Accenture – GTS Coalition

Mentor Meeting with Accenture Federal Services 8/3

Kristina Tanasichuk — Sun, 22 Jul 2018 11:14:04 +0000

GTSC small and mid-sized members are invited to learn more about the strategy and vision of one of our esteemed Mentors, Accenture Federal Services on August 3, 2018. This meeting will discuss Accenture’s federal vision, strategy, targeted areas of growth, and partnership needs. Mentors will offer advice and counsel on the direction of the homeland security and law enforcement market, their view of where to focus your business, and the types of needs they see evolving in this market. A number of executives from the federal services team will join us to discuss their portfolio and overall strategy of their successful work at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and other Federal law enforcement work in the Departments of Justice, State, Energy, and the FBI.

GTSC SMALL AND MID-SIZE MEMBERS ONLY

Registration is available here.

GTSC Releases 5th Anniversary Annual Report

Kristina Tanasichuk — Thu, 01 Dec 2016 16:35:22 +0000

The Government Technology & Services Coalition today released its 5th Anniversary Annual Report, a review of activities in 2016 and a look at the people, companies, and organizations that have contributed to the growth and contributions of the Coalition.

In 2011, the Coalition was formed to provide small companies working in homeland and national security a “voice” in the Federal procurement and acquisition process. Since then, the organization has grown to over 130 companies representing small, mid-tier and large companies interested in bringing the best companies to the mission of homeland and national security.

Since GTSC’s inception they have launched numerous programs and initiatives aimed at ACTION. Not more words or platitudes, but tangible efforts to improve how our government finds and engages the innovation represented by GTSC members.

“It is exciting to see the tremendous amount of innovation being applied today within the homeland security sector,” said Michael Chertoff, Executive Chairman and Co-Founder of The Chertoff Group. “It is through innovative technology developments, creative thinking and new approaches – exactly what GTSC members represent – that we are able to bring forward “best-in-class” solutions to help the federal government better protect our homeland and the safety of our citizens.”

Read the report here.

USCIS Day 2016: Mission, Operations & Transformation November 4

Kristina Tanasichuk — Sat, 29 Oct 2016 12:35:59 +0000

GTSC is so proud to welcome members to our inaugural U.S. Customs & Immigration Services “deep dive” to examine the mission, operations and transformation of this critical agency.

Each year, U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services processes millions of applications for persons seeking to study, work, visit, or live in the United States, and for persons seeking to become a U.S. citizen. In 2006, USCIS began the Transformation Program to enable electronic adjudication and case management tools that would allow users to apply and track their applications online. In 2012 USCIS changed its acquisition strategy to improve system development.

Join us to explore USCIS’s successes and challenges with transformation and how they have used Agile software development, systems integration and testing, and strong leadership to forward their ambitious program.

THIS IS A CLOSED SESSION OPEN TO THE GOVERNMENT CONTRACTORS AND GOVERNMENT ONLY – NO PRESS. Questions? See our policies at www.gtscoalition.eventbrite.com

AGENDA (Subject to change)

Government Technology & Services Coalition
USCIS Day 2016: Mission, Operations, & Transformation
November 4, 2016 | 8:00 am – 3:15 pm | Arlingon, VA

8:00 am Welcome & Opening Remarks

Kristina Tanasichuk, CEO, Government Technology & Services Coalition
Sara Kindsfater-Yerkes, Managing Principal, Alethix
Kris McMenamin, McMenamin Consulting Group

8:20 am Keynote: USCIS IT Transformation Business Perspective

Introduction: Sara Kindsfater-Yerkes, Managing Principal, Alethix
Mark Schwartz, Chief Information Officer, Office of Information Technology, USCIS

9:00 am Panel Transformation: Line of Business Perspectives

Amy Wheelock, Senior Advisor, Field Operations Directorate, USCIS impact of rollouts
Leslie Hope, Associate Center Director, Service Center Operations, USCIS
Armad Kitrell, Deputy Division Chief, Fraud Detection & National Security, USCIS

10:00 am BREAK

10:15 am Panel: Enabling Transformation

David Blair, Chief, Capability Delivery Division, Office of Transformation Coordination, USCIS
Rowena Furce, Chief, Customer Service, Office of Customer Engagement, USCIS
Lee Bowes, Chief, Biometrics Division, USCIS
Ken Moser, Branch Chief, Delivery Assurance Branch / Applied Technology Division, USCIS
Yemi Oshinnaiye, Associate Chief, Software Engineering Division, USCIS

11:15 am LUNCH

11:45 am KEYNOTE: Mariela Melero
Associate Director, Customer Service And Public Engagement Directorate, USCIS

KEYNOTE PANEL

Mary Hermann, Acting Chief of the Public Engagement Division and Chief of the Content and Quality Division – Customer Service and Public Engagement Directorate, USCIS
David Simeon, Jr., Division Chief – Customer Service and Public Engagement Directorate, USCIS
Robert Genesoni, Infrastructure Chief, Customer Service Division, Customer Service & Public Engagement, USCIS

1:00 pm Panel: Mission Driven Value Delivery
Moderator: Kristin Cooke, Director, Acuity
Lucy Patterson, Chief, Data and Business Intelligence Services Program, USCIS
Sarah Fahden, Chief Verification Program, Software Development Division, USCIS
Matt Dosberg, Chief, Digital Innovation & Development, USCIS

2:00 BREAK

2:15 pm Operation Ready: Moving to an Agile DevOps Framework
Moderator: Kristina Tanasichuk, CEO, Government Technology & Services Coalition
Keith Jones, Deputy Chief Information Officer, Management Directorate, OIT, USCIS
Larry DeNayer, PMP, CISSP-ISSEP, Deputy CIO for Operations, Management Directorate, OIT, USCIS
Joshua Seckel, Chief, Applied Technology Division, Management Directorate, OIT, USCIS
Rafaa Abdalla, Chief, Transformation Engineering Services, USCIS

3:15 Adjourn

Special thanks to our supporters!

Guardian Sponsor

Thanks for lunch!

Fleshman, Torres Assume Leadership of GTSC Lion’s Den

Kristina Tanasichuk — Thu, 04 Jun 2015 12:23:41 +0000

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

Kristina Tanasichuk — Mon, 25 May 2015 00:21:02 +0000

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.