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Lockheed to open local immigration call center
New Mexico Business Weekly - 2:52 PM MDT Wednesdayby Paul KrzaNMBW staff
Lockheed Martin plans to hire about 350 people within the next several months to staff a new immigration-information call center in downtown Albuquerque.

The new center, one of two being set up by Lockheed Martin Information Technology, will be operated by a newly acquired Lockheed subsidiary, Aspen Systems Corp. Lockheed Martin (NYSE:LMT), headquartered in Bethesda, Md., this week was awarded a $120 million, five-year contract with the Department of Homeland Security to field telephone calls about immigration services and benefits, according to a release from the company.

A DHS sub-agency, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, provides the information through its National Customer Service Center, but the actual work is done by private contractors. The center receives nearly 10 million callers annually, the release notes.

In addition to the Albuquerque facility, Lockheed-Aspen also plans to open a call center in Indianapolis, Ind., to handle the call volume. Both facilities will be staffed to provide 10 hours of service daily across all U.S. time zones.

Joe Wagovich, a Lockheed Martin spokesman, says the Albuquerque center will be the larger of the two new facilities. The center will be located on one floor in the Plaza Campana building, the location of a recently shuttered Qwest call center Downtown, he says. The building also housed some of the former US West operations, the successor to Mountain Bell, at one time.

Lockheed-Aspen has already begun advertising to fill all positions at the Indianapolis facility, but only the top-level personnel such as site managers and team trainers for the Albuquerque facility. Wagovich says the hiring schedule for the Albuquerque center indicates that all hiring for the 350 jobs will be done "within the next three or four months."

Wagovich wouldn't disclose what the pay range would be at the Albuquerque facility, saying that was "proprietary" information. But the advertising for the Albuquerque jobs notes that one benefit is free parking.

Aspen Systems, an employee-owned information management company that employs more than 1,700 people, was founded in 1958 and is based in Rockville, Md. It was acquired by Lockheed Martin in December 2005.

More than 90 percent of Aspen Systems' current revenue is generated from the federal government, predominantly from civil agency customers, the release notes. The company's revenue was approximately $165 million in 2004.

"Our contact centers are operated by expertly trained staff who use the latest constituent relationship management technologies to deliver high-quality, accurate, and timely responses to customers," according to a description on the Lockheed-Aspen Web site. "We are particularly adept at managing sudden, unplanned surges in call volumes by applying workforce management tools, industry best practices, and a stand-ready pool of additional agents to meet unexpected demands."

Lockheed Martin employs about 135,000 people worldwide and is principally engaged in the research, design, development, manufacture, integration, and sustainment of advanced technology systems, products, and services, according to its Web site. It also manages for the Department of Energy Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque. The corporation reported 2005 sales of $37.2 billion.