Trade Files: CCC Group

Company Name: CCC Group Inc., Detention Systems Division

Established: 1996 (CCC founded in 1947)

Headquarters: San Antonio

President/CEO: Arthur D. Huebner

Employees: 1,800

Annual Revenue: $419 million (2009)

Federal Identification Number: 74-2391991

SIC Code(s): 1541; 1629

 

• $9.9 million detention equipment package (1,008 beds) Fort Bend County Jail Expansion, Richmond, Texas

• $9.6 million detention equipment package (722 beds) Montgomery County Detention Facility, Montgomery, Ala.

• $7.5 million detention equipment package (448 beds) Coffee County Jail and Sheriff’s Operation Center, Douglas, Ga.

• $4.0 million detention equipment/security electronics package (1,024 beds) Hall County Jail and Law Enforcement Center, Gainesville, Ga.

• $3.7 million detention equipment/security electronics package (658 beds) Bell County Jail, Belton, Texas

 

CCC Group’s Detention Systems Division is closing in on its 15th year in the corrections market, which is no mean feat given the testing economic climate that has seen many firms go to the wall over the last several years.

 

“Ours has been very much a planned, steady growth and I think that’s one of the main reasons we’re still around and doing well,” says Randy DeMent, manager of CCC’s Detention Systems Division. “When we’ve decided to expand, we’ve put the resources in place beforehand instead of taking on more work and then scrambling around trying to come up with the resources to get it done.”

 

In November, as reported in Correctional News (Jan/Feb 2010 issue), Houston-based firm Turner Construction presented CCC’s Detention Systems Division with an Excellence Award for Quality in recognition of the detention equipment contractor’s contribution to the $66 million expansion of the Fort Bend County Jail in Richmond, Texas.

 

The 250,000-square-foot expansion and renovation project, which was designed by Atlanta-based architectural firm Rosser International, included 213,000 square feet of new construction. The new nine-story jail tower adds 1,008 beds to relieve severe overcrowding and minimize the number of inmates housed in other jurisdictions.

 

The detention equipment package on the Fort Bend expansion, valued at almost $10 million, covered security hollow metal doors, frames, ceiling and wall panels, decking, mezzanine-level metal stairs and rails, security hardware, furnishings and accessories, plumbing and light fixtures, and security glazing.

 

The industry veteran — DeMent has been in the business since 1972 — sees expanded project scope as one of the most significant trends in the market during the last 20 years.

 

“Our scope of work on this project was probably the most comprehensive we’ve ever done,” DeMent says.

 

DeMent has managed CCC’s Detention Systems Division since joining in 1996 to establish the division, which provides engineering, project management and installation services to support the integration of physical and electronic security products in turnkey packages for new and existing correctional facilities in domestic and international markets.

 

“The day I walked in here, I was the division, literally, and they gave me a free hand to set it up,” DeMent says.

 

The Turner quality award is perhaps a timely illustration of a business credo that underpins the division’s initial growth and continued success within a sector renowned for its demanding conditions.

 

“I started full time in this industry in 1972,” DeMent says. “That’s a long time to have been around and I’ve seen a lot of different firms come and go,” DeMent says. “One of things I proposed when I came here was to capitalize on some of the mistakes that others had made.

 

“No. 1, we would never take on more work than we could perform well. That sounds like a pretty obvious principle, but it’s amazing how many times I’ve seen people do that in the past.”

 

The company also determined early on that the division would differentiate itself on the basis of its performance, and follow through on its commitments and obligations to clients and partners.

 

CCC’s organizational structure, which is set up to ensure consistency of performance, also has a range of protocols in place to monitor work, progress and cost control.

 

“We have all kinds of project controls in place, including risk analyses or bid adjudications within the estimate, to track projects from beginning to end,” DeMent says. “At any given point in time I can tell you exactly what’s going on with a project, schedule wise, manpower wise, financials.”

 

In addition, DeMent still makes a point of getting out into the field to gauge job performance.

 

“I’m looking with a critical eye at what we’re doing, but I’m also looking at what the other trades on the job are doing, which is important for us to be able to do what we need to do when we need to do it,” DeMent says.

 

Originally founded 1947, the company was incorporated as CCC Group Inc. in 1985 through a statutory merger of its four related divisions.