Govcon Giants

Raj Sharma is a social entrepreneur focused on creating "open government markets" for $10 trillion in global public procurement spending

Raj founded Public Spend Forum and is now working to democratize market data and make it freely available through an open market platform GovShop. By making market data more accessible, Raj's goal is to reduce the information asymmetries that exist in government transactions, thereby creating more market transparency that leads to better buyer/supplier matches.

Raj also founded Censeo Consulting Group, a firm recognized nationally for its focus on using management as a tool for delivering public and social outcomes.

Raj learned that nations all over the world shared the same problems with public procurement. Which led to him founding PSF. Raj's work has also been published or highlighted in the Wall Street Journal, Harvard Business Review, and Governing magazine.

Heather D. Blease is founder, President and CEO of SaviLinx. The company is Woman Owned Small Business and HUBZone certified.

As CEO of SaviLinx, she has ushered the company through rapid growth serving both commercial and federal clients.

SaviLinx was recognized in 2017 as the 28th fastest-growing company in the United States by INC. magazine and has ranked within the listing in 2018 and 2019.

Heather has more than 25 years of experience working with the contact center industry.

She founded a contact center company called EnvisioNet in 1995 that grew to employ more than 2,500 employees in Maine.

SaviLinx has built a track record for providing world-class customer service from shared and dedicated queue environments. The company's ability to deliver personalized customer service and tech support at scale has powered its growth within the Contact Center Services industry.

Rick Grams is the Vice President of Miami Technology Solutions (an SBA certified Tribally owned 8(a) company. For 21 years, Rick has been working with American Indian and Alaska Native companies in the Federal contracting market. After spending a decade serving in the US Navy, Rick tailored his service experiences to specifically focus on revenue generating activities for this unique area of the Federal contracting market.

Rick's talents and experience have landed him various roles which include General Manager, Director of Operations, Executive Director, Vice President and Chief Operating Officer. His primary focus areas seek to ensure an operating structure that is efficient, generates profitable revenue, and transparent along the way.

During his time in Alaska, Rick has contributed volunteer service time as a Chairman of a government ethics committee. Likewise, during his time in Virginia he has served as a member of the Fairfax County Government Information Technology Board,

Welcome to part 2 of Ryan Atencio interview with me.

This interview was recorded live on YouTube in front of an audience. During part 2 of my chat with Ryan we take user questions and discuss some of the comments he made on my YouTube posts. Ryan answers questions like when you should ask for an extension, who is the actual customer when doing a procurement, how do you influence procurement decision, how agencies misuse the word construction and how to change requirements. Let's bring back my guest, Ryan Atencio.

Part 2 - Question and answer period from users, Ryan's comments on my post and much much more

YT LIVE: July 27, 2020

What is an RFI/Sources sought, the rule of two and why does it matter?

How much can I make doing government contracts? Today we talk with a student about how much to charge using government contracts. What would I do if I had to start over? Why would I choose staffing business? Also we take a look at the GovCon Giants podcast guests and highlight their stories.

I first met Ryan on YouTube as someone who frequently commented on my posts. But he was not just a normal commenter, his comments were articulate and well though responses at a much higher sophistication level. So I told him since he had so much to say, to come onto my podcast and share some of the ideas he had developed from working on the inside of government.

Ryan started out as he explains it a shooter, door kicker ranger who turned into a contract acquisition professional. Today as he works at special operations unit learned the delicate battle between user, customer and military installation contracting command.

In this episode we dive deep into roles and responsibilities for each person during the acquisition process, how the government operates in silos, how government customers write requirements, what options do you have if the statement of work is wrong, why people get mad at the KO and much more. This is a deep dive into a behind the scenes look into the world of government contracting as we know it.

YouTube Live: July 20, 2020

Today we talk about preparing your company for success. Reach out to the PTAC and ask about IDV. Do not let them blow smoke about stuff you already know, cap statement, NAICS, SAM and beta.sam.

@23:56 Eric loves 8a

@29:49 Explain IDV

@38:42 How to prepare your company for contract actions using IDV

@50:12 Top mistakes preventing companies from winning first contract

How do you start a business with no employees? In this episode we talk about starting a business with 0 employees. Making your first hire and my attempt at winning a contract building the wall.

Occasionally you run across a story that just catches your attention. That was the case when one of my friends forwarded me the story of Wesley Ross. A 16 year old military contractor.

The purpose of the news story was to provide some positive news during the midst of the mayhem ensued following the murder of George Floyd. With all the news coverage focused on riots, looting, removal of confederate statues everyday seemed like gloom and doom.

When we first opened the group chat I immediately thinking to myself, we have to get that kid on the show. So we reached out to him via Instagram and he confirmed.

Over the next 60 minutes you will hear a story of someone much wiser than their age suggests. You will learn about overcoming adversity, the power of having a vision, ingenuity of working as business owner who is under the age for most things. This has been the most shared story on my channel all year. I know that you will enjoy this interview with a bright young man who gives me hope for future generations and all that they can accomplish.

Welcome our youngest Giant... Wesley Ross