The Government Technology & Services Coalition today formally announced its Strategic Advisors, including some of the most well-respected policy and acquisition minds in the Federal market. Strategic Advisors provide counsel and insight to member companies on all aspects of the Federal security market: procurement, policy, programs and priorities.
Read the full press release here. View the Advisors and their bios here.
GTSC has a few spots left for members to the L-3 STRATIS small business open house March 15. The open house will be from 1:00 – 4:00 pm and feature several divisions of L-3 and their small business opportunities. If you would like to attend, please email [email protected] asap.
GTSC is proud to announce the launch of our Market Solutions Series.
In response to your requests for strategies on unique and successful ways to partner and team to pursue contacts, we have launched the Market Solutions. The Series provides an inside look at creative, successful iterations in the Federal homeland and national security market. These intimate roundtables take you inside the “story” and allow you to understand the market components and forces that resulted in success.
Our inaugural workshop features Andy Maner, CEO of the National Security Interest Company (NISC) purchased by IBM last year in NVTC’s hottest exit! Register here.
Andy will discuss his move from CFO of DHS to CEO of the NISC, how he grew the company through acquisition and joined IBM as their NISC business lead.
The NISC Story
In a short three years, the National Interest Security Company (NISC) built an effective, successful company from small, complimentary firms focused on the Federal homeland and national security market. NISC was purchased by IBM in early 2010, and continues to operate under CEO Andrew Maner. Join us to hear the NISC story and further inform GTSC’s thought leadership on innovative market solutions for the homeland and national security mission.
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In 2007, the newly created National Interest Security Company LLC (NISC) was formed from the acquisition of Omen, Inc., the intelligence services division of Global Analytic IT Services, Inc and Technology and Management Services Inc (TMS) – formed by DC Capital Partners LLC, a private equity firm focused on the defense and federal sectors.
OMEN was a leading provider of software and systems engineering services with clients in the intelligence community with expertise in data acquisition, content management, information dissemination, collection and analysis of communications and electronic intelligence. TMS provided a broad range of management consulting and technology services to the US Government, including DOE and DHS.
Later that year the group appointed Andrew B. Maner as Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Maner was formerly President of ABM, LLC, a strategic advisory services firm headquartered in Washington, DC, and from January 2004 until March 2006, he served as Chief Financial Officer for the Department of Homeland Security, where he was responsible for strategic planning, budget, finance, and investments within the $50 billion Department.
Concurrently, DC Capital partners acquired both Athenyx and IMC. Athenyx, a leading provider of expert level engineering computer systems, support for the design, acquisition, development, integration, deployment, and ongoing support of high performance information systems to the U.S. intelligence community. IMC offered a wide range of information technology and knowledge management services to the intelligence community, the Department of Defense (“DoD”), and other federal agencies. IMC’s capabilities cover the full continuum of information management services including integrated data capture, convergence, manipulation, mining, exploitation, delivery, and storage systems and solutions.
In early 2008, now with 4 companies in the NISC family, the group acquired Edge Consulting to broaden its Strategic Analysis Capabilities and later a contract from DHS to support the DHS National Protection and Programs Directorate (NPPD) in business operations and planning.
In late 2008 NISC finished the year with the acquisition of Multi-Threaded Inc (MTI), a highly-specialized company that focused in systems engineering and software development solutions in support of document and media exploitation, multi-lingual data exploitation, and cyber security initiatives for the Intelligence Community and the Department of Defense.
The group was building successfully a suite of integrated solutions specifically crafted to the Federal homeland and national security market. In 2009 the group continued to receive contract awards from the Department of Energy, United States Special Operations Command and the Department of Homeland Security in addition to crafting a Board of Directors populated with luminaries from the field such as General Michael Hayden, General Anthony Zinni among others that strengthened their external and internal capacity.
In early 2010, NISC announced that IBM was to acquire the company to further strengthen IBM’s ability to deliver advanced analytics and IT solutions to the public sector.
Mr. Maner joins GTSC to discuss the rapid success of NISC, the strategy behind their acquisitions and the pros and cons of their exit strategy and advice for the firms within GTSC interested in forming similar partnerships.
About Andy
Andrew Maner is currently a Vice President and Partner, NISC Business Leader in IBM’s Global Business Services Public Sector Practice. In addition, he was recently named to lead the Strategy and Growth for IBM Public Sector Leader Chuck Prow. Prior to being acquired by IBM in March of 2010, Maner was the Chief Executive Officer of National Interest Security Company (NISC), a 1,000 employee DC Capital backed Information Management/Services and Technology Management Consulting Company serving the intelligence, homeland security, DoD, federal medical and energy marketplaces.
In 2006-2007, he was President of ABM LLC, an advisory services firm specializing in federal strategic sales, marketing and messaging, and revenue growth activities in federal, state, and local security markets.
