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ANDOVER — Life must be good down at the Dynamics Research Corp. HQ on Frontage Road in Andover these days. Over the past couple of weeks, the company has issued a series of statements regarding recent multi-million-dollar contracts, including the following:

– A $14.3 million deal with the U.S. Air Force to provide the 303rd Reconnaissance and 516th Mobility Aeronautical Systems Wings with “acquisition management, test, evaluation, engineering, acquisition
logistics, configuration, data management, security management,
administrative support, and contracting support services.”

– An $11.5 million deal with Defense Media Activity (which does all the media relations work for the entire military) “to continue providing thought leadership, analysis, and technical expertise on emerging media options and creative services in the form of writing, editing, videography and web site design and development to the U.S. Department of Defense’s Office of Public Communication.”

– A $2.1 million deal with the Army Research Institute to “evaluate training courses and materials and gauge their ability to train soldiers to achieve mission objectives.”

–  A $3.4 million deal with the Air Force to support its Global Cyberspace Integration Center,  “providing engineering services and
program management support to the Air Combat Command Tactical Satellite Terminals and the Single Integrated Air Picture program.”

– A $1.4 million deal with the federal Department of Agriculture to assist in development of a national quarantine program.

As the number of contracts with federal agencies has grown, DRC responded by recently opening a 17,000-square-foot office in downtown Washington, D.C., to be closer to one of its main clients, the Department of Homeland Security, as well as all the other federal departments and branches it works with.

DRC now has more than 550 employees operating out of seven offices in the Greater Washington, D.C. area. It has approximately 1,500 employees worldwide, including about 300 in Andover. In a recent Eagle-Tribune story, company executives were excited by the fact that the firm had been chosen to be part of a $50 billion government-wide acquisition contract, or GWAC, which allows the company to be used by any agency that needs IT and/or consulting work without having to go through the usually tedious and lengthy bidding and approval process.

DRC is a publicly traded company worth about $243 million. It is traded on the NASDAQ. Yesterday’s stock price was $13.35.

When I heard the term ‘salaryman’ years ago at first I didn’t know what it meant. But I soon found out it’s a term that makes complete sense: It’s a person who works for a salary as opposed to an hourly wage. But it’s not quite that simple. In Japan, the phrase is loaded with all kinds of hidden meaning — referring to someone who is a faceless bureaucrat in a giant corporation working as a slave for their weekly check without benefit of overtime. There’s even an serialized cartoon, or manga, in Japan called Salaryman Kintaro, about a Japanese worker who defies the stereotype of the typical office worker and succeeds anyway.

In the U.S., the term is a little more benign, if it is used at all, and refers to someone who is a white-collar worker, probably middle-class, on a career path, working his way up the ladder to a brighter future and a better salary.

In this recession, though, if you are a ‘salaryman’ you’d better watch out: The budget cutters are coming for you.

That’s why there appears to be an enormous upwelling in entrepreneurial spirit in recent months, as unemployed salarymen (and women) are hanging out at home looking for something to do that will make them happy and money. The recession has spurred a reawakening of the entrepreneurial spirit. In the past, that spirit was borne out of the belief that anything was possible in this great land of opportunity.

Today, it is more borne out of desperation, although there is certainly an underlying theme that anything is possible. “Only in America” is a phrase thrown around with sarcasm in recent decades, and the subprime lending crisis along with the Madoff scandal would certainly seem to fit that.

But more recently, “Only in America” has returned as the entrepreneur has made more of a comeback. People are more willing to gamble when they’ve got nothing left to lose. But American ingenuity, led by the entrepreneurial spirit, will likely be what carries us through and out of this recession.

Sort of.

As if Obama doesn’t have enough to do, what with Gitmo, Iraq, Afghanistan, the economy, swine flu and all the rest, he’s decided to take on the credit card companies, too.

And it looks like he may be succeeding. Yesterday the U.S. Senate passed a measure to put limits on how credit card companies go about tacking usurious interest onto our bills. The House is expected to take it up and pass it today and Obama is expected to sign it soon thereafter.

According to the Associated Press:

“Under the new bill, a customer would have to be more than 60 days behind on a payment before seeing a rate increase on an existing balance. Even then, the lender would be required to restore the previous, lower rate after six months if the cardholder pays the minimum balance on time.
“Consumers also would have to receive 45 days’ notice and an explanation before their interest rate was increased.
“Some of these changes, including the 45-day notice requirement, are already on track to take effect in July 2010 under new rules being imposed by the Federal Reserve. But the legislation would put these changes into law and go further in restricting the types of bank fees and who could get a card.
“For example, the Senate bill requires those under 21 who seek a credit card to prove first that they can repay the money or that a parent or guardian is willing to pay off their debt if they default.”

Chalk one up for the little (and broke) guy.

Allstate Insurance, after a lengthy hiatus, is returning to Massachusetts to offer coverage for motor vehicles.

The company plans to start doing business here starting in November.

Massachusetts policymakers have recently adopted positive changes that make the insurance market more competitive, according to Allstate Protection President George Ruebenson.

The recent changes set a new direction, giving insurers greater flexibility in how they serve customers and compete for business in the market.
“People are looking for value and choice,” said Ruebenson. “As a company with a solid reputation and a national presence, Allstate will provide Massachusetts consumers with additional automobile insurance choices from an established insurance provider.”

Allstate is one of several large insurance companies coming back after the state adjusted its insurance rules. Progressive and Geico are also entering the Massachusetts market, among others.

Riverbank, headquartered in North Andover, is holding a series of shred days to help people fight identity theft.

The company’s PR firm, Warner Communications of Manchester-by-the-Sea, Mass., sent out a press release that’s worthy of mention itself: In a well-sealed business envelope containing the press release, media contact Erin Vadala had also placed shredded paper.

It was a little startling, not knowing what the loose material was inside the envelope, but I took the plunge and found the confetti. It was kind of fun, so kudos to Warner for that little gimmick.

PR aside, identity theft is a growing problem, having skyrocketed by 22 percent over the last year, with some 10 million victims. The stakes are high: Once a criminal gets ahold of your personal information, they can, in effect, become you — and steal from you. With certain, key numbers, like your Social Security number, phone number and address, along with your name and any other personal data they can grab, ID thieves can get credit cards, open bank accounts, buy a house, a car — whatever they want — until they get caught. In other cases, they can impersonate you and commit even more crimes.

Enter Riverbank. For the third year in a row, it is offering industrial-strength shredding at three of its locations. Last Saturday was in Derry, N.H., this Saturday is at the bank’s Methuen branch at 20 Jackson St., and next Saturday the shredding truck will be parked at the River Bank HQ at 30 Massachusetts Ave. The shredding will take place from 9 a.m. to noon.

Experts say there are two ways to avoid ID theft: Shred sensitive documents, and get off mailing lists. By removing yourself from mailing lists, you’ll get less junk mail that just so happens to have lots of personal information on it. By shredding sensitive documents, you ensure that criminals can’t get personal information about you — at least from your mail. Other ID theft scams have run through the Internet, something that’s a little harder to fight. For that, experts advise periodically checking your credit report to ensure that nobody has grabbed your ID from some online database and used it to buy stuff.