WT 360: The market from all angles

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SAIC-Unisys Federal: Was it worth it? Mar 08, 2021

Show notes

It’s been a year since Science Applications International Corp. made one of the biggest acquisitions of 2020 and this conversation between Editor Nick Wakeman and Bob Genter, SAIC's defense and civilian president, starts with the question: Was the Unisys Federal acquisition worth it?
Then they dive deeper into market opportunities, impacts of COVID-19 and lessons learned how to prepare for and execute an acquisition. Whether or not you are in a pandemic.
Genter shares how he sees the $1.2 billion Unisys Federal acquisition paying off for SAIC, how it has shaped the kind of work it can pursue and what might be next on the company’s target list for acquisitions.

Dive deep into the 2021 GWAC agenda Feb 26, 2021

Show notes

Whether 2021 is the “Year Of The GWAC” remains to be seen, but government-wide acquisition contract vehicles will be high on the agenda for the companies pursuing them and the agencies that will be using them.
In this episode of Project 38, Senior Staff Ross Wilkers goes to three leading market research and proposal specialists to get their views and insight into the overall GWAC landscape and what companies must take into account when pursuing them.
For Part 1, Amber Hart and Lisa Shea Mundt from The Pulse of GovCon break down one hotly-anticipated vehicle in CIO-SP4 that will be ready for industry to bid on any day now and deliver some hard-hitting truths on how not all vehicles are created alike.
Part 2 begins at 26:03 with Martin Hicks of Global Services and the focus of that conversation is on how the General Services Administration is proceeding with its own GWAC portfolio, and in one case making a second attempt at bringing small business IT companies into the fold.

Four mega-trends driving today's market Feb 23, 2021

Show notes

Today’s market stands on the brink of great change and as SAIC's chief technology officer Charles Onstott explains to WT Editor Nick Wakeman, there are four mega-trends shaping those changes that companies need to embrace.
These trends are driven by people and processes, but enabled by technology. Onstott says you have to weigh several items in order to take advantage of these mega-trends, including the outcomes your customer is looking for and the kind of skills you already have.
You also have to be willing to change and adapt. As Onstott explains, looking in the mirror and understanding where you and then mapping that against where your customer is headed should be a regular part of the way you do business.

Why tradecraft is the best way to treat your competitive data Feb 17, 2021

Show notes

What if the whole exercise of making sense out of all the data in existence on the government contracting market is a matter of tradecraft? In this episode of Project 38, Brian Lindholm of FedSavvy Strategies answers that question and explains the idea of turning that exercise into a tradecraft.
Lindholm and his colleagues at FedSavvy Strategies work with other contractors on just that: making sense of everything that is out there on themselves, their competitors and the market at-large. Competitive intelligence is a key cog in that machine of both growing and keeping their business.
Knowing what is out there is only part of the battle, as Lindholm explains in this conversation. He also shares his views on how to build this skill set of knowing and acting into a company’s infrastructure for the long term. Item number two in this discussion is how to keep the business, or avoiding what he calls “incumbentitis.”

Accenture's John Goodman on the need for speed and agility Feb 11, 2021

Show notes

The impacts of COVID-19 coupled with emerging technologies translates to government customers having different expectations and being more open to new ways of addressing challenges.
John Goodman, chief executive of Accenture Federal Services explains in this conversation with WT Editor Nick Wakeman what those challenges mean to his company and where he sees the market moving forward.
Goodman's perspective is largely optimistic because while the customer needs are great, he sees the technology being there to address those needs. COVID-19 has also opened government agencies to new ways of doing business and pulled them away from traditional approaches that have slowed progress.
You will hear Goodman share Accenture Federal’s strategy and what he sees as challenges and opportunities ahead.

Deloitte's vision of the post-COVID market Feb 04, 2021

Show notes

The long-term impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic will include changed workplaces and government customers adjusting how they do business and their priorities. In this episode, Deloitte public sector leader Mike Canning shares his views on these trends with Editor Nick Wakeman.
He expects the future will have a hybrid workforce, where location will no longer dictate who companies hire and how they serve the government customer. There also is a need for agencies to evolve the way they do business.
As the nation recovers new priorities are emerging. According to Canning, one in particular is around public health and he sees that as a national security issue.

Reporter Roundtable: Mega-deals, Biden initiatives and CMMC drive the news cycle Jan 29, 2021

Show notes

2021 has gotten off to a fast start with the new Biden Administration coming in and there has been plenty of business activity as well. In this episode of Project 38, the editorial teams from Washington Technology and FCW talk with WT Editor Nick Wakeman about the news so far.

WT Senior Staff Writer Ross Wilkers shares his insights on what's behind the proposed merger of Peraton, Perspecta and Northrop Grumman's IT business, a mega deal that will create an $8 billion-annual revenue business.

FCW Executive Editor Adam Mazmanian talks about the early days of Biden Administration, particularly where the early political appointees are sailing through confirmation and where some of the trouble spots are appearing.

President Biden has been very active with executive orders, particularly with his equity agenda, and FCW Staff Writer Natalie Alms shares her reporting about what is in these orders and how they might impact government contractors.

Also top of mind for many contractors and especially defense firms is the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification. So we brought in Lauren Williams, senior editor of FCW and Defense Systems, to bring us up to date on CMMC and what's on the horizon.

Inside Telos' path to its IPO and what comes next Jan 22, 2021

Show notes

In November, Telos Corp. became the latest government technology and cybersecurity company to tell its story to Wall Street and bring in public investors for its next phase of growth. For this episode of Project 38, Telos CEO John Wood takes us inside the five-decade-old firm’s initial public offering and why that path makes sense for them.
Much of Telos’ growth leading up to the IPO has been “bootstrapped” in the words of Wood, who also shares how he and other company leaders thought through what next step would be best for Telos.
This conversation with Senior Staff Writer Ross Wilkers also includes much discussion on the trends driving today’s cybersecurity landscape, such as takeaways and implications arising from the SolarWinds hack late last year.

How a new 'More's Law' drives today's market Jan 15, 2021

Show notes

In this episode of Project 38, Smartronix CEO Peter LaMontagne explains a new concept called “More’s Law” that sees agencies demand more data, more often, from more sources, in more formats and with more self-service tools to drive insights.
As he tells Editor Nick Wakeman, none of that can happen without a robust cloud infrastructure.
Smartronix was an early cloud pioneer in the federal market and with LaMontagne now at the helm, Smartronix is focused on steadily moving up the stack as seen with its recent acquisition of Data Strong.
LaMontagne sees the entire industry at an inflexion point because customer needs are rapidly evolving, which means companies need to adapt and ideally get ahead of the curve. There’s never been a more important time to think strategically.

How 2020 has shaped 2021 opportunities Jan 08, 2021

Show notes

We can finally turn the page to 2021 but any look to the future requires some looking back at 2020. In this episode of Project 38, PM Consulting Group’s founder Walter Barnes gives Senior Staff Writer Ross Wilkers the ground-floor perspective on both what drove the federal market in 2020 and factors to shape it in 2021.
The pandemic remains absolutely central to activity in just about every corner of work and life. But some trends such as the move to “best-in-class” contract vehicles and increases in teaming arrangements between large and small businesses would have remained in play even without COVID-19 in the picture.
Barnes sees these drivers first-hand as the leader of a small business himself and brings words of wisdom from his company’s experience to help others down a similar path. He also shares how PM Consulting Group has sought to get creative in keeping employees connected as they are physically separated, plus why 2022 is the year he is really waiting for.

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