GTSC Featured in MorganFranklin’s Core Confidence Blog

Q&A | Building a Bridge Between Business & Government

by MorganFranklin Consulting in Public Sector Market

MorganFranklin Consulting is an international services firm that delivers business consulting and technology solutions to public companies, fast-growing private companies, and government clients.

An interview with Kristina Tanasichuk, CEO & Founder, GTSC

What would our world look like if leaders from the U.S. government and private businesses worked together to learn from one another? What if they combined efforts to innovate and attain their shared goals? Would you believe that this vision is already reality?

MorganFranklin Consulting sat down with Kristina Tanasichuk, CEO and founder of the Government Technology & Services Coalition (GTSC), to discuss how her organization is bridging the divide between business and government. GTSC is a nonprofit, nonpartisan association that was formed to help CEOs from small and midsized companies band together to work with their federal partners to bring innovation, creativity, and exceptionalism from successful businesses to the homeland and national security missions.

In this exclusive Q&A, Tanasichuk shares her insights into how GTSC helps its members overcome challenges to work together with federal partners—and she highlights the coalition’s greatest success stories and top priorities. From cybersecurity and protecting critical infrastructure to implementing the DATA Act, the challenges are many but the potential payoff is huge.

Where some may see hurdles, Tanasichuk sees opportunity. Such an ambitious undertaking may sound daunting, but GTSC’s founder boils it down to three simple priorities:

Focus on the mission
Serve our government partners and our members
Be a voice for innovation

“Something ‘innovative’—whether it’s a process, product, or service—may not work on the first try. You have to nurture innovation and be committed to it,” Tanasichuk says.

MorganFranklinConsulting_QA_GTSC_Kristina_Tanasichuk_Article

Your “Preparedness Plan” for a Government Shutdown

by Strategic Partner Justin A. Chiarodo, Partner and Heather L. Petrovich, Dickstein Shapiro

With Congress quickly approaching a September 30 funding deadline with no adequate spending measures in place, and the Office of Management and Budget now directing agencies to prepare contingency plans, the possibility of a government shutdown is becoming increasingly likely. Unfortunately, government contractors faced these challenges just two short years ago during a 16-day shutdown. Among other challenges, contractors may face a lack of incremental funding; the inability to enter into new contracts or contract modifications; closed government facilities; furloughed government employees; delayed payments; increased indirect costs; and unexercised and deferred contract options. This alert highlights steps government contractors can take to protect their business interests in the event of a shutdown.

Review Your Contracts

Reviewing your contracts is good advice in all times, but particularly so when facing a shutdown. Several key areas are worth reviewing before a shutdown. First, contractors should consider the amount and type of contract funding for each contract. A shutdown will affect incrementally funded contracts more than fully funded contracts. Though exceptions may apply, the funding for incrementally funded contracts may lapse in the event of a shutdown, which could cause the contract work to come to a halt. Fully funded contracts may be impacted by furloughed employees, facility closures, or other unexpected costs. Second, the place of contract performance may affect the ongoing work on a contract if the contractor is performing at a government facility. Many government facilities will close during a shutdown and furloughed employees or limited hours may affect those government facilities that do remain open. Third, the period of contract performance may affect a contract in that the government cannot exercise options and contract extensions during a shutdown. Fourth, the statement of work could also affect how the shutdown applies to a contract. For instance, national security and emergency preparedness contracts are much more likely to be funded during a shutdown than facility maintenance work. Nonetheless, even those exempt contracts may still be affected if the statement of work requires contractors or projects to interact with furloughed employees.

Communicate With Your Contracting Officers

It is important for contractors to seek written guidance from their contracting officers before a shutdown about contract performance during a shutdown. Among other things, contractors should seek guidance on whether facilities will remain open, whether employees should continue working, and whether contract performance should continue. If the contracting officer informs contractors that contract performance should not continue during the shutdown, contractors should insist on a written stop-work order to protect their interests. Further, contractors should request a stop-work order for contracts that remain funded, but cannot be continued during the shutdown due to furloughed employees or closed government facilities. Finally, contractors should contemporaneously inform contracting officers in writing of any expected delays or added expenses to mitigate the potential for future disagreements regarding these expenses or delays.

Prepare Employees and Subcontractors

Contractors should take steps to prepare employees and subcontractors if they determine there is a need to furlough employees or suspend subcontracts during a shutdown. These actions should be coordinated with appropriate legal and HR support. Once an action plan is in place, the contractor should take steps to diminish the effects of a shutdown. To mitigate risk to employees, contractors should consider reassigning idle employees to exempt or unaffected programs or requiring employees to use their accrued paid leave during the shutdown if there is no state law or agreement to the contrary.

