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Posts Tagged ‘DHS’

A Case Study on the Power of Partnership: How Federal Agencies Can Find Qualified Small Businesses, Faster

When the Government Technology and Services Coalition (GTSC) was formed a little over 5 years ago, one of our primary missions was to improve and assist our federal partners in performing their market research. We immediately formed a “Market Research” workgroup, chaired by Brian Nault, President of BlueWater Federal to identify how the government could find the best providers, and reach the largest number of competitors, possible to meet the demands of their mission at the best price and highest quality.

We met with procurement officials and contracting officers to discuss some of the challenges of “being noticed,” by federal agencies, particularly for small businesses. We conveyed the shortcomings of the “Requests for Information” from a small business’s perspective, described how the lack of response from some agencies to the information provided in an RFI hindered a robust response from industry, and explained how the value of responding often was not high enough given the need for companies to spend time staying afloat chasing real opportunities. All of these shortcomings held true for any size business.

We are still working on improving the RFI process but recently we were able to provide some tangible assistance to a partner in the government – and were successful in showing that with the proper partnership, the government can get better, and faster access to qualified providers.

It began with a call from GTSC member and GTSC Small Business Member of the Year 2016 Kathy Pherson, CEO of Pherson Associates, a Woman-Owned Small Businesses (WOSB), who was concerned that a partner agency found no Woman-Owned Small Businesses in a certain NAICs code. The member connected us with the agency and to their credit, they were very interested in hearing from us! GTSC put out a call for firms qualifying for the requirements. In less than 48 business hours we had amassed over 25 qualified WOSBs and submitted them to the agency.

With that, they altered their initial track structure for the intended procurement to reflect this market research.

Why am I writing about this? This is obviously an “ideal” scenario!

I wanted to provide a real life example of how our government partners can leverage their industry partners to find their most qualified providers and best solutions competitively. We encourage all of our government partners to consider:

Go to where the small businesses live. There are very few organizations that really represent small businesses in the federal market. Why? Simply because they do not have tremendous marketing dollars. Small companies look for the most resources for the least outlay of the capital they use to grow. Federal agencies should forge close ties with non-profits that work with, and actively represent small businesses.
Develop and Leverage relationships.Every market is a series of relationships – healthy markets are composed of those you trust and those you do not. That is why “industry relations” are so important to a vibrant federal market. Good relationships with industry allow an agency to reach and get assistance to find the small businesses they need. It also saves a tremendous amount of time and leg-work to try and find new communities around every procurement.

Be strategic. Different organizations are good at different things. The best federal industry liaisons, procurement officers, and leadership understand their market’s industry partners, who represents what, the organization’s mission, and the efficacy of the organization. Developing these relationships with industry allows them to understand how to best leverage existing resources and find active, engaged businesses.

Talk to your industry partners. We may finally be coming out of a period where many in the federal government were reluctant to talk to industry. The message we’ve been hearing more than ever – from nearly every component within the Department of Homeland Security – is that acquisition and procurement leaders are encouraging their staff to get out more and talk to, and learn from, industry. As a matter of fact, under the leadership of DHS CPO Soraya Correa the Department has undertaken “Reverse Industry Days” – devised by industry – to provide their contracting staff an opportunity to learn about industry and how it operates. GTSC’s Acquisition & Procurement Workgroup lead, Carolyn Muir from SE Solutions and a former contracting officer with the Navy has been instrumental in crafting and adding tremendous value to the topics and lessons provided in these “Master Classes” on government contracting.

We continue to applaud these changes to our procurement and acquisition process and look forward to continue leading both industry and government as we navigate a market environment moving faster than conventional procurement can handle.

Kristina Tanasichuk is CEO & Founder of the Government Technology & Services Coalition, a non-profit, non-partisan organization of small and imd-sized companies working in homeland and national security. She is also the president of InfraGardNCR, a public private partnership between the private sector and the FBI to share information to protect our nation’s critical infrastructure, and the president and founder of Women in Homeland Security.

Part II: Implementing Agile at USCIS

PART II

In part II of our interview with Josh Seckel, Sara Kindsfater-Yerkes, Chair of the GTSC Business Development Exchange, was able to sit down with USCIS’ Chief of the Applied Technology Division (ATD) to discuss the agile transformation at U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Among ATD’s chief responsibilities are driving the adoption of agile across the USCIS enterprise, brought about in part by providing agile coaching services – experts across the technical, process and organizational change domains who help clients shift their culture and mindset to lean/agile thinking. This is a sea change in Federal IT – moving away from the lengthy, and staged waterfall methods to continuous activities for developing software. By doing them continuously quality improves because testing starts day one, visibility improves through collaboration and increased visibility, and risk is reduced through continuous feedback and prioritization of work.

