Northrop Grumman’s medical records software development project fulfills several promises by Greater Johnstown Technology Park.

Moving into the new park will allow Northrop Grumman to add about 10 new employees and expand work on standardizing electronic medical records throughout the military, Veterans Administration and community health systems, Johnstown site manager Bill Moynihan said.

New jobs, medical research and information technology have been the tech park’s buzz words since Conemaugh Health System leaders presented their first set of plans for a project to be built in Richland Township.

“The health system fits into it because the health system wanted to be a driver of economic development in the area,” Memorial Medical Center Chairman James Hargreaves said.

“In order for a health system to be successful, the economy around it must be viable,” Hargreaves said. “We did it not to just shuffle jobs around from one site to another. We did it to create new jobs.”

Although most employees moving into the tech park are currently working elsewhere in the city, Johnstown Redevelopment Authority Director Ron Repak said the design of the new building will allow those high-tech operations to continue to expand.

Northrop Grumman opened its Johnstown operation three years ago with 13 people, Moynihan said. Its current work force of 55 moved into the tech park Thursday, with long-term plans to triple that number.

Working with Conemaugh Health System, the company is developing a system to reduce paperwork, improve communications and save health-care costs as service personnel move from one military hospital to the next, and then to Veterans Administration hospitals and community hospitals, Moynihan said. Once proven, its software can be marketed to health systems across the country.

Northrop Grumman’s growth is possible because of the electronic security, adaptable interior infrastructure and convenient parking at the tech park, Repak said.

“It would meet almost any tenant’s need, particularly in the defense field,” Repak said.

MTS Technologies’ growth in defense contracting made the tech park an ideal location. The company will relocate its 50 employees from the Pasquerilla Plaza building within the next few weeks, Director Joseph Homan said.

Although there are no immediate plans to add workers, the second-floor office suite leased by MTS could accommodate at least 80 people, he said.

The tech park’s high visibility bodes well for government contractors’ future, Homan added.

The company is currently working on several major software development projects to improve information security and technical support.

“We are looking at partnering with Northrop Grumman and some of the contractors in this area on some projects,” Homan said, noting it is hard to predict success in government contraction.

“You can’t control who wins it,” Homan said. “But if you are on a winning team, you have a better chance of getting new contracts.”

“It all depends on the machine,” Moynihan added.

If JWF Industries is successful in landing the contract to build the Army’s new Joint Light Tactical Vehicle, it could mean additional contracts for MTS, Homan said.

While MTS and Northrop Grumman are looking forward to a technology-based economy, the tech parks’ third tenant is using new technology to help those disabled by the old industrial economy.

The federal Department of Labor’s Johnstown Black Lung District office once employed 250 people. With the decline in mining and improved health and safety measures, the district’s work force has leveled off at 32, District Director Stuart Glassman said. Those workers will move into the remaining second floor tech park space from the Penn Traffic Building at 319 Washington St.

That leaves the tech park’s ground floor, which remains vacant. Repak said developer Richard Ellis of Pittsburgh is negotiating with “at least five” prospective tenants.

Meanwhile, Repak said he will continue looking for employers to backfill the areas vacated by Northrop Grumman, MTS and the Black Lung office.

“We work with everybody to find space,” Repak said. “There are more (businesses) who fill those other types of space. The rent is lower.”