Prepare for Lengthy Payment Delays

Contractors should prepare to go without payment from the government for an extended period on their non-exempt contracts. To mitigate the possible effects of the shutdown, contractors should collect any possible government receivables before the shutdown occurs and contact and advise creditors about their situation. Further, contractors should consider methods of stretching cash flow by evaluating cash reserves, considering additional lines of credit, and reallocating non-essential budgetary resources, such as business development or advertising funds.

Make a Record

A shutdown will likely lead to additional expenses or delays. These can occur through extra material and vendor costs, costs associated with ramping up or winding down contracts, unabsorbed overhead, delays from furloughed employees, or intervening contractual actions. Contractors should document these expenses as they occur and memorialize all correspondence with agencies, contracting officers, employees, and subcontractors in writing. Contractors should also record any unavoidable costs or actions taken to mitigate costs during the shutdown in order to validate subsequent requests for equitable adjustment that contractors may submit once the shutdown ends.

Comply With All Normal Deadlines

Unless contractors are explicitly notified in writing otherwise, they should continue to comply with all government-related deadlines. This includes deadlines for solicitations, bid protests, claims, appeals of contracting officers’ final decisions, and any litigation deadlines. Although some deadlines may be tolled during a shutdown, these rules can vary among agencies. The safest way to avoid any missed deadlines is to assume they are not moving. On the flip side of this coin, contractors should also be aware that a shutdown may cause proposals to be awarded far later than expected due to shutdown-related delays.

For Additional Information

To learn more about how we can work with you to address the issues summarized above, please contact GTSC Strategic Partner Justin A. Chiarodo at [email protected] or (202) 420-2706, Heather L. Petrovich at [email protected] or (202) 420-2693.

EAGLE II Matchmaking Meet-up

Join GTSC’s Business Development Exchange (BDE) Group for a “Meet-Up” to find new partners and team mates now that the EAGLE II ban on crossing functional categories has been lifted.

AGENDA

8:00 AM — Opening discussion: Winnifred Parks, Program Manager, EAGLE II

8:30 AM – 10:00 AM Meet and Greet

WHY?

Due to a June 16, 2015 United States Civilian Board of Contract Appeals decision (CBCA 4671), effective immediately all EAGLE II Prime Contractors and Core Team members may cross functional categories (FCs) to perform as subcontractors in other FCs, provided that: (1) it is determined by the Government that a conflict of interest does not exist pursuant to the contract clauses at Section I.4.4. Organizational Conflict of Interest (HSAR 3052-209-72 (JUN 2006)) and I.4.5. Limitation on Future Contracting (HSAR 3052.209-73 (JUN 2006)); and (2) if applicable, written consent to subcontract is provided by the Task Order Contracting Officer prior to task order award pursuant to the contract clause H.19 Subcontracting and Subcontracts FAR 52.244-2 (OCT 2010) ALT 1 (JUN 2007).

Therefore, the EAGLE II News Alert 001-14 dated November 19, 2013 is hereby rescinded.

JOIN US to meet some great potential team members — SPACE IS LIMITED. OPEN TO ALL INTERESTED COMPANIES.

Insight Session with Latetia Henderson, TSA

Join us for a unique convesation with

Latetia Henderson
Assistant Administrator for the Office of Acquisition, Transporation Security Administration

As the Assistant Administrator for the Office of Acquisition, Latetia Henderson is in charge of over 170 acquisition and contracting professionals who are responsible for obligating and procuring goods and services valued at over $3 billion annually. She is a lead expert in process implementation and is spearheading the strategic and performance management efforts to streamline the operational efficiency of acquisition and procurement processes at TSA.

She has 30 years of experience as a federal acquisition professional making significant contributions to the execution of critical missions at various federal agencies. Her assignments include allocating TSA’s $1 billion from the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act. Furthermore, she has served in several leadership roles at TSA, including project lead in the Office of Human Capital, and Division Director for the Security Technology Acquisition Division within the Office of Acquisition.

Henderson received her undergraduate degree from the University of Virginia. Following graduation, she began her federal career as a developmental intern in the Naval Air Systems Command Contract Specialist Program. In that role, she supported the acquisition of major weapon and missile systems and later assumed responsibilities as a senior negotiator on the Tomahawk Baseline Improvement Program. These experiences allowed her to develop and eventually ascend to managerial positions within the Federal Aviation Administration, Department of the Interior, the Department of the Navy and the Department of Defense Washington Headquarters Services. Henderson’s commitment and dedication to the acquisition profession has been recognized through numerous awards and accolades throughout her career.

