FDI was started in a small office in Santa Barbara, CA by Sharyn and Philip Ochoa on March 1, 2000. FDI’s first contract order was from the U.S. Army’s TACOM Simplified Non-Standard Acquisition Program (SNAP) for 300 soft sided eyeglass carrying cases. FDI’s Quality Management System was established at the beginning of operations and then certified to ISO 9001:2000 standards in 2001.
Orders continued to increase and in 2001 FDI received a line of credit from Los Padres Bank (now Pacific Western Bank). Business was expanding and FDI moved locations to larger facilities in Thousand Oaks, CA in 2002 and moved again in 2003 to a larger office/warehouse in Moorpark, CA. Also in 2003, FDI was given Alternate Release Procedure (ARP) authority by the Defense Contracts Management Agency (DCMA), a testament to FDI’s successful quality system. FDI was averaging 22 contract orders per month until 2005, when more than 1,000 contract orders were received in a single month!
In 2006, FDI had outgrown another location and moved to a 6,495 SF building on Discovery Court in Moorpark’s west side industrial center, and then purchased a 7,800 SF building across the street later the same year. In 2007, FDI’s Board of Directors approved a huge investment in programming for FDI’s process control database named FEDBase®, and FDI’s data searching and cataloging program named FEDScan®. Also in 2007, FDI added digital photographs of every shipment as part of its 100% hands-on inspection process for materials destined for U.S. Government contracts.
In 2008, to accommodate the steady pace of growth, the Discovery Court building was sold and the 23,500 SF Maureen Lane building was purchased in the same industrial complex. In 2010, FDI entered in a license agreement with Textron Marine & Land Systems, an operating unit of Textron Systems, a Textron Inc. (NYSE: TXT) company for the sourcing, procurement and sale of Cadillac Gage branded vehicle spare parts in support of Foreign Military Sale (FMS) contracts. FDI digitally loaded more than 22,000 drawings and began robust support of all parts for the legacy vehicles.
In 2012, FDI recorded more than 5,280 contract awards, and created numerous innovative process systems and improvements, including FEDClear®, FASTBid®, FEDTrack®, FASShip®, and then SPEED®.
In 2014, FDI upgraded its Quality Management System to meet the standards of AS9100C and AS9120A.
In 2016, FDI realized its objective of “paperless” processing of all orders, a significant achievement with the benefits of electronic tracking of all orders, and electronic documentation for customers.
In 2017, FDI upgraded its Quality Management System to meet the standards of AS9100D and AS9120B.
In 2021, FDI moved its headquarters from California to Texas, to take advantage of a favorable business climate, and “center of USA” freight advantages.
To date, FDI has processed more than 40,000 contract awards for the U.S. Government buying agencies they serve. FDI has created relationships and purchased from more than 4,500 manufacturers, OEMs, and distributors in the United States, and dozens more from the European Union. FDI is known for quality, accuracy, and integrity, having been dubbed “The Honest Ones” by an End-User.
