College Station company recognized by the U.S. Small Business Administration

COLLEGE STATION, Texas (KBTX) – Knowledge Based Systems, Inc. (KBSI) was recognized nationally by the U.S. Small Business Administration and received the 2024 Small Business Subcontractor of the Year.

This company has been in College Station for the last 36 years and has created technology used by the Air Force, Navy, Army, NASA, and Homeland Security.

It all started in 1988 when Richard Mayer created Knowledge Based Systems Inc. in his garage with a Mac Plus computer. That computer is now displayed in KBSI’s building.

“We actually had the Lisp machines we did our research with, but then we had the Macintosh Plus to write our reports and generate our proposals,” said Mayer.

The College Station company has grown dramatically in the more than three decades they’ve been in operation.

“We’ve done a lot of work in the bio-security area,” said Mayer. “We’ve done a lot of work in the depots where they overhaul the equipment. As a matter of fact, if our soldiers fight with it, we have probably engineered the processes to repair it.”

KBSI is a leader in cybersecurity software research and development. As a dynamic engineering and systems analysis, consulting, and systems/software development company, they focus on various things.

KBSI also takes pride in its 20 ft by 10 ft portable data center facility. Shawn Reynolds, the Vice President of IT at KBSI, explains that the data center performs “high-capacity research and high-performance computing” where they can run 500 computers daily. The data center is completely backed up by batteries and generators.

One of their most notable achievements is creating the ASSURANT tool used by thousands in the U.S. Air Force.

“What the tool does is it helps the cyber engineers in the Air Force to secure the weapons system so they don’t get hacked when they are in flight,” said Mayer.

KBSI was nominated by one of the contractors it worked for, Ball Aerospace, now BAE Systems. The business won Small Business Subcontractor of the Year for Region 6, the South Central Region, and then went on to win the National Small Business Subcontractor of the Year award.

When Mayer found out he was being recognized, he was shocked.

“It’s very humbling, I didn’t expect it at all. I mean I got a call one day and they said ‘Oh you’re a National Award Winner’ and I said ‘Really? Of what?’” said Mayer.

The recognition goes a long way for the College Station business.

“Getting some National recognition is really great for a small company out of College Station, and having something like that here is huge for us,” said Reynolds.