Client Spotlight – Sayres and Associates Corporation, a Veteran and Native American Owned Small Business. As we continue celebrating National Military Appreciation Month, we spoke to representatives from Sayres and Associates Corporation (Sayres), a Service Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business (SDVOSB). Hank Miranda, Information and Security Director and Brennan Roy, Director of Business Development explained to us how John Sayres successfully positioned his company to win federal contracts while competing against larger corporations. John Sayres founded his namesake company in 2001 to provide management, technical and administrative services. Working in the realms of program management, acquisition support, logistics, business financial management, cyber security, counterintelligence analysis and much more, helped cultivate brand credibility with the federal government.

Client Spotlight - Avilar Technologies Inc, a Veteran Owned Small Business. At the dawn of the Internet era, Tom Grobicki, CEO of Avilar Technologies began envisioning a world with technological advances that would eventually propel the software industry and subsequently help the armed forces. After serving in the US Air Force and cultivating over 25 years of software development experience, Tom determined that the key to enterprise success was its people. After being in the ROTC and then serving as a Captain in the U.S. Air Force, Tom oversaw operations at the office of SYSCON Corporation, which provided software engineering support to the Applied Physics Laboratory at Johns Hopkins University. He regarded himself and his colleagues as futurists, which would accurately describe their efforts towards projects they worked on. While there, he interacted with the Department of Defense and other agencies. He received a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science from Duke University and would later obtain his Master of Science in Business Administration from the University of Northern Colorado, as well as Master of Science degree in Computer Science from The Johns Hopkins University. He then joined AdaSoft, Inc. where he continued as a leader of several advanced technology assessment projects at the Applied Physics Laboratory. A true starting point was the innovations Tom developed for combat system training. From there, Tom ventured into competency management, workforce planning, and eLearning. Avilar Technologies was founded in 1997.

In observance of National Military Appreciation month as well as Memorial Day, Winvale is highlighting Veteran-Owned Small Businesses (VOSBs) and topics relevant to them. We will be starting with five key things that veteran small business owners Star #1 should know: The United States Code defines a veteran as someone who has served in the active military, naval or air service, and who was discharged or released under any conditions other than a dishonorable discharge. Federal Agencies spend an estimated 5% of their budget on VOSBs. With an estimated $179 Billion awarded a year, veteran owned opperations can potentially generate $8.9 billion worth of business. Here are three key requirements to becoming a VOSB: 51% of your company needs to be owned by one or more Veterans. If your business is publicly traded, the same criteria needs to be met for shareholders. Management and daily business operations are controlled by you or other veteran colleagues as well. Your VOSB needs to be categorized as “small” under the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code assigned to the procurement.

GSA is making changes to become better aligned with the OPM Federal Human Capital Business Reference Model. The contracting vehicle's changes are in support of the government-wide Category Management goals to reduce contract redundancy, increase cost savings and to streamline the acquisition process. The updated 738 X Schedule complements the new, and more complex, Human Capital and Training Solutions (HCaTS) vehicle, by offering an A-La-Carte menu of specific services. The update also has provisions for time, material, labor hour contracts and traditional Firm Fixed Price service.

On November 18th The General Services Administration (GSA) announced that the Schedule 70 solicitation has been updated to incorporate the Transactional Data Reporting pilot (TDR). This pilot program will affect thousands of Schedule 70 contractors under the following SINs: 132-8, 132-32, 132-33, 132-34, 132-54, and 132-55. For current Schedule 70 holders who have one of the impacted SINs it is important to note that contractors participation in this mass mod is optional. If you choose to decline the mod, you will opt out of the TDR pilot and continue with the Most Favored Customer (MFC) and Price Reduction Clause (PRC) System until it becomes a more formal requirement.

GSA adds new Highly Adaptive Cybersecurity Services (HACS) SINs to its Schedule 70 Solicitation in September 2016 and will immediately begin review of modifications and new offers submitted for any of these four SINs. The HACS SINs support President Obama’s Cybersecurity National Action Plan (CNAP) and the Cybersecurity Strategy and Implementation Plan (CSIP) to strategize long-term solutions to cybersecurity awareness and protection. Until now, it has been difficult for federal agencies to find a marketplace that has streamlined cybersecurity services that are both trusted and reliable. Eligible Schedule 70 contractors can now offer services under the four new HACS SINs: