Pros
The legacy commercial provider healthcare IT services firms of Vitalize Consulting Solutions (VCS) and maxIT were staunch competitors and thriving profitable firms with strong independent cultures (not necessarily compatible). SAIC's initial acquisition of VCS was highly successful and they predominately allowed them to continue to manage themselves. The combined capabilities of SAIC / VCS showed promise for the commercial and perhaps federal provider sector at a later point in time. The legacy VCS culture and employee commitment was overall very strong. Compensation was not as lucrative as maxIT's, but fair. The year over year success of VCS provided employee growth opportunities and stability in good markets and bad. They managed responsibly with aggressive yet realistic goals.
Cons
SAIC purported to have studied the failures of other commercial provider services firms acquisition case studies (HealthLink, FCG, Superior) and would not repeat them. That lasted a year, and them due to their success with VCS they made poor decisions regarding the M&A of maxIT and the hasty formation of the combined competitors. SAIC itself was engineering it's own split (Leidos / SAIC) and took their eye off Leidos Health. Revenue expectations conveyed to Wall Street were absurd given the softening market conditions and the impact of the merger, yielding the avalanche of continual cascading reorganizations (layoffs) commencing within a quarter of the new fiscal year for the combined companies. This eventually led to the downfall of the top Leidos Health executives and the majority of the core management from VCS and maxIT, not to mention the consulting assets themselves. An eventual $ .5 billion write down of Leidos Health within a year conveys the reality of the matter. They are left with a smoldering wreck of what was the largest commercial healthcare IT provider services entity. Well documented debacle in the Washington business journals, etc., so you needn't take my iteration as gospel. Cultures have been crushed, Leidos VA leadership ineptitude has been exposed. Bonus and comp plans frozen or gutted.