RUMFORD - A Rumford-based language and translation company with offices in Fayetteville, N.C., has been awarded a Department of Defense contract worth up to $250 million.

Shee Atika Languages LLC will contract its services to the U.S. Special Operations Command. According to the statement issued from MacDill Air Force Base in Florida, the contract contains a base year with four option years and is in support of special operations inside and outside the continental United States.

Because most of the business' services are provided elsewhere, it wasn't clear if the multi-million dollar federal contract will impact the Rumford area.

Worldwide Language Resources founder Larry Costa of Andover sits on the board of Shee Atika as well as on the board of International Management Services, also based in Rumford.

Attempts to reach a spokesperson in either the Rumford or North Carolina offices were unsuccessful.

Kevin Kelley, press secretary for Sen. Susan Collins, said the senator's office was notified of the federal contract because Collins represents Maine.

Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, and Rep. Michaud Michaud, D-Maine, were also notified, according to the USSOC release.

Major Ty Hensley, legislative liaison, said from his Washington, D.C., office that such notification was normal procedure. He could not provide additional details on the contract.

Ken McGraw, public relations director for USSOC, said from Tampa on Tuesday afternoon that thousands of contracts are regularly made, and he could not provide specific details on the one for Shee Atika. However, he said he would research additional information that will be provided at a later time.

Shee Atika shared an address with two other foreign languages services in Rumford, Worldwide Language Resources and International Management Services. Worldwide Language Resources was founded in 1995 by Lawrence Costa, who had spent two decades in the military, including special forces and as a language training manager.

His son, Stephen, launched International Management Services in 2004, which also provides translation services.

Last year, Worldwide Language Resources moved two blocks down River Street, where it employs about 100 people. IMS remains at the 94 River St. location with four employees. Earlier this year, IMS received a contract, capped at $703 million, for language services in Afghanistan for the U.S. government. But the award was appealed in March.

Stephen Costa said most of that money would be spent on translators and other language specialists overseas.

Both Shee Atika and IMS are certified as small businesses, which gives them certain advantages in bidding on federal contracts. Additionally, IMS has HUBzone certification, which means it is located in an economically disadvantaged area. Shee Atika has minority status, since it owned by an American Indian.

According to reports with the Small Business Administration and the Maine Secretary of State's office, the three companies overlap in several ways. Aside from providing language services, they all shared an address at 94 River St. Jean Shaw of Andover is listed as president of International Management, and as the registered agent for Shee Atika. She is the widow of John Shaw, who also served with the U.S. Army Special Forces, and who helped found Worldwide Language Resources with Larry Costa, a close friend.