Call for Presentations for Capacity Day 2017!

The Government Technology & Services Coalition (GTSC) is committed to keeping our members up-to-date on the latest developments in the government contracting arena, in addition to informing them of the cutting edge and best practices for their business operations.  To that end, we are hosting a “Capacity Building Day” to give our CEO’s a “shot” of all they need to know to make their business better and stronger.  Have something that will help??  READ ON!

CALL FOR PRESENTATIONS: Capacity Building Day 2017, August 17, 2017

GTSC will host a Capacity Building Session, August 17th at CENTRA Technology,  Arlington, VA to help small and mid-tier contractors understand insurance, benefits, compliance, accounting, staffing, legal and contractor specific requirements in homeland and national security (like developing SCIFs, security clearances, etc.) they must understand to have the internal capacity to grow.
We invite vendors to submit a discussion or workshop related to these topics for consideration to speak at this ½ day session. We are looking for substantive presentations that will:
  • Educate companies on current requirements
  • Inform companies of upcoming or recent changes to requirements
  • Identify trends in buying, trends that impact companies and how companies are positioning to address these trends
  • Share new and innovative approaches to the topic
  • “Sales pitches” will not be accepted
  • Apply as speaker or workshop – for speakers (15-30 minute presentations); for workshops, (1-1.5 hours)
Submissions will be accepted until midnight, July 15, 2017.
Please submit:
NAME
COMPANY
EMAIL
TELEPHONE NUMBER
WEBSITE
TITLE OF PRESENTATION
PRESENTATION OR WORKSHOP?
HOW LONG IS YOUR PRESENTATION?
OBJECTIVE OF PRESENTATION/WORKSHOP
SUBMIT TO:  Veronika Gajer,  Marketing and Meetings Associate, [email protected] by July 15.

 GTSC will be incorporating a VENDOR FAIR to Capacity Building 2017!

This year GTSC will host a VENDOR FAIR along with our capacity building day and will have 6 tables available for Vendor-Friends to display their materials and talk with members for $250.

If you’d like to reach 60+ government contracting CEOs, please click here:

Capacity Building Day 2017

The Government Technology & Services Coalition (GTSC) will host a Capacity Building Session on August 17th to help small and mid-tier contractors understand insurance, benefits, compliance, accounting, staffing, legal and contractor specific requirements in homeland and national security (like developing SCIFs, security clearances, etc.) they must understand to have the internal capacity to grow.

This is your once a year check-in to assure your enterprise is operating as efficiently and effectively as possible.

REGISTER NOW

 

Confirmed Keynotes:

George Price, Director, Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business, U.S. Department of State  BIO

Carla Thomas, Industry Liaison, U.S. Department of Homeland Security BIO

Alisa Sheard, Business Opportunity Specialist- 8(a) BD, U.S. Small Business Administration BIO

Susan Nichols, Program Director, Small Business Programs Office, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency BIO

Confirmed Presentations:

Strategies for Winning Government Business
Jackie Santisteban, President, The Government Sales Advisors BIO

Developing Your Strategic Partnerships for Long Term Growth
Earl Holland, CEO, Growth Strategy Consultants, LLC BIO

Solution Architecture/Proposal Architecture
Kevin Marshall, Vice President, Wolf Den Associates BIO

Winning Technical-Challenge Based Procurements
Ben Morris, Partner, STSI BIO

Protest Procedures and Trends
Devon Hewitt, Partner, Protorae Law PPLC BIO

Cyber Readiness and Hygiene for Government Contractors
John Harrison, Director, Cybersecurity Services, DAR Partners BIO

Software Defined Perimeter – A New Paradigm for Securing Digital Infrastructures/Systems
Juanita Koilpillai, CEO & Founder, Waverly Labs BIO

NIST 800-171 Simplifying CUI and DFARS Compliance
Maria Horton, Founder & CEO, EmeSec BIO

Demystifying the Facility & Security Clearance Process to Include the New Insider Threat Implementation Requirement
Diane Griffin, Founder & CEO, Security First & Associates BIO

GTSC will be incorporating a VENDOR FAIR to Capacity Building 2017!

This year GTSC will host a VENDOR FAIR along with our capacity building day and will have 6 tables available for Vendor-Friends to display their materials and talk with members for $250.

If you’d like to reach 60+ government contracting CEOs, please click here:

Mega MatchMaking Session 2017

MENTORS and MID-TIERS!
Are you looking for Mentor-Protege partners? New small business contacts that already understand the government market in DHS, DOD, ODNI, DOJ, Treasury or State?

SMALL BUSINESSES!
Are you looking for great Mentor partners?

