The Fairfax County Chamber of Commerce has announced the winners of the 9th Annual Greater Washington Government Contractor (GovCon) Awards

Contractor of the Year Winners:

CPS Professional Services – less than $25 million

• Agilex – $25-75 million
• Systems Planning and Analysis – $75-300 million
• Vangent – Over $300 million

Executives of the Year:

• Dolly Oberoi of C2 Technologies – under $75 million
• Chris Torti of Jorge Scientific – $75 – $300 million
• Paul Cofoni of CACI International – over $300 million

Public Sector Partner of the Year:

• Michelle Foster, deputy director at the Department of Veterans Affairs’ Tactical Operations Center, and Dan Gordon, administrator of the Office of Federal Procurement Policy.

In addition, Robert Beyster, founder of Science Applications International Corp. (SAIC), was inducted into the Greater Washington Government Contractor Awards Hall of Fame.

For more information visit the Fairfax County Chamber of Commerce GovCon Winners Page

As the Executive Vice President and General Manager of Deltek’s GovCon business unit, Mazich will oversee sales for Deltek’s Costpoint, GCS Premier, Deltek First and Enterprise Project Management product suites, and he will also be responsible for managing Deltek’s consulting services business in support of application sales. Mr. Mazich will report directly to Kevin Parker, Deltek’s President and CEO.

Tom Mazich has over 30 years of experience in the software and services industries and is a recognized leader building and managing high performing teams that sell and implement IT solutions and services into the public sector and commercial markets. Most recently, Mazich was President at Mabec, an IT services business that he co-founded in 2008. During his tenure at Mabec, he played a key role building the company, winning key contracts, and running its day-to-day operations.

Prior to Mabec, Tom held positions at SAS Institute including Vice President and General Manager, Government Operations and President of SAS Federal. Mazich also held management positions at other notable software and technology companies, including Symantec Corporation, Comdisco Continuity Services, and Inference Corporation.

Perhaps the seriousness of their mission of ‘Advancing the Global Good’ gives each member of the InScope team a sense of purpose. Or perhaps it’s because my brother-in-law, Gary Struzik, is their Chief Financial Officer. (Sorry, had to give him a plug!)

Advancing the Global Good

Survivor: Federal Contracting Island

Many ‘advocates’ seem focused on how to outwit, outlast and outplay other small businesses instead of standing up to policies and processes that threaten small business concerns across the board. Never thought it would come to this, but I have finally come to the realization of why the small business community continues to struggle as it relates to government contracting. Generally, it is not the companies.

The majority of the business leaders I’ve had the pleasure of knowing and working with since 2004 are motivated, decent citizens, if not patriots, and simply want to succeed. Not success in the sense of achieving a gazillion dollars, jets, fancy cars and such, it’s more simple than that. They want to do a good job for their customers and help ensure the parts of government they touch are left no worse than when they arrived and preferably in much better condition than they found it. In the end, they want to provide for their families.

I don’t think it’s entirely the attitude at government agencies since a lot of the folks we speak to in Civilian, Defense, Intelligence and Homeland/Law Enforcement agencies have willingly engaged viable small companies. Not because they were small, but because they believed they could do the job well, on time and within budget. Not all mid-tier and large contractors are kin to the Devil. Over the years a number of them have reached out to us and our members and associates to do business with them for the right reasons.

So what’s the problem? In my opinion a big part of it is the advocates and their crews. Please! I want someone to prove me wrong. What I see from my vantage point beyond the fray of the fast talkers are advocates leveraging a crab mentality in how trying to gain an edge for their constituency. Essentially the mindset is, if their group can’t get out of the proverbial pot, neither can anyone else’s.

Think about it. It’s happening right now with the each of the socioeconomic groups fighting one another on the streets and in the shadows. They are achieving progress at the same tempo as Congress. We can all see how that’s working for us. These advocates seem to have lost sight of the fact they represent small businesses and that their tactics effectively hurt their own constituencies.

Et tu Brute? That’s one way to create job security. Instead of chipping away at one another and diminishing the ability of small businesses to succeed, aim your arrows at challenges and obstacles that benefit all small businesses, the Government and ultimately our Nation. Lawsuits are not always the answer. In the meantime, the external factions set on the exploitation or minimalization of the small business community as it relates to federal contracting, continue to eat our lunch on a daily basis.

Here’s an update: they are going back for seconds and dessert. To paraphrase a line from The Last Boy Scout, “I’ll say it again for the people in the cheap seats!” the small business community needs to get its head out of the sand, cast off the pomp and circumstance and start having meaningful discussions related to productive collaborations and action that results in successes. There are enough small, mid-sized and large organizations operating honorably, with integrity, and with their customers best interest top of mind, who are willing to sit at the table and participate in changing the landscape. All those in favor…

- The Chief Visionary

The person who says it cannot be done should not interrupt the person doing it.

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Guy Timberlake is the Chief Visionary and Chief Executive Officer of The American Small Business Coalition LLC, an organization providing a unique and innovative membership program for companies doing business with government agencies and government contractors.

Read the full article by Edward T. DeLisle & Craig Schroeder on the Federal Construction Contracting Blog

NAMGC is asking the GovCon community for input to assist them in developing the best possible programs to serve the credit union members. They are asking interested parties to complete the voluntarily survey linked t0 below and to submit it via email to info@namgc.org.

http://www.namgc.org/NAMGC_GCFCU_Survey.html

NAMGC President, Alpha Roberts, invites you to contact her via email with any questions regarding their proposed federal credit union at alpharoberts@namgc.org.