GTSC: You’ve been through some of the best agile coaching training out there – for those who aren’t coaches what does “being a good mirror” mean?

Josh: Yes. They are able to point out to the team what is engrained that they are doing and can’t see for themselves, and get them to question, “is there a better way” versus accepting “we’ve always done it this way”. That takes a special relationship – one built on trust, honesty but without being a snitch, not judging but helping and not being oversight.

GTSC: So how are coaches typically different than scrum masters?

Josh: Again, really good scrum masters can be agile coaches, as long as they’ve had experience helping teams grow and get better. It’s a really small number of people that can do that though – be scrum masters AND agile coaches. Biggest differences between scrum masters and agile coaches is their area of engagement – scrum masters focus on team, coaches focus on project or program, and multiple teams of developers, scrum masters and stakeholders. At USCIS we have agile coaches that focus on divisions and entire portfolios of systems.

GTSC: This is somewhat self-serving given my background but how is agile driving culture change in the government?

Josh: Agile is helping the government breakdown silos, slowly. People are talking – maybe not collaborating to the fullest extent but we’re realizing why it’s important to talk to other parts of the organization. Within USCIS the IT people are engaging the business side more than they used to. Speed is also a big driver of change – there’s a new expectation for delivery on the order of months not years. The pace of change in government is increasing – I know it’s been that way in industry – but in government we are really pushing to think about what comes next. Agile is also changing the way we think about quality – we’ve got to deliver quicker, with less resources and keep focused on quality while maintaining that pace. Next, we’ve got to focus on understanding MVP (minimum viable product) on the business side – that’s coming.

GTSC: It’s a consistent pain point – how do you procure agile services?

Josh: We’ve got to focus on agile acquisition, not acquisition for agile. What I mean is we need look at what we need to change in the acquisition process. We’ve also got to keep contractual requirements in contracts and leave business requirements out of them. Come to Agile 2016 to hear me talk about this – I have a lot to say on this topic!

GTSC: As you know, GTSC’s “tag line” is, It’s All About Mission. How do you think agile impacts the mission of USCIS?

Josh: Agile impacts the mission of USCIS by providing more immediate responses to changes in direction, both large and small. When the executive order for Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents (DAPA) came down, we were able to start working on the changes much faster than history would indicate. And when the court stayed the order, we were able to switch back very rapidly as well. Or on the small level, we are fixing and changing items on a rapid basis because of user feedback. This enables the officers to be much more responsive to the applicants rather than having to deal with a long wait and many work arounds.

GTSC: So last question, how do we work together (government and industry) to continue to bring things like agile, to the government to improve government?

Josh: Neither can do it alone – agile, devops, etc. – it has to be a partnership. We’re going to put out RFPs for agile delivery, and we’re going to expect that those bidding can do things like test driven development (TDD). If companies bidding don’t have the skills they won’t win. It’s a different world. Companies need to keep the skills of their teams up to date and growing; we’ve all got to focus on the work and the mission.

JOIN US to hear Josh in person discussing best practices in agile at USCIS, March 10, 2016. REGISTER here.

Sara Kindsfater-Yerkes, leader of GTSC’s DHS Business Development Exchange and member since 2012, is an Organizational Change Strategist with expertise in guiding large-scale transformations, Sara is passionate about helping individuals and teams to become high performing and creating cultures in which all can thrive. She currently supports Josh and USCIS in the cultural adoption of lean/agile practices.

GTSC Announces 2015 Award Winners

The Government Technology & Services Coalition (GTSC), the premier non-profit organization for small and mid-sized companies in homeland and national security, today announced the numerous public and private sector leaders and innovators that will receive awards at the organization’s 2015 Annual Holiday Awards.

“Despite the many challenges, there are so many people in and outside our government working to secure our nation — we are humbled by their service. While we can only recognize a handful of the deserving each year, we want to encourage and appreciate ALL of those who dedicate their lives, careers, and companies to the mission of a safe prepared America” said Kristina Tanasichuk, founder and CEO of the Coalition. “This is our small way of saying thank you.”