REGISTER NOW

Join us for a unique and diverse matchmaking open to firms with capabilities in: 

  • Financial management
  • Information Technology
  • Business process improvement
  • Project management
  • Strategy
  • Identity management
  • Configuration management
  • Help desk/call center support
  • Warfighter support services
  • C4ISR experience
  • Maritime/Port security operations services
  • Wireless network technical support
  • Information security/information assurance
  • IA support fo validation testing
  • Logistics support
  • Modeling and simulation
  • Training courseware capabilities
  • Intelligence community IT services
  • and more!!!

“What a fabulous event yesterday!!! The matchmaking was one- if not the best one- I have been to. Everyone I was set up with had a need for DAI’s type of work-the back corner networking led to meeting three companies I could potentially work with-NGA representative is looking for companies that fit our capabilities-some great connections!”

–Dr. Sheri Dougherty, President DAI

“I wanted to let you know that the Eagle II matchmaking session was among the best I’ve ever been to. So many other matchmaking sessions, you only get 5 minutes but waste so much time waiting in line to speak with someone. And all the companies that were there actually seemed interested in teaming, rather than just being there to check a box. Another great event – thank you!” 

— Mary Clare Gumbleton, Wolverine Group

Tentative Schedule

8:00 am Registration Check-In

8:30 am Introduction and Logistics

9:00 am Matchmaking session

12:00 pm Adjourn

REGISTER NOW

Join GSA’s Reverse Industry Day!

Hello Fellow GTSC Members!

As you may be aware, GTSC is actively participating in the planning for the GSA Reverse Industry Day, which will take place Monday, July 10th from 9am to 1pm at GSA HQ in Foggy Bottom.

This event will be made available to the entire GSA Acquisition community. GSA employees in Metropolitan Washington DC will be encouraged to attend in person, while the event will be made available live online to remote employees. Attendance is expected to be large.

GTSC has the opportunity, as an industry organization, to have representatives participate on the three panels as either a panelist or moderator. In addition to the actual event on the 10th, there will be required preparation and dry run meetings. Those days have not been scheduled at this time.

Roles:

Panelist – will support the development of the PowerPoint, prepare remarks and scenarios, share, and present industry views, best practices, and lessons learned about the specific panel topic.

Panel Moderator – will be responsible for working with the panel on content creation, coordinating the presentation, and communicating with the planning team. Act as the Champion for the audience (staying on track with relevant topics, continually assessing and reacting to the audience, facilitating the discussion, timekeeping, and keeping the conversation meaningful for them).

It is anticipated that the panel discussions will be structured in a scenario based approach. The topics are as follows:

Panel 1:

How Industry Decides to Bid/No Bid an Opportunity

This panel will address key aspects of the processes, timelines (including identification of opportunities), and the factors that influence how a company decides to bid on an opportunity from task orders to multiple award contract vehicles. Panelists will discuss the importance of early communication, highlight the type of information that industry seeks in order to qualify an opportunity, and the value [and impact] associated with certain types of communications (e.g. RFIs, one-on-ones, industry days, GSA Interact Site, etc.). Speakers will use actual scenarios to demonstrate how different factors might influence the decision towards either bidding or not bidding (e.g., costs, risks, probability of win, acquisition strategy, vetting of solution, past acquisition practices of customer, socio-economic considerations, competitive analysis, etc.).

Panel 2:

How Industry Responds to Solicitations and Interprets Requirements

This panel will discuss the timelines, resources, and personnel involved in responding to a solicitation and detail how industry analyzes and interprets various requirements. Panelists will highlight the importance of opportunities for Q&A and focus on how the most critical elements of a solicitation (e.g. acquisition strategy, pricing instructions, evaluation criteria, clarity of requirements, evaluation and scoring criteria, and contract type and cost/price structure) may impact the nature of the proposed solution, pricing, etc.

Panel 3:

Industry’s Perspective on the Importance and Value of Debriefs

This session will provide insight into the importance and value of debriefs for both government and industry and detail the types of information that industry is seeking in a written or oral debrief (including FAR Part 8, Brief Explanation of Award Decision). Speakers will also discuss how effective communication during the debrief and throughout the acquisition lifecycle that can potentially reduce protests.

If you or a colleague have strong interest and expertise in any one of these subject,

Please register NLT May 31, 2017
Click Here to Participate in the GSA RID

Please note that all non-federal government speakers will be required to sign a gratuitous services agreement with GSA prior to participating. The participating industry organizations will sign agreements on behalf of any speakers affiliated with them; speakers who are unaffiliated with a participating industry organization, or who are appearing in their personal capacity, will have to sign their own gratuitous services agreement, which GSA will provide.