Links:

National Association of Minority Government Contractors (NAMGC): http://www.namgc.org/

National Credit Union Administration (NCUA): http://www.ncua.gov/

Bethesda, MD (PRWEB) February 8, 2010 — Carroll Publishing, the nation’s leading provider of top quality government contact solutions, announced today the launch of new purchasing “transactions” content, expanding the coverage of its online database services. The Company’s Federal government “transactions” addition is part of a focused initiative to develop its GovSearch™ product line into a comprehensive research tool that can fully assist companies in doing business with the Federal government.

The new data is the purchasing history of products and services by the Federal government, with detail including dollars spent, contract completion dates and vendors from whom the government made its purchases. Users can access the data by selecting from a product/service category, by a Federal department or by a funding office. As an added benefit, this purchasing data is linked directly to the funding office key contacts and decision makers.

With the launch of “transactions,” subscribers will have timely, one-stop access to find and track where the government is spending money. By using the database service, subscribers can effectively render strategies for positioning their companies in the government marketplace. This data is seamlessly integrated with the government contact files to take the user directly to the funding office linked to the “transaction” – an exclusive feature only delivered by Carroll Publishing.

Bill Wade, President of Carroll Publishing said, “We are pleased to announce a total database solution that will help provide our customers the most comprehensive access available to the Federal government’s purchasing activities. We have transformed our product to set us apart from the competition and truly impact the delivery of government information today.”

The launch of purchasing transactions is part of a focused effort by Carroll Publishing in expanding its online services to become the essential research tool for doing business with the government.

To register for a free trial of the database go to www.carrollpub.com/transactionsPR.asp.

About Carroll Publishing Carroll Publishing, in business since 1974, maintains a robust database of government contact information for federal, state, municipal and county government levels, including the federal and defense industry contractors. Exclusive to its offering are published and real-time organization charts detailing reporting structures within the government. Products are delivered as a subscription website, CRM-friendly data sets, print directories and organizations charts, and Real-time XML Delivery, offering on-demand access.

Revenue Trends – Fifty percent of survey participants experienced revenue increases from federal business during the past year, while 20% suffered decreases.

Revenue impact from stimulus spending – Only 4% of surveyed companies anticipate significant revenue increases from the stimulus package.

Management and support headcount – At 14.6%, management and support headcount as a percentage of total headcount is somewhat lower than the 16% reported in last year’s survey.
Profit rate – Profits before interest and taxes continue to be modest in the government contracting industry. Forty-five percent of surveyed companies had either no profit or profit rates between 1% and 5% of revenue in this year’s survey, compared with 37% last year.
Proposal win rates – Survey participants report a 30% win rate from proposals for non-sole-source business. The win rate jumps to 60% when the company establishes a special business unit such as a joint venture or a limited liability corporation to bid the work.
Identifying out-of-scope work – Fifty-six percent of surveyed companies consider their procedures for identifying out-of-scope work to be either not effective or only somewhat effective.
Executive compensation – Executive compensation remains the cost element most frequently challenged by DCAA. DCAA’s methods for questioning these costs tend to be weak and can be challenged from several perspectives.

New compliance regulations – The government has recently expanded requirements for compliance systems which are applicable to most government contractors. Compliance with these regulations is mandatory, and failure to comply can result in prosecution, suspension and debarment.

Recent DCAA developments – DCAA operations have been severely criticized in two recent GAO reports, and as a result there have been major changes in DCAA management and audit procedures. These changes are likely to increase the risks facing government contractors.

Take advantage of this valuable survey Grant Thornton produces for the GovCon community each year. You can view and download (free) here: Grant Thornton Annual GovCon Survey

Whether you agree, disagree, are happy with the outcome, or not, here are some of the opinions I’ve read about what it will mean:

• “loss of a filibuster-proof majority” – Republicans (at least in the Senate) matter again.

• “a debilitating media narrative: that Martha Coakley’s loss was a referendum on the President” – The President will find it far more difficult to persuade nervous Democrats to ignore their constituents and vote with him.

• “in certain ways not having a filibuster-proof majority is politically advantageous to the President. If you have 60 votes, the pressure is on you to deliver every single one of them. If you have 59, the pressure is suddenly on the minority party not to be obstructionist.” – I’ve heard this a couple of times and I agree that an end to the extreme rush to pass sweeping reform will improve the President’s chances of getting relected in 2012.

What this means for business is unclear and will depend on whether truly bi-partisan efforts to invigorate our economy emerge or we go into a phase of stalemate where nothing much gets done.

No matter what your political views are this election will go down as one of the most significant of all time.

Reuters story on Scott Brown, the winner of this historic election: FACTBOX-Massachusetts U.S. Senator Scott Brown

The deal will provide GovDelivery with capital and other resources needed to continue expanding its business, the companies said in a statement earlier.

“ICG is partnering with GovDelivery because we recognize that they are the clear leader in delivering innovative software as a service and social media solutions to the public sector market. We are confident we can help GovDelivery continue to build off of its strong foundation and broaden its market presence,” said Walter Buckley, CEO of ICG (Nasdaq: ICGE), in a press statement.

PR Newswire: GovDelivery Management Partners with Internet Capital Group to Acquire GovDelivery from Existing Investors