Mr. Maner was appointed by President George W. Bush in January 2004 as the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) until March of 2006. As the CFO, Mr. Maner was responsible for the on-going integration of agencies such as the Transportation Security Agency, United States Cost Guard, United States Secret Service, U.S. Customs and Border Protection and FEMA into DHS. Maner also managed all budget, finance, financial systems, strategic planning and investment review functions within the ~$50 billion Cabinet Department.
Mr. Maner also served at the U.S. Customs Service (later to become U.S. Customs and Border Protection under the Department of Homeland Security) from January 2002 to January 2004. Mr. Maner was the Chief of Staff to U.S. Customs Commissioner Robert C. Bonner, serving as the agency’s principal operating officer. In March 2003, Mr. Maner was also asked to direct and manage the merger of the four component agencies of CBP, including U.S. Customs, U.S. Border Patrol, INS inspections and Agriculture & Quarantine Inspections. The merger involved a total of 42,000 personnel and budgets totaling ~$7.0 billion.
Before Joining U.S. Customs, Mr. Maner was Vice President for Development and Sales for ICG Commerce, an international supply chain services provider. During his tenure, Mr. Maner also founded and managed the company’s indirect channel practice, their leading vertical revenue producing division. He also co-managed private fundraising rounds that raised over $100 million from financial sources worldwide. Prior to ICG Commerce, Maner was a Principal at aligne, Inc., a technology consulting firm specializing in information technology, e-commerce initiatives and supply chain outsourcing.
Mr. Maner served in the administration of President George Bush in the White House Office of Advance and later as a Staff Assistant under Press Secretary Marlin Fitzwater in the White House Press Office (1991-1993). Following the change in administration, he continued to work for former President Bush and Mrs. Bush, as Director of Press and Political Affairs in the former President’s office in Houston, Texas. During the U.S. aid effort in Somalia in 1993, Mr. Maner served as Special Assistant to the United Nations Envoy to Somalia in Mogadishu, where he helped manage operations and interactions between the thirty nations contributing troops and aid. He also assisted with political, economic/trade development and food aid efforts throughout the country.
Mr. Maner is a graduate of Purdue University (B.A.), where he currently serves as Chairman of the Dean’s Advisory Board. He received his Masters in Business Administration (MBA) from the J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University. In 2005, Mr. Maner was selected for the coveted Purdue University “Old Masters” award program and was chosen to receive the Distinguished Public Service Award from the United States Coast Guard in 2006. Maner is on the Board of Directors of the Armed Forces Foundation. In June 2010, Maner accepted the “Hottest Exit” award from the Northern Virginia Technology Council in recognition of NISC’s sale to IBM. Maner was also recently selected to the FED100 for 2010, an honor recognizes the Top 100 individuals for their accomplishments in the Federal Government/Contracting Community partnership. Maner lives in Washington D.C with his wife Julie and their 3 sons.
Join us for an information packed day with the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. A full agenda and registration information is available here.
GTSC is also offering headshots for a nominal fee before the event (pre-registration is required). Look forward to seeing you!
DHS has released 25 primes looking for small businesses — listed here.
This information is ALWAYS available on DHS’ website.
As part of its comprehensive review of size standards required by the Small Business Jobs Act of 2010, the U.S. Small Business Administration (“SBA”) recently made substantial increases to the revenue-based size standards for about three-quarters of the industry categories for Technical, Professional and Scientific services. For some categories, the SBA more than tripled the current standards, with a majority of the size standards at least doubling in revenue amount. Moreover, SBA’s final size standards varied significantly from the size standards that the SBA initially had proposed.
On February 10, 2012, the SBA issued its Final Rule that increased size standards in 34 of the 45 industries and in three sub-industries in the North American Industry Classification System (“NAICS”) Sector 54, “Professional, Scientific and Technical Services.” The industries where the standards increased include legal, accounting, engineering, consulting, and marketing services. The SBA retained the current standards for the remaining 11 industries in this sector. 77 Fed. Reg. 7490. This Final Rule will take effect on March 12, 2012.
The Final Rule reflects size standard changes made by the SBA that are significantly different from the proposed rule published on March 16, 2011. The SBA made these changes in its Final Rule as a result of receiving 1,426 comments during the public comment period. For instance, the SBA upwardly revised five size standards from $14 million in its proposed rule to $19 million. Conversely, after an overwhelming majority of comments opposed SBA’s proposed increases to size standards for various architectural services, the SBA adjusted these size standards from the proposed $19 million to $7 million in the Final Rule.
Companies that compete in the covered NAICS codes should review the Final Rule to ascertain their new size standards. The SBA estimates as many as 8,350 additional firms will become eligible for SBA programs as a result of these revisions. Based on these increased size standards, a company may qualify under a NAICS code for which it did not previously qualify. In addition, there may be more competition among a larger pool of eligible small businesses. Finally, the increases in these size standards will also enable more small businesses to retain their small business status for a longer period.