Since 2012, the Coalition has developed a series of awards to recognize some of the unsung heroes working to improve how the public and private sector collaborate, assuring that innovation and efficiencies can find their way into the government and encouraging an environment of mentorship in support of the nation’s critical homeland and national security missions.

Federal Small Business Champion of the Year
Jose L. Arrieta
Director, Office of Small & Disadvantaged Business Utilization
Department of the Treasury

Most Valuable Player for Big Data
Scott Shoup
Chief Data Officer
Federal Emergency Management Agency

Most Valuable Player for Cyber Security
Suzanne Spaulding
Under Secretary for the National Protection & Programs Directorate
U.S. Department of Homeland Security

Small Business Member of the Year 2015
SE Solutions

Mid-Tier Member of the Year 2015
MorganFranklin Consulting

Mentor of the Year 2015
Motorola Solutions

Market Maven 2015
David Olive
Principal, Catalyst Group Partners
Contributor, Security Debrief

Strategic Partner of the Year
InfraGard National Capital Region Members Alliance

Strategic Advisor of the Year
Elaine Duke
Elaine Duke & Associates

“SE Solutions has engaged deeply with GTSC and leads the organization’s Acquisition and Procurement Action Group. We believe that this work fosters a more open and efficient contracting environment, and we are proud to be a part of improving the quality of this critical area due to its significant impact on mission outcomes,” said John Rothenberger, Founder and CEO of SE Solutions. “GTSC provides us a platform to contribute to this important work, and this aligns with our mission to improve the nation’s homeland security.” The Small Business of the Year award is presented to a company that exemplifies exceptional quality, leadership, and ethics in the Federal market, and is a contributing advocate on behalf of our community.

“Since joining GTSC, MorganFranklin has become more and more engaged because we see progress. We see attention being paid to critical issues like challenges for the middle market, the procurement and acquisition environment, and communication between industry and our government partners,” said Frank Landefeld, Managing Director & Public Sector Market Leader at MorganFranklin Consulting. “These are core areas for all contractors, but they impact those of us concerned with mission the most.” Mid-tier Member of the Year is presented to the firm that has contributed positively to GTSC and to the opportunities, ideas, and understanding of mid-tier companies in the Federal market.

“Motorola Solutions joined GTSC because of the organization’s laser focus on moving things forward,” said Curt Steiner, vice president and director of sales for Motorola Solutions’ U.S. Federal Government Markets. “We engaged with GTSC because we wanted to see some progress in the interoperability mission and from that we reignited an engaged conversation around some of the challenges left to make our first responder community interoperable. Now we can roll up our sleeves and work with our federal partners to drive toward the finish line.” The Mentor of the Year award is presented to the company that has worked to increase GTSC members’ understanding of the homeland and national security market, increased business opportunities for small companies through formal and informal mentoring and engages to promote an innovative, robust, fair market for all.

“GTSC just ‘gets’ it. After years in the federal government, I found the leadership of GTSC to understand the challenges but more importantly, willing to do something about them. They have focused on where help is needed and created avenues, products, and services to fill those needs. I watched as they grew and found that their direction was critical to the success of the homeland market,” said Elaine Duke, CEO of Elaine Duke and Associates and former Under Secretary for Management at DHS. “They are tracking with what the market needs.” The Strategic Advisor of the Year is presented to an individual who works on behalf of GTSC to increase the organization’s capacity, membership and opportunities to bring the innovation, creativity and solutions of small and mid-sized companies to the homeland and national security mission.

“The mission of the FBI’s InfraGard program, particularly here in the National Capital Region, is to encourage sharing of information between private and public sectors to ensure our critical infrastructure is secure,” said Kara Sidener, InfraGardNCR liaison for the FBI. “Our partnership with GTSC is an example of the positive relationships built through the program and the tremendous progress we have made in educating new sectors in this essential effort.”

“I think we were one of GTSC’s first members – I recognized immediately that GTSC was a ‘new’ platform for government and industry to have a place to talk innovation, to talk the ‘hard stuff,’ to get to YES rather than languish in the purgatory of committees, meetings, and more meetings” added David Olive, Principal, the Catalyst Group and the GTSC Market Maven. “Our market must be agile, cooperative and coordinated to protect this nation and GTSC is providing the platform to do that.”

