Proprietary Software Development at VCC Linked with Competitive Lawsuit

VCC has maintained an emphasis on staying at the forefront of technology as part of its competitive edge.

The Little Rock general contracting firm has developed its own software, Endeavour, to manage projects and provide a platform for communications among architects, subcontractors and vendors.

"We have a list of intellectual property that we’ve developed over the years, and we’re very, very protective of it," said Sam Alley, company CEO.

That protectiveness manifested in a September 2011 lawsuit in Pulaski County Circuit Court against three VCC staffers: Robert Bailey, former chief operating officer; W. Jeff Johnson, former president who oversaw the company’s Atlanta office; and Gabi Abdo, director of information technology who left the company in October.

The complaint alleged among other things that Abdo aided Bailey and Johnson in accessing proprietary software, forms and data from VCC.

That material allegedly was used in connection with Bailey and Johnson launching and operating separate competing firms.

VCC reached a settlement with Bailey and his Bailey Construction & Consulting LLC of Little Rock.

"That has been resolved through mediation," Alley said.

Gus Vratsinas, a co-founder and former leader of VCC, is an investor in BC&C but wasn’t named in the lawsuit.

The case against Johnson and his Summit Industrial Construction LLC of Alpharetta, Ga., and Abdo continues to move toward a Sept. 17 trial.