WWC Podcast

As a collegiate basketball coach and military spouse, Elizabeth O’Brien realized she would need to pivot her career to continue on a professional track. Through a connection in her military spouse network, she began work at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and was able to establish and support one of the largest military spouse networking organizations in U.S. history, the Military Spouse Professional Network (currently, over 60,000 members). Now the Chief Executive Officer of Freedom Learning Group, Elizabeth discusses how she has used her coaching skills to excel in different roles during her professional career.

Mary Reding, a government affairs executive with diverse private sector, non-profit, and public sector experience, spent time in the Office of Management and Budget prior to transitioning to a business development position at a large contracting firm. Focused on supporting Veterans Affairs, Mary provides insight about working with veteran owned firms, how to write a white paper that will land new business, and how small firms can leverage their capabilities to work with a large firm.

Alexis Kovalchick, Senior Account Executive at General Dynamics Information Technology (GDIT), has brought many small firms into GDIT’s partner ecosystem. This interview provides advice and tips on how to define a firm’s value proposition until it is large enough to expand into other specialized areas. She also discusses the best ways to approach a big firm on partnering on a contract together. According to Alexis, “It’s a team effort with both firms bringing important mission requirements to the table.” Click to hear the full interview.

Outsourcing human resources functions enables a government contracting firm to have scalability and the support of legal, healthcare, risk, and compliance specialists. It can also be a benefit when bidding on new contracts. Doug Constable and Kevin Kelley of Insperity, an HR solutions company, answer top of mind questions for managing, supporting and creating a positive culture for staff.

Once a firm receives 8(a) status, contract awards should be a given but it takes work. Wendy Romeu, President and Rebecca Granger, Project Manager of Alluvionic, an 8(a) woman-owned small business, discuss the growth of their project management firm. Lessons include using relationships to win RFIs, requesting specific information (e.g. contract lead on a certain project) from the Small Business Administration offices, and acting as a subcontractor first to open more doors.

Aisha Bowe, Founder and CEO of Stemboard, discusses leveraging 8(a) status, her focus on innovative solutions to societal challenges, and how her workforce of engineers and programmers pivoted to business development as a result of the pandemic. Leadership does not mean you must have all the answers, but that you work with your staff to learn and identify new business opportunities together.

For more information on Stemboard, click here - https://www.stemboard.com/

For more information on Aisha Bowe, click here - https://www.linkedin.com/in/aishabowe/

From the RFP release to the final submission, drafting a winning proposal is the key to the contract award. Leslie Leaver Bermudez. President and Founder of Strategic Business Solutions and government contracting proposal expert, breaks down the process - how to determine if it is worth a bid, key sections to review and government technicalities that need to be followed.

This episode tackles the topic of people and human resources within a growing contracting firm. Heidi Snell, Chief People Officer at WWC Global, discusses ways to identify the core strengths of the employees within an organization and how to cultivate a transparent culture that is open to feedback and change. It is important to understand what motivates people and have critical conversations, even when that can be difficult.

Government contracting firms transform in different ways. Veteran and entrepreneur, Michael Grochol purchased Iron Eagle X in 16 days (!). The company’s existing security clearances, accounting system and other fully compliant offerings enabled him to make this a lucrative sale and land immediate contract wins. He has grown the company 600% since he purchased it last year. On this episode, Michael explores making the leap as an entrepreneur, his advice for growth and always asking, “what is the worst that can happen?”

How does an emerging defense contract firm determine fair and reasonable pricing? Jeffrey Shapiro, CPA, is a Partner at CohnReznick in the Firm’s Government Contracting Industry Practice. He provides advice on contract negotiation, when to communicate cost impacts and how to provide disclosures to contracting officers - all while still supporting the growth of the business.