Other awardees include Under Secretary Suzanne Spaulding for her clear vision on how to better leverage existing data, and open source tools while reinforcing NPPD’s mission of protecting assets, systems, networks both real and virtual. FEMA’s Chief Data Officer, Scott Shoup who has been instrumental providing a vision in step with the execution of a big data strategy that makes this critical agency more readily available and accessible to its constituents and enables FEMA to work smarter through data by providing credible and actionable data on tools to support risk informed decision-making.

The awards will be presented in Tysons, VA on December 18th. More information is available at www.GTSCoalition.eventbrite.com. The Holiday Awards are part of GTSC’s programming to build the community in support of the homeland and national security mission. GTSC works on behalf of its members with the U.S. Departments of Homeland Security, Defense, State, Justice, Treasury, and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.

The GSA-DHS OASIS MOU: A Game-Changer at DHS

In July, DHS and GSA signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) enabling greater use of GSA’s OASIS contract vehicle across all of DHS. DHS expects to increase its contract awards under OASIS from $11 million in 2015 to $250 million in 2016. This agreement is a game-changer for the DHS contracting community.

Under terms of the MOU, GSA agreed to lower the contract access fee for DHS from 0.75% to 0.25%, and DHS in turn agreed to include OASIS as one of its “Strategic Sourcing” contract vehicles covered under its “Mandatory for Use” Management Directive. This means that current DHS contractors, particularly those under TABSS and EAGLE II, will need to work harder to shape opportunities onto their respective contract vehicles, and OASIS contractors (at least many of them), will have to figure out how to navigate the world of DHS acquisitions.

This sets up a new contracting environment at DHS that could have broad ramifications for industry. GSA’s OASIS is being promoted at DHS as the replacement for TABSS, and the Program Management contract vehicle of choice. This is a body blow to TABSS contract holders and an immediate opportunity for OASIS contractors. With TABSS sun-setting in two years, DHS contracting officers will immediately see OASIS as a preferred contract vehicle, fully endorsed by acquisition leadership. With its wide variety of available NAICS Codes, 21 in Pool 1 alone, this is a huge boon for OASIS contract holders.

Many OASIS contract holders focus on DoD and have less experience at DHS. This may be a partnering opportunity for experienced DHS firms with complementary skills. Small businesses in disadvantaged socio-economic categories with DHS experience are in especially good position to take advantage of partnering.

EAGLE II contract holders should also take notice of the OASIS MOU, even with more than five years remaining in EAGLE II’s full period of performance. IT-focused Program Management requirements are still supposed to be released under EAGLE II. Because of the decentralized acquisition model used by DHS, exactly what constitutes “IT Services” under EAGLE II may be interpreted in a variety of ways by different Components. EAGLE II contract holders must continue to educate Component contracting officers and demonstrate how upcoming requirements fit on the NAICS codes in EAGLE II while being aware of the new latitude offered for Program Management services under OASIS.

The net result: Understanding the unique terms of these contract vehicles, as well as the tendencies of contracting officers in each DHS Component will be more important than ever in 2016.

About Dennis Murphy, President, ASM Concepts
Dennis Murphy is a former senior executive with DHS and U.S. Customs Service and was a principal with Booz Allen Hamilton. He also served as Assistant Commissioner for Public Affairs and as the first Communications Director for DHS Border and Transportation Security. He is now president of ASM Concepts, a management consulting company offering clients unique ways to merge marketing with business development to differentiate them from their competitors to both grow and scale their business.
Read the full ASM Concepts analysis of the OASIS MOU on the ASM Concepts website . For questions or further information, contact Dennis Murphy at [email protected].

Fleshman, Torres Assume Leadership of GTSC Lion’s Den

BETH FLESHMAN, ALION AND GUY TORRES, SALIENT, ASSUME LEADERSHIP OF THE GTSC LION’S DEN

Industry leaders will continue to focus on growth for midtier government contractors

Washington, D.C. June 4 — The Government Technology & Services Coalition today announced that Beth Fleshman, Assistant Vice President, Alion Science & Technology ascended to Chair of the Lion’s Den, a group of GTSC members focused on midtier company growth in the federal market. Guy Torres, Vice President of Strategic Initiatives for Salient Federal Solutions and formerly director of IT contracting for U.S. Customs and Border Protection, joined as Vice-Chair.

“I am excited to lead this distinguished group,” said Fleshman. “I think the Lion’s Den has made a tremendous amount of progress raising awareness about the midtier challenges, and more importantly, has identified some of the paths we believe will lead to more concrete opportunities for midtier government contractors,” said Fleshman at the announcement.