5 Steps DHS Can Take To Improve Federal Cybersecurity

Cybersecurity is king! It seems you can’t turn on the news or look at the Internet these days without hearing about ongoing cyber threats, bad actors or investments in new cyber technologies. Behind all the sensationalism is the reality that more and more individuals are actually being adversely impacted by an increasing number of breaches.

After six years in senior leadership at the Department of Homeland Security, I knew it wouldn’t be long before I received my notice from the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) regarding the status of my personally identifiable information (PII). It was all contained in the wide-ranging SF-86 form I filled out in 2009 to obtain my Top Secret clearance. Sure enough, it was a short wait.

The letter arrived in a non-descript envelope, from a company I had never heard of, last week. It read, in part, “You are receiving this notification because we have determined that the data compromised in the recent incident may have included your personal information, such as your name, Social Security number, date and place of birth, and current or former address.” This statement downplays the breadth of the information that was actually in those files. Basically, they took it all. I am certainly not alone. This grand slam of PII breaches has the potential to impact current and former Federal employees for years to come.

Increasingly, the White House and Congress are turning to DHS as the epicenter for protecting the .Gov environment.

So what can DHS do to improve Federal cybersecurity?

Here are five steps DHS can take to help reduce risk and better protect key government systems and networks from emerging cyber threats.

Accelerate CDM Deployment

DHS has two major acquisitions for protecting the totality of Federal agencies, the National Cybersecurity Protection System (commonly referred to as Einstein) and the Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation program (CDM). Einstein is broken up into several blocks of activity ranging from detection to information sharing. The latest iteration, Einstein 3 Accelerated (E3A), uses the major Internet Service Providers to apply classified and unclassified malicious “signatures” to agency traffic before it enters their networks. The difficulty with this approach is that the ISPs are in different places when it comes to their own capabilities and security postures. This leads to an unevenness when applying the E3A protections. Also, Einstein has to recognize the threat in order to be most effective. We know that hackers are constantly changing their methods and approaches. This makes it harder for Einstein to stop the attacks at the perimeter.  A better investment for DHS and the Federal government would be to increase funding in FY 2017 for CDM. Since we now know the most sophisticated adversaries are going to get past Einstein, it makes more sense to accelerate the program that can actually monitor the network in real time and deploy mitigation strategies quickly to remove the threat before significant harm occurs. The current timetable and investment strategy for CDM is too long to make a significant difference when attacks are damaging us today. Now is the time to give the folks on the front lines of this fight the resources to be most effective.

Cross-Train Current DHS IT Professionals for the Cyber Fight
In 2012, then DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano formed the CyberSkills Task Force under the Homeland Security Advisory Council. The charge to this group of cyber experts from industry, academia and government was to delineate an executable strategy for properly staffing DHS for the cyber fight to come. The task force called for hiring of up to 600 additional cyber professionals in 10 mission critical cyber skill sets. Even with a special hiring authority from OPM, this recommendation has fallen far short. One bright spot from these recommendations has been the exceptional work of the Cyber Management Support Initiative (CMSI), led by Executive Director Renee Forney. This office, with limited resources, has helped to set standards and provide meaningful tools to components across DHS to assist in the hiring process. The reality is that DHS will continue to have trouble hiring cyber ninjas when competing with the private sector and other Federal agencies, like the FBI and NSA that seem more exciting. There are currently thousands of DHS employees doing IT work across the department, but only a fraction qualify to be categorized within the 10 mission critical cyber skills sets. With OPM going to paper processing for screening of security clearances, it will take an eon to onboard a critical mass of expertise from the outside. With the help of CMSI, DHS should start cross training a sub set of current IT professionals who can swiftly be deployed to key cyber jobs that need filling now. DHS should also go to its major partners in the private sector for a short term filling of the skills gap.
Deliver Fast Track Acquisition for Cyber
Responding to an imminent cyber threat is not the same as building a National Security Cutter for the Coast Guard, yet for acquisition purposes, DHS treats both the same. This is not the department’s fault. The Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR), which are about a foot thick, dictate much of this policy. Several years ago, DHS made an effort to provide key cyber components a tiered approach to procuring essential tools and services based on emerging threat. This acquisition approach was more agile and more likely to allow DHS offices the ability to respond within days not months. Unfortunately, that program was not completely successful. In light of recent events, DHS needs to renew the drive for fast track acquisition capability in those cyber programs where it is obviously needed and can be justified as an imminent threat.
Co-Locate the DHS Cyber Watch Floor and US-CERT at St. Elizabeths
The DHS Headquarters Consolidation Plan at St. Elizabeths in SE Washington DC has long been a political football. Proposed by then DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff as a way to improve command and control for a nascent department, Congress has never really gotten on board with the funding. Phase I of the plan was to build the Coast Guard a new home. With American Recovery and Reninvestment Act (ARRA) funding, this became a reality. That’s where the construction stopped for about four years. In more recent budget bills, Congress has authorized the rehabilitation of the Center Building, which will likely house future DHS secretaries. In the interim, there is an opportunity to take advantage of some important cyber synergies at Coast Guard headquarters. Last year, the DHS Security Operations Center relocated to St Es. When coupled with the strong vision Coast Guard Commandant Zukunft has for advancing cyber as a member of the .Mil community, the co-location of the DHS National Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Center (NCCIC) and the US Computer Emergency Readiness Team (US-CERT) would be a powerful combination for enhanced cyber cooperation and coordination. The added benefit would be that other partners in government and key infrastructure sectors who also staff the NCCIC would be situated together on a 21st century cyber watch floor at a Level 5 secure facility.
Embrace Private Sector Cyber Innovation
Since leaving government after 24 years to work with the private sector, I have been pleasantly surprised at how forward leaning industry has become in advancing innovative cyber approaches. Part of the challenge is that when you’re inside the fence line at DHS headquarters or in the components it is often difficult to hear this message. With the renewed push for strategic and pre-acquisition planning led by current DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson, there is a real chance to create an ongoing dialogue with industry that will not be seen as violative of procurement regulations. One general DHS Industry Day per year is not going to be sufficient to generate the ideas necessary to advance innovative cyber discussions that can turn into action. The DHS Under Secretary for Management and the Under Secretary for Science and Technology should jointly establish a formal process for the department that gives private sector companies the chance to offer innovative methods and ideas for combatting cyber threats early in the acquisition lifecycle.  While combatting cyber threats can be a complex and resource intensive journey, there is hope that by acting on these ideas and others we can find a way to reduce the risk to our citizens. There are a great many dedicated professions at DHS and across the government that deserve our full support as this battle continues.

