We are excited to welcome GTSC Mentor General Dynamics IT for a mentor session on how they view the homeland and national security market, how to do business with them, and their approach toward small business.
Laura Jones, Vice President of Business Development and Ludmilla Parnell, Director of Small Business Programs will join us for this in-depth session.
Small businesses only.
I recently attended a small business Match Making event sponsored by the Government Technology Services Coalition for small business and prime contractors to meet, greet and exchange information on each other in hopes of identifying potential government contracting opportunities. This event showcased a three person panel of small business program office directors from the Small Disadvantage Business Offices of three different agencies.
I have attended many of these match-making sessions and recently asked the question in one of my Linkedin discussion groups: is attending these events valuable time well spent or a waste of time? I received various comments both positive and negative. However, I must say that this particular event was one of the best that I have attended and my reason is based on the content that the government panelist shared with the small businesses.
There is no question about the changing state of the government contracting market. There is definitely a new paradigm. The landscape has and is continuing to change significantly.
What does this mean for small business? Well, it means that they are being presented with opportunities greater than they have ever been presented within the history of small business contracting in the federal market.
With the implementation of the President’s Job Act coupled with new legislation and regulation that are favoring increased small business participation for contracts and better oversight on Prime/sub-contracting relationships, larger and longer multiple year contracts are being offered to small businesses. To support these initiatives Agencies are increasing their market research activity by sending out more RFI’s and Sources Sought announcements with the intent of identifying more small business to contract with.
Agency Collaboration and the need to reduce redundancy and budget cuts are responsible for this new trend. With that said, the small business community has to change its thinking and their desire to go it alone when pursuing contracts.
The main theme presented by the government panelist was the lack of preparation by the small business community in pursuing contract opportunities. Some specifics were:
Considering these things, the take away from this event boils down to the following:
Plan
Plan by performing an internal assessment of your company, who are you, what business are you really in, what are you best qualified to do – not what you want to do. Do your market research to establish where your skills and solutions best fit the agency problems you have targeted and refine your pitch based on your research and knowledge of the agency’s mission.
Prepare
Prepare by creating a compelling story of who you are and why your company is best suited to solve the agency problems based on your research and understanding of the agency mission. Responses to the RFI’s and Sources Sought should be focused on how your skills or solutions support the agency mission. Follow the congressional legislative and regulatory initiatives, and agency news. This information will provide you with great insight into the agency mission and the problems they are encountering in carrying out their mission
Position
Use your research to position your company. The more information you know about the legislative, regulatory initiatives and agency news, the easier it will be for you to communicate with agency program managers and department heads. The more knowledge you can share with them will provide them with a level of comfort that you have a understanding of their issues. This will be the basis of establishing a rapport which will lead to trust.
Partner
Performing a formal assessment on potential partners you have identified to team with is essential. The dynamics of the market demand that you spend ample time to do this. There are more contract opportunities that are multiple 8-10 year contracts and this requires thorough knowledge of who you will be spending that time with.
Compatibility, integrity, culture, vision, goals and trust will be the key factors for you to assess and consider in your selection. These criteria should be used regardless of whether or are considering a Prime or subcontractor relationship. Casual teaming is not the best way to go in the new market.
Earl S. Holland III is the President and CEO, Growth Strategy Consultants, Strategic Advisor with the Government Technology Services Coalition and former Vice President of the Washington Chapter of the Association of Strategic Alliance Professionals. You can reach him at: [email protected]www.growthstrategyconsultants.com
Join the Government Technology & Services Coalition’s (GTSC) Emerging Small Business Group Monday December 16 for a hand-on, practical workshop on business development best practices for emerging small companies. Our speaker has over 40 years of experience in business development, IT systems development, integration and operations.