GSA will select the final participants based on the nominations put forward by GTSC and other industry organizations.

Thank you for your interest in supporting the GSA RID. Together we will improve acquisitions to achieve mission outcomes through better communication.

Best,

Kristina Tanasichuk
CEO, Government Technology & Services Coalition| (703)201-7198

GTSC Welcomes New Members FROM USCG, USCIS, TSA, & INTEL to Board of Advisors

The Government Technology & Services Coalition (GTSC), the premier organization for small and mid-sized companies in homeland and national security, today announced several new appointments to add more expertise to their prestigious Board of Advisors.

“GTSC’s has grown by leaps and bounds in the last several months as companies and federal partners realize the true potential of active, mission-oriented collaboration. Achieving the homeland security mission requires the expertise of both mission experts and those who execute to achieve top performance. Our recent Board of Advisor additions add tremendous vision and capabilities to our engagements,” said Kristina Tanasichuk, Founder & CEO of GTSC. GTSC welcomes:

Rear Admiral John Acton, Former Rear Admiral, U.S. Coast Guard and Special Advisor to the Presidential Transition who will work with the Coalition on initiatives with the U.S. Coast Guard and continued White House transition. “It’s an honor for me to continue my support of GTSC. As we enter a period of budget tightening and evolving policy challenges, the role of medium and small companies in supporting our homeland security missions remains as essential as ever. With a security threat stream that continues to broaden and morph, these smaller companies can fill vital roles and often react quicker than larger, more bureaucratic firms. And GTSC plays an important role helping these smaller firms increase their effectiveness and efficiency, to the benefit of us all,” said Rear Admiral Acton at the announcement.

Joshua Seckel, Chief Engineer at WhiteHawk and former Chief of the Applied Technology Division at U.S. Customs & Immigration Services joins the Coalition to assist our federal partners to understand and implement agile development projects, agile thinking, and strategic development of projects and initiatives that includes an agile framework. At the release, Seckel said, “I’m looking forward to working with the GTSC community to bring modern development practices into both government agencies and contractors supporting them.”

Jill Vaughan, Senior Advisor at GSIS and former Assistant Administrator for the Office of Security Capabilities and the Chief Technology Officer at the Transportation Security Administration joins GTSC to contribute to, and continue the strategic development of, “Smashing the Box” events and the challenge of bringing new security technology to our federal government partners.

Caryn A. Wagner, Former Undersecretary for Intelligence & Analysis at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security joins the Coalition to further the quality of the threat and risk information collected by our federal partners and the data analytics that support it. “I am committed to working the seams between national and domestic security and look forward to my association with GTSC.”

Profiles of these and all GTSC Board of Advisors are available at: https://gt.gtscoalition.com/about-us/strategic-advisors/

Members of the Board of Advisors provide input to GTSC’s programming, identify areas of collaboration and increase the awareness and understanding of the Federal homeland and national security mission.  GTSC works on behalf of its members with the U.S. Departments of Homeland Security, Defense, State, Justice and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. Since its inception, GTSC has worked with these agencies to achieve mission in an increasingly challenging budget environment, advocate for the value of small businesses, increase understanding of mid-tier companies, improve market research and increase collaboration between the public and private sector.

READ THE RELEASE:  Press release Advisors May 17 2017

GTSC Hill Day!

Join GTSC for our day to bring our voice to the Hill!

June 22, 2017 | Cornerstone Government Affairs
8:00 am – 4:00 pm – GTSC Members only.
REGISTER

Your success is dependent on A LOT of things.  Perhaps most overlooked by small and mid-sized companies is the role of Congress in developing, determining, and ultimately appropriating the budgets that support your companies.  One day per year we ask our members to join us — to learn more about where the money to fund your contracts comes from, understand Congress’ priorities, and advocate for continued support of the small business community.

We will start with a briefing and breakfast on current legisltative efforts at Cornerstone Governmet Affairs with an introduction to our agenda for the day.

We will then meet with Senate and House leaders in the relevant committees and personal offices of the legislators who develop and oversee management of homeland and national security issues, in addition to those tasked with small business concerns. Participants will represent the small and mid-sized contracting community and will discuss issues related to your business in addition to challenges affecting the federal homeland and national security market, including but not limited to midtier company challenges, small business growth issues, oversight, budget and management. Stay tuned for a more detailed agenda — we look forward to seeing you!

Special thanks to Cornerstone Government Affairs for supporting this important day!

CEO to CEO Roundtable with Andrea Stone, CEO, DPI, Inc. SBA Small Business Person of the Year

Join us for this special CEO to CEO Roundtable with our honored guest

Andrea Stone, CEO, DPI, Inc.