Chris Cummiskey is a former Acting Under Secretary for Management at DHS. He also serves as a Strategic Advisor to GTSC and a Senior Fellow with the George Washington University Center for Cyber and Homeland Security.

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 www.GTSCMidTierSolution.com 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 Lion’s Den Launches Mid-Tier Initiative

The Lion’s Den, a group of mid-tier companies in the Government Technology & Services Coalition, today launched a campaign to educate the federal contracting community on the value of “mid-tier” or “other than small” companies. “The road for a mid-tier is rough,” said Kristina Tanasichuk, CEO & Founder of GTSC, “small businesses excel, perform, and grow, only to be stymied by their success.”

“The federal government has made a tremendous commitment to small business – setting aside numerous contracts to support their launch and growth. Assuring that these competent, successful businesses continue to provide great service to their government clients leverages this investment and reaps the return of more mature companies,” said Beth Fleshman, Vice President, Alion and Chair of the Lion’s Den.

GTSC’s Lion’s Den, comprised of companies between $15 million and $1 billion in revenue, focuses on policies and activities to support the growth of companies that have grown out of, or are about to grow out of, their North American Industry Classification System codes (NAICS). The campaign, launched with an info-graphic on the value proposition of mid-tier firms, will work with the public and private sector to understand why there should be a viable path for these companies and how to achieve it. Learn more about the campaign here.

“The lack of mid-tier opportunities leaves matriculating small businesses with nothing to bid on. Often, they can’t even bid on continuation of their current contracts despite exceptional performance. While change isn’t always bad, the government stands to lose substantial investment in providers with proven business acumen and expertise meeting mission needs,” said Dianna Francois, Vice President, WBB Inc.

Members of the Lion’s Den include Alion, Barbaricum, Blacktsone Technology Group, BlueWater Federal, CENTRA Technology, E3 Federal, Eagle Ray, GAP SI, Grant Thornton, Integrity One Partners, Micropact, Miracle Systems, Morgan Franklin, NCI, Salient, SE Solutions, and WBB.

What can you do?

We invite you to join us to be part of the solution.

Share our infographic with colleagues in the public and private sectors.
Schedule a mid-tier presentation for your office.
Join the Lion’s Den.
Share our media updates, twitter posts, and linkedin updates using #midtier
and #midtiergovcon
Join the GTSC Linkedin group and the Lion’s Den subgroup.
Refer interested government officials to the Lion’s Den to set up a presentation.

Contact us with questions or comments [email protected].

GTSC Featured in MorganFranklin’s Core Confidence Blog