from FedSpending.org, a project of OMB Watch, and GovernmentContractsWon.com. The analysis included defense contracts awarded to Illinois firms from 2000 through 2006. Figures for fiscal 2006, which ended Sept. 30, are incomplete.