“I worked with GTSC while at CBP and found their priorities, and their rapid progress toward those priorities a great fit for Salient’s objectives for continued growth. I believe that serving as Vice Chair will allow me to guide some of our initiatives and continue to make real progress on the midtier front,” added Torres. “The latest campaign launch — especially the Lion’s Den infographic — is already making an impact.”

GTSC made the leadership change, replacing Brad Cole, Vice President of Agilex, after Accenture’s recent purchase of Agilex. “We are very grateful to Brad for his tremendous leadership — his vision and commitment to the Lion’s Den and to GTSC brought true thought leadership to the midtier challenge. We look forward to continuing our work with him at Accenture,” said Kristina Tanasichuk, CEO of the Coalition.

Fleshman and Torres will participate in their first public discussion of midtier growth June 15 with Porter Goss, former director of the CIA and Senior Advisor at Dickstein Shapiro; Kevin Boshears, OSDBU, DHS; Michael Stabolepszy, Managing Partner & Founder of IntegrityOne Partners; Lindsay Sheehy, Partner at Dickstein Shapiro, and Ryan Hoffman, Director, The Chertoff Group. REGISTER

The Government Technology & Services Coalition is home to the Lion’s Den, a distinguished cadre of mid-sized companies devoted to the homeland and national security market. The group launched GTSC Mid Tier Solution to bring attention to the challenges of midtier government contractors in the federal market. The campaign launched with the first of a series of infographics on the value proposition for government leaders considering and selecting a midtier company. The Lion’s Den is focused on creating and supporting programs, policies and ventures to support the continuum of growth from small to mid-sized through partnership, advocacy and increased business opportunities. For more information, and to join the Lion’s Den, visit www.GTSCoalition.com.

Join the conversation on twitter with #midtier.

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The Government Technology & Services Coalition (GTSC) is a nonprofit, non-partisan 501(c)(6) association of companies that create,develop and implement solutions for the federal homeland and national security sector. Our vision is to provide an ethical, effective platform for information exchange between the public and private sector on homeland and national security ideas, technologies and innovations. Our mission is to provide exceptional advocacy, capacity building, partnership opportunities and marketing in the Federal security space for small and mid-sized companies and to support and assist our government partners achieve their critical missions with the highest integrity; best and most innovative technologies; and results-based, quality products and services to prevent, protect against, mitigate, respond to and recover from any terrorist attack or natural disaster. For more information on these mentors and the Government Technology & Services Coalition, please visit www.GTSCoalition.com.

Executive Interview: Matt Warren, Managing Director, Accenture

GTSC’s Executive profiles feature leaders in the homeland and national security market to provide our members and friends insight into the strategies and philosophies that are leading and exceeding in our market. These individuals bring their excellence to the mission while growing their companies in an exceedingly difficult market.

This month’s profile with Matt Warren, Managing Director, Accenture Federal Services. Matt leads Accenture’s IT and digital services portfolio serving the Department of Homeland Security, focused on developing targeted solutions to DHS’ mission-critical IT challenges. Matt was President of the Justice & Homeland Security Sector at Agilex Technologies since 2008, where he built a multimillion dollar business that continues to serve customers such as U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS), and Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). Agilex was acquired by Accenture Federal Services in February 2015. Matt is a veteran of sales within the Federal Government since 1996 with a strong focus on the Department of Homeland Security and Department of Justice. Matt previously worked at Oracle where he helped start and lead the DHS sales team as one of the top performing accounts in Federal. Matt finished his almost 11 year career at Oracle managing about one third of Federal Civilian before joining Agilex.

What differentiates Agilex from other companies in our market? To what do you attribute your impressive growth?

Matt: From the very beginning, we wanted to solve – not just work on – our clients’ most mission-critical IT challenges. As a result, we partner closely with them to develop targeted solutions to their unique requirements. We also respect the urgency that they operate under, as our agile approach is designed to deliver rapid and demonstrable value. This model has established us increasingly as our clients’ go-to partner for can’t-fail projects.

As part of Accenture Federal Services (AFS), we will maintain and actually extend this focus. Both companies share a long-term commitment to delivering superior customer value by ‘getting to done’ – delivering our solutions on time and on-budget as promised.

AFS is renowned for taking on the government’s biggest and most complex challenges. With their additional resources, we can scale dramatically the impact that we are having on our clients’ performance. It’s only been a short time, but I can’t wait to bring our two teams together as we have all-stars on both sides.

