When Chan Moon first landed a contract to run technology support for the Office of the Secretary of Defense nearly a decade ago, the South Korean-born businessman thought his small shop was finally ready to take off. With work for the U.S. Army, the Coast Guard and the Patent & Trademark Office already lined up, the day when more contracts — and cash — started flowing in didn’t seem far off.

After all, there were many fans among Moon’s customers. “Everybody gives me repeat business,” the dapper 56-year-old founder of Comint Systems Corp. likes to say.