Andrea Stone
CEO of DynamicPro, Inc.

June 14, 2018 | Falls Church, VA
7:30 am – 9:00 am

REGISTER

Recently named Small Business Person of the Year by the Small Business Administration, and an incredibly active leader at the Government Technology & Services Coalition that won GTSC’s Small Business of the Year for 2016, Andrea Stone founded DPI in 2006 as a management consulting and technology firm to provide collaborative consulting services in both the public and private sector. She is an expert in performance management, team decision support, and collaborative change management. She has consulted extensively and led projects related to large-scale technology implementation, strategic planning, change management, knowledge management, and technology acquisition. Before founding DPI, Andrea supported multiple engagements in the DHS and Transportation spaces at Booz Allen and Hamilton. She is a founding member of the Government Technology and Services Coalition and has served as president of the Washington DC chapter of Women in Transportation. She is a member of Women in Homeland Security (WHS), the Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Organization (AFCEA), and the National Defense Industrial Association (NDIA). She received a Masters in Business Administration from the University of Pittsburgh.

Lion’s Den Meeting with Kay Ely, Dep. Asst. Commissioner for OIT, GSA

GTSC invites Lion Den members (companies with revenue between $25million – $1 billion) are invited for their monthly meeting, in-person, May 19 at Micropact in Herndon, VA.  Please RSVP to Vanessa Chander, IntegrityONE Partners.

Our special guest will be:

Kay Ely, Deputy Assistant Commissioner for the Office of Information Technology Category (ITC) in GSA’s Federal Acquisition Service (FAS)

Kay Ely
Deputy Assistant Commissioner for the Office of Information Technology Category (ITC) in GSA’s Federal Acquisition Service (FAS)

The Federal Acquisition Service provides buying platforms and acquisition services to Federal, State and Local governments for a broad range of items from office supplies to motor vehicles to information technology and telecommunications products and services. As an organization within FAS, ITC provides access to a wide range of commercial and custom IT products, services and solutions.

In her current role as Deputy Assistant Commissioner, Ms. Ely supports the ITC Assistant Commissioner in managing the largest fee-for-service information technology (IT) procurement and services operation in the U.S. government.  Ms. Ely shares responsibility for leading a highly-skilled and diverse workforce that manages more than 7,000 contracts, providing access to relevant and timely IT and telecommunications products, services and solutions to defense and civilian agencies, as well as to state, local and tribal governments.

Before coming to GSA’s ITC, Ms. Ely served as the Chief Learning Officer at the Office of Personnel Management where she developed and set the strategic direction of OPM’s learning and knowledge management program. During her tenure with OPM she also served as an Associate Director where she was responsible for providing Federal employees, annuitants and their families with a variety of quality benefits options, as well as retirement processing services. She managed OPM’s nationwide leadership programs, the USAJOBS® program, and the Presidential Management Fellows (PMF) program. Ms. Ely also served as OPM’s Deputy Associate Director for Contracting, Facilities and Administrative Services. In that role, she was a member of the Federal Acquisition Institute (FAI) Board of Directors and was the Chairperson for the Chief Acquisition Officers Council’s Competitive Sourcing workgroup. She is now serving her fourth term on the National Contract Management Association’s (NCMA) Board of Advisors.  She was selected in 2010 as a recipient for a Meritorious Presidential Rank Award.

Ms. Ely was selected for the Senior Executive Service (SES) in 2000 as the Associate Administrator for Acquisition Implementation in the Office of Management and Budget’s (OMB) Office of Federal Procurement Policy. She left the federal government for a five-year tour in the private sector with a small and growing acquisition consulting firm now known as ASI Government. Earlier in her contracting career, Ms. Ely worked as a senior-level contracting officer for the Internal Revenue Service. She began her contracting career as an intern at the Department of Defense (DoD), Office of the Secretary of the Army, spending most of her tenure at the Pentagon.

Ms. Ely holds B.S. and M.S. degrees in Speech Pathology from Phillips University in Enid, Oklahoma and a M.A. in Management from Webster University in St. Louis, Missouri.

 

Joint Ventures in Federal Government Contracting 5/18

Recent changes to the small business contracting rules have made joint ventures even more palatable for government contractors. Join GTSC to discuss joint ventures with a number of leaders engaged in successful joint ventures, the professionals who create them, and practical do’s and don’ts for a successful partnership.  Big Thanks to Protorae Law for hosting!  REGISTER

Speakers:

Lisa Martin

CEO, Leap Frog Solutions, Inc.

Brian Nault

President, Blue Water Federal Solutions, Inc.

Devon Hewitt

CEO, Protorae Law PPLC