GTSC: What do you find to be the greatest challenge to moving things forward, or being “agile”?

Matt: Strategy is important but execution is where you see the results. For Agilex, our agile approach is a team effort requiring focus, tenacity and a tireless pursuit of excellence. Fortunately, we have a team that’s both committed and smart.

We have also been asked by a number of clients to support their agile adoption as well. Based on their success, three factors jump out as being critical to sustainable adoption. First, it takes leaders in government that are committed to change for the benefit of the mission and are willing to personally invest themselves in overcoming obstacles. Second, your contractors must be skilled and aligned to deliver value and performance under these new benchmarks. Finally, you need contract vehicles that can drive accountability, which means they need to be flexible enough to quickly award and reassign task orders as needed.

GTSC: Do you see areas of growth in 2015? If so, where?

Matt: Over the past eight years, we have established a very enviable reputation in government. Based on this track record, 2015 can be an incredible year for us.

First, the mindset of the government buyer is changing rapidly. No longer are they acquiring resources and hoping for the best. Instead, they are looking to partner with companies that engage themselves in actually solving the problem at hand. Furthermore, they’ve become more committed to agile approaches as a means for ensuring performance and maintaining accountability.

Second, the emerging technologies that we’ve championed since day one are entering the mainstream in government. These areas include mobile, cloud, Big Data analytics, agile and DevOps. Our track record in government for these technologies is unsurpassed.

Finally, as part of Accenture Federal Services, we now have the resources and scale needed to take on our clients’ biggest challenges. As just one example, we can now draw upon advances in border security globally as part of the Accenture family.

GTSC: As part of Accenture, will you continue to support GTSC?

Absolutely. More than a small business group, we’ve always viewed GTSC as a champion for performance-based contracting and those companies that want to make a difference and deliver real value. Our commitment here hasn’t changed.

As we go forward, I expect GTSC to be a great forum for building strategic partnerships with the companies that are really having an impact within DHS. By capitalizing on the unique strengths of a variety of companies, we can maximize our long-term impact.

RESCHEDULED 6/29: Francis X. Taylor, Under Secretary for I&A, DHS

GTSC is excited to host Francis X. Taylor, Under Secretary for Intelligence & Analysis at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security for an insight session to explore the information gathering and sharing challenges of I&A. Charged with providing the Secretary, DHS senior leadership, the DHS components, and state, local, tribal and private sector partners with the homeland security intelligence and information they need to keep the country safe, secure and resilient, join us to learn the progress and remaining challenges to that mission. I&A is a member of, and the Department’s liaison to, the National Intelligence Community.

About Francis X. Taylor

Francis X. Taylor became the Under Secretary for Intelligence and Analysis, Department of Homeland Security, on April 14, 2014. He is charged with providing the Secretary, DHS senior leadership, the DHS components, and state, local, tribal and private sector partners with the homeland security intelligence and information they need to keep the country safe, secure and resilient. I&A is a member of, and the Department’s liaison to, the National Intelligence Community.

Immediately prior to this assignment, Mr. Taylor was Vice President and Chief Security Officer for the General Electric Company in Fairfield, Conn. At GE, he was responsible for managing the security operations and crisis management processes designed to ensure the security of GE employees and operations globally.

Before GE, Mr. Taylor had a distinguished 35-year career in government service, where he held several senior positions managing investigations, security and counterterrorism issues.

Most recently, he served as the Assistant Secretary of State for Diplomatic Security and Director of the Office of Foreign Missions, with the rank of Ambassador. He was responsible for the global security of all U.S. diplomatic personnel and facilities. Ambassador Taylor also served as the U.S. Ambassador at Large and Coordinator for Counterterrorism for the Department of State from July 2001 to November 2002. In this role, he was responsible for implementing U.S. counterterrorism policy overseas and coordinating the U.S. government response to international terrorist activities.

During his 31 years of military service, Ambassador Taylor served with distinction in numerous command and staff positions, rising to the rank of Brigadier General in September 1996. In his final active duty assignment, Brigadier General Taylor was the Commander, Air Force Office of Special Investigations, and was responsible for providing Air Force leaders with comprehensive criminal, fraud, counterintelligence and security investigation and operations to protect global Air Force operations.

Mr. Taylor has received numerous awards and decorations, including the U.S. Distinguished Service Medal, the National Intelligence Distinguished Service Medal, the Legion of Merit, the Defense Superior Service Medal and the U.S. Department of State Honor Award.