For more information contact Richard Oliver, 213-243-6169; Alison Doyle, 202-496-7604; or Amy Deng, 213-243-6111 at McKenna Long & Aldridge LLP.
GTSC is pleased to announce the addition of three leading integrators in the homeland security community: Battelle Memorial Institute, L-3 STRATIS and SAIC. Read the press release here. Join us for Battelle’s Dr. John Wade February 16th.
Join us for a fascinating conversation with John Wade, the man behind Battelle’s national security global business. Mr. Wade will discuss his assessment of the homeland and national security markets, opportunities for teaming with Battelle and his philosophy on Battelle’s mentor protege program.
REGISTER
About John
Following 22 years active duty in the U.S. Army Veterinary Corps, sixteen engaged in chemical or biological defense research, management, oversight or policy, Dr. Wade currently serves as Battelle’s Vice President and Manager, Joint and Interagency Market Group. He has held prior positions as VP and Manager, CBRN programs; VP and Manager Biodefense Medical Systems Product Line, VP and Program Developer for Battelle’s Vaccine Business Area and Relationship Manager to the Office of the Secretary of Defense, the Deputy Assistant to the Secretary of Defense for Chemical and Biological Defense Programs and the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs. In this capacity he coordinated Battelle’s support of military medical programs and markets Battelle’s overall capabilities within the Washington, D.C. area. Dr. Wade has extensive research experience in neurochemistry, neurotoxicology, mechanisms of convulsive seizures and the pathophysiology of, and the medical countermeasures agains, chemical warfare agents. He continues to exercise his expertise in all facets of the U.S. Department of Defense Program to counter the threat of Chemical and Biological agents. Dr. Wade has been a Member-at-Large to the NATO Human Factors and Medicine Panel as the U.S. Delegation’s CB defense expert since 2000.
McKenna Long & Aldridge, LLP Government Contracts Advisory:
The General Services Administration (GSA) has released the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP) Concept of Operations (CONOPS), which outlines the procedures cloud service providers must follow to obtain provisional authority to operate cloud solutions for federal agencies. The CONOPS contains the first detailed description of the specific processes cloud service providers, the FedRAMP Project Management Office and FedRAMP-accredited third party assessment organizations will follow under FedRAMP’s government-wide authorization regime, and is intended to provide the relevant stakeholders — as well as any outside organizations seeking to better understand FedRAMP procedures — with a step-by-step explanation of the FedRAMP assessment process. Specifically, the CONOPS provides a detailed explanation of the roles and responsibilities of these entities in: (1) accrediting third party assessment organizations; (2) performing security assessments of cloud service providers; (3) leveraging provisional authority to operate cloud solutions, and (4) performing ongoing continuous monitoring and audits.
FedRAMP is designed to provide a standardized approach to obtaining an authorization to operate cloud services in compliance with the Federal Information Security Management Act of 2002 (FISMA), Pub. L. No. 107-347, which mandates that any IT system handling federal data must undergo security authorization and receive an authorization to operate. The CONOPS is the latest in a series of guidance mandated by the FedRAMP Policy Memorandum issued by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) on December 8, 2011. See McKenna Long & Aldridge LLP Government Contracts Advisory, OMB Establishes Government-Wide Authorization for Cloud Computing Services. The December 2011 FedRAMP Policy Memo launched the FedRAMP Project Management Office, established an interagency Joint Authorization Board composed of executives from DoD, DHS and GSA, and called for publication of this CONOPS. The Joint Authorization Board released its list of security controls in early January 2012, and the FedRAMP process is slated to become fully operational by June of this year.
Contractors seeking to market cloud solutions to federal agencies should closely review the procedures outlined in the CONOPS since these requirements will apply to all cloud deployment models (e.g., public clouds, community clouds, private clouds) and all cloud service models (e.g., Infrastructure as Service, Platform as Service, Software as Service), and contractors should expect to see these procedural requirements incorporated in future solicitations and contracts. While the security assessment of cloud solutions is a FedRAMP priority, the highly structured, highly detailed, and potentially iterative process for obtaining authority to operate cloud solutions described in the CONOPS may slow down agencies’ anticipated timelines for transitioning to the cloud. Further, the continuous monitoring requirements and requirements for notification of changes to security procedures may impose substantial ongoing reporting obligations stemming from cloud service providers’ regular refresh of security controls. Ultimately, however, the possibility of undergoing a single authorization process to provide cloud services on a government-wide basis will provide cloud service providers with a streamlined and efficient process for contracting with federal agencies.
McKenna Long & Aldridge will continue monitoring key developments in this area and provide periodic updates.
