The head of Project InVision International says he’s rooting for Des Moines to emerge as his company’s choice for an expansion location. Des Moines and Jacksonville, Fla., are being considered by the Silicon Valley-based software company as sites for a development office that could employ up to 89 information technology professionals within five years.

“Personally, my hope is that Des Moines is the winner,” Andy Shotz, Project InVision’s president, told the Business Record last week. “We like the quality of resources in the area; we like the quality of life.”

At the same time, the incentive package it’s offered has to be competitive, Shotz said. Currently, more than $1 million in loans from the state, Polk County and the city of Des Moines are on the table, for a decision Project InVision expects to announce by the end of the month.

The Iowa Department of Economic Development’s board of directors is scheduled to meet on Thursday, at which time it may consider a loan package for the company. Shotz said the state is currently offering $700,000, half as a loan and half as a forgiveable loan, and that the county has offered an additional $200,000. The city of Des Moines last month approved a $178,000 loan package, contingent upon the state’s approval of its loan.

The office would provide the privately held company a secondary location for development and servicing of its project portfolio management software, which it markets to clients such as AT&T Corp. and Electronic Data Systems Corp., through alliance partners like PricewaterhouseCoopers. A Des Moines location could potentially serve as a business development office as well, to bring in additional partners that would sell its software, Shotz said.

Because the company performs a lot of audit management services, “we see a lot of potential for working with (Des Moines-based) financial services companies to help them comply with (Sarbanes-Oxley and related regulatory) requirements,” he said.

Des Moines was put on Project InVision’s radar screen by Larry Hootnick, a venture capital executive who sits on the company’s board. Hootnick’s company, Acuity Ventures LLC, has funded three other projects that resulted in GCommerce Inc., Protocol Driven Healthcare Inc. and BayTSP Inc., each deciding to move significant portions of their operations to Des Moines.

If it chooses Des Moines, Project InVision plans to sublease office space at 600 E. Locust St., where each of those companies with ties to Acuity are located.

“We have the benefit of having other companies that have been through the process and knowing that it really works,” Shotz said. “And we can kind of work with them on a mini-incubator type of process, to draw on resources needed for companies of our size.”