Mr. Taylor holds a Bachelor’s and Master’s Degree in Government and International Studies from the University of Notre Dame. He is a Distinguished Graduate of the Notre Dame Air Force ROTC program.

GTSC Honors Our Leaders

GTSC last night honored those who make the contracting world a better place for both the government and for our market.

Ronald Gallihugh, Deputy Assistant Administrator, Transportation Security Administration and his procurement team, were recognized as Federal Small Business Champions of the Year; Pherson Associates for Small Business Member of the Year; Agilex as Mid-tier Member of the Year; Harris as Mentor of the Year; Sara Schroerlucke, Program Manager in Customs & Border Protection, as Federal Most Valuable Player; Michelle Mrdeza, Senior Advisor to Cornerstone Government Affairs and founding Strategic Partner of GTSC as Strategic Advisor of the Year; Government Contracting Weekly as Strategic Partner of the Year; and Jim Williams, co-founder of Schambach & Williams as the 2014 Market Maven.

Read the full release here.

TSA Industry Days

Join us for TSA INDUSTRY DAYS View FBO AnnouncementI. Friday, September 12, 2014Topic: Personnel, Payroll & Benefits

II. Tuesday, September 16, 2014

Topic: Recruitment & Hiring

III. Wednesday, October 8, 2014

Topic: Customer Service Center/Help Desk
REGISTER

(See below for more details on each event)

This community event is hosted by the Government Technology & Services Coalition and is open to interested contractors.

Notice Type: Sources SoughtThe Government Technology & Services Coalition (GTSC) is hosting three (3) industry days in cooperation with the Department of Homeland Security’s Transportation Security Administration (TSA) to conduct market research for human capital operations services among government contracting firms registered with SAM (System Award Management). Human capital services includes Benefits Processing and Management; Staff Acquisition; Human Resources Development; Separation Management; Data Reporting; Customer Service Center and User Support. These industry days seek a varied representation of both companies and ideas for executing TSA’s human capital services.PP&B REGISTER

The first industry day invites participants with experience in Personnel, Payroll and Benefits (PP&B) Processing, specifically Personnel and Payroll Action Processing; Compensation Management; and Benefits Action Processing and Management. This industry day will take place on Friday, September 12, 2014 at 2:30pm in Arlington, VA. Only contractors registered with SAM that have experience in these areas should register.

Hiring & Recruitment REGISTER

The second industry day invites participants with experience in Recruitment and Hiring, specifically Staff Acquisition strategies and marketing; Workforce Planning; Hiring Activities; and Orientation and On-Boarding Activities. This industry day will take place on Tuesday, September 16 at 1:00 pm in Arlington, VA. Only contractors registered with SAM that have experience in these areas should register.

Customer Service Call Center REGISTER
The third industry day invites participants with experience in establishing, operating and maintaining a Customer Service Call Center. This industry day will take place on October 8, 2014 at 10:00 am in Arlington, VA. Only contractors registered with SAM that have experience in these areas should register.

TSA’s mission is to protect the United States transportation systems and to ensure freedom of movement for people and commerce. TSA sets the standard for excellence in transportation security through people, processes, and technology, and is committed to promoting a culture founded on the values of integrity, innovation, and team spirit. In conjunction with state, local, and regional partners, TSA oversees security for the nation’s highways, railroads, buses, mass transit systems, seaports, and its 460 Federalized airports. TSA has approximately 65,000 employees assigned to 17 TSA offices, with a headquarters situated in Arlington, Virginia, and twenty-five (25) field office locations throughout the United States and US territories, as well as a number of international locations.

TSA’s Office of Human Capital (OHC) must recruit, hire and maintain a diverse well-qualified workforce in compliance with the Aviation and Transportation Security Act (ATSA), Public Law 107-71 (November 19, 2001). Therefore, OHC provides TSA employees with comprehensive human capital services. These services must work seamlessly, in an end-to-end automated environment; and must be able to support the entire TSA workforce comprised of: Transportation Security Officers (TSOs), Federal Air Marshals (FAMs), Management and Administrative Professional (MAP) positions, Transportation Security Executive Service (TSES), and those designated as “executive” (e.g., Federal Security Director (FSD) K-band positions). TSA is conducting market research for the following functional areas: Personnel and Payroll Action Processing; Compensation Management; Benefits Management; Staff Acquisition; Human Resources Development; Separation Management; Data Reporting; and Customer Services and User Support.