In this interactive discussion we will discuss:
About Tony Sacco
Mr. Sacco has over 40 years professional and management experience in the fields of Business Development, IT Systems development, integration and operations. A majority of his experience was and is involved in the management of significant, fixed price, software intensive, development, systems integration and O&M programs for the federal government. His last responsibility, before retiring, was the SAIC program manager for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) EAGLE $1.25B IDIQ program which included winning and executing over 40 competitive Task Orders. His previous assignment includes more than 7 years of IT program management on DHS and predecessor agency contracts, leading a $400 million IT engineering services program. Mr. Sacco is a PMI-certified PMP and an experienced earned value methodology (EVM) instructor with real-world ability in implementing solu¬tions for large federal programs. As program manager on a major IT services contract, Mr. Sacco oversaw critical projects for DHS, including the design and build of the DHS network backbone for OneNetwork, design and imple¬mentation of the Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) facility, and design and implementation of the DHS enterprise architecture (EA). In part, the work that Mr. Sacco led for SAIC resulted in SAIC’s selection by Frost and Sullivan as the 2005 Homeland Security Company of the Year. He also was the program manager for the development and worldwide deployment of the Navy War Gaming System (NWGS). He holds a BSEE from Polytechnic Institute of NY; a MSOR from New York University and a MBA from Rider University. He is a member of the Program Management Institute (PMP) and a IEEE Life Member He is certified to teach EVM and courses in Business Development, PM and Quality Management.About GTSC’s Emerging Small Business Action Group
Washington, D.C. – December 4, 2013 – Government Contracting Weekly, the only television program devoted to winning government contracts, and the Government Technology & Services Coalition (GTSC) today launched, “The Mentors,” a Special Award Program and Strategic Partnership to recognize companies that mentor and contribute to the success of small businesses.
“Since our inception, the members of GTSC have wanted to recognize and encourage those who are improving the environment, expertise and effectiveness of the private and public sectors to assure that collectively we achieve our mission of protecting the nation,” said Kristina Tanasichuk, CEO and founder of GTSC, “we believe that this award program is long-overdue and highlights that there are many tremendous people and companies working in partnership to provide the latest innovation, professionalism and expertise to our Federal partners.”
The awards program will recognize and salute government contractors for their leadership and concrete actions in assisting small government contracting firms through mentoring, training, inspiration, teaming and cooperation. “We believe that mentoring is critical to the contracting community. Large firms that mentor small companies play a critical role in saving their Federal clients money and time, commit to putting action behind the mantra of bringing “innovation and creativity” to the Federal mission and bring a higher level of professionalism to the contracting community. We are proud to recognize their contributions,” said Richard Nathan, CEO, AOC Key Solutions, owner of the Government Contracting Weekly television program.
Government Contracting Weekly premiered in September, 2013, and has received widespread critical acclaim from the government contracting community. Over 125 senior executives from government and industry have made appearances to provide unique domain knowledge and expertise regarding the keys to winning government contracts. “The alliance between GTSC and Government Contracting Weekly will provided heightened visibility to all of the support provided by large businesses to their small business counterparts,” said Jim McCarthy, owner and technical director of AOC Key Solutions and host/moderator of the program.
The award nominations process will open December 5th and accept nominations from both GTSC members and the broader small business contracting community. Awardees will be announced weekly starting in early 2014 and recognized at a special awards celebration in the spring. For more information on the awards, visit: www.GTSCoalition.com/mentorawards
The Chertoff Group, Dickstein Shapiro, GSIS 360 and the International Association for Contract and Commercial Management (IACCM), Linden Resources and the Security Industry Association are GTSC’s other strategic partners. More information on each is available at www.GTSCoalition.com.
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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 mission is two-fold: first, to provide exceptional advocacy, capacity building, partnership opportunities and marketing in the Federal security space for small and mid-sized companies. Second, 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.
Government Contracting Weekly is a TV show devoted to winning government contracts, produced and brought to you by AOC Key Solutions, Inc.. The show airs every Sunday at 7am on the DC Metro CBS affiliate WUSA9. Learn more about GCW atwww.governmentcontractingweekly.com. AOC Key Solutions, Inc. (KSI) KSI provides proposal and business development consulting services to federal contractors. Since 1983, KSI has helped its clients win or retain over $122 billion in Government contracts by providing the Key to Winning. KSI employs in-house consulting professionals supplemented by more than 275 associates and subject matter experts. KSI consulting services include marketing assessment, strategic advisory, third party performance assessments, proposal development and technical writing services. Learn more about their services atwww.aockeysolutions.com.
