Commitments And Contingencies

12 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2012

Commitments And Contingencies [Abstract]

Commitments And Contingencies

K.  Commitments and Contingencies

Long-Term Debt

See Note G herein for discussion of our long-term debt.

Leases

We lease certain offices, facilities and equipment under operating leases expiring at various dates through 2023. At September 30, 2012, the minimum annual rental commitments under leases having terms in excess of one year were as follows (in thousands):

Years Ending September 30,	Operating Leases
2013	$ 5,597
2014	4,575
2015	3,533
2016	2,910
2017	2,274
Thereafter	7,725
Total lease commitments	$ 26,614

Lease expense for all operating leases was $5.4 million, $3.7 million and $3.3 million for fiscal years 2012, 2011 and 2010, respectively.

Letters of Credit and Bonds

Certain customers require us to post bank letter of credit guarantees or performance bonds issued by a surety. These guarantees and performance bonds assure that we will perform under the terms of our contract. In the event of default, the counterparty may demand payment from the bank under a letter of credit or performance by the surety under a performance bond. To date, there have been no significant expenses related to either for the periods reported. We were contingently liable for secured and unsecured letters of credit of $36.6 million as of September 30, 2012. We also had performance and maintenance bonds totaling $249.1 million that were outstanding, with additional bonding capacity of $150.9 million available, at September 30, 2012.

We have a facility agreement (Facility Agreement) between S&I and a large international bank. The $12.1 million facility agreement provides S&I the ability to enter into forward exchange contracts, currency options and performance bonds. At September 30, 2012, we had outstanding a total of $7.0 million of guarantees under this Facility Agreement.

The Facility Agreement provides for financial covenants, customary events of default and carries cross-default provisions with our Amended Credit Facility. If an event of default (as defined in the Facility Agreement) occurs and is continuing, on the terms and subject to the conditions set forth in the Facility Agreement, obligations outstanding under the Facility Agreement may be accelerated and may become or be declared immediately due and payable.

Litigation

We are involved in various legal proceedings, claims and other disputes arising in the ordinary course of business which, in general, are subject to uncertainties and the outcomes are not predictable.  Although we can give no assurance about the outcome of pending or threatened litigation and the effect such outcomes may have on us, management believes that any ultimate liability resulting from the outcome of such proceedings, to the extent not otherwise provided or covered by insurance, will not have a material adverse effect on our consolidated financial position or results of operations or liquidity.