Month: September 2020

Eli Smith: Proud and Successful Black Business Owner

Posted on by Eric Coffie

An advocate for diversity in business, Eli Smith shares his success secrets and his insights about systematic racism in the field.

BACKGROUND

Eli Smith is an award winning contractor who built two multi-awarded construction companies, namely, E Smith Constructions and SGTR.

He is an alumnus of Babson College and the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses program.

Smith also gives back to the community by sitting as part of the Board of the Girls & Boys Clubs of Syracuse, The Empire State of the Association of Builders and Contractors and The Urban Business Association of Syracuse.

With all of these, he was recently awarded with the Carey Gabay Excellence and Innovation Award from Governor Cuomo in 2016.

EXPERIENCE IN MANAGING HIS BUSINESS

Smith started his company after being inspired by one of Oprah Winfrey’s guests who started picking up trucks as a business and then grew into having $180 million a year in three different countries.

“And that’s just a high school guy, just like I am. And I was like, what? That’s not— I could do that. Same as I think, I could go on somewhere.”

He started his company cleaning out other people’s attics which he called sold on trashing. A year and a half later, he got his first demolition job from a residential customer and his business started growing.

“We just continued to scale and just continue to grow the company from there. But it was just from the grassroots. It just started very organically. And that’s working.”

Then, even with just a high school diploma, Smith continues to learn how to be a developer. He just asked what the process was and continued doing it.

This is also what he did when he transitioned in the federal arena. He continued reading about the marketplace and asked questions to project managers and owners of some of the most successful companies in the field.

With this, he learned to wait until he built a great infrastructure and foundation in place before pursuing federal jobs. Then, he got an 8a certification and in his first year, he got a joint venture and was selected to do a $9 million worth of five-year IDIQ contract.

ADVOCACY ABOUT RACISM

Smith’s father who was a Black Panther heavily influenced him in his viewpoint about racism which he then used in his daily life and even in his own business.

“He used to always educate me and hit me with these mind boggling questions. Like, just because somebody served time for doing something that they think isn’t right, does not mean that person is bad. And everybody deserves a second chance or third chance.”

When he built his first company, his team was filled with black people who are mostly hired on the spot when they come to apply for work.

“They put out quality work and I’m just playing the coach. And I just put them in positions to succeed. But I believe that a good leader hires from within the communities in which they serve.”

Currently, his company is not just composed of people in the country because he has people from Africa, Cuba, India, and China who are helping him to do all of the work needed.

“Everyone is saying this, and this is what, and that some, they come in with a chip on their shoulders. Right. Because somebody else might tell them, no, we’re not going to hire you based on how you look. So everybody has a chip on their shoulder to do well and win.”

However, even with this, he knew that there are still problems about racism so Smith calls for people against this saying:

“Social justice with social change has to come with economic change. You need one for the other. You can’t do, you can’t have social change without economic change, because we need to be empowered. We need to have resources to change things right now.”

ADVICE FOR BUSINESSES

Smith’s advice for companies is to work as a team because effort is not just created by one person. With this, you should also build great relationships.

In Smith’s case, he has a great relationship with their insurance company who introduced them to his mentor who helped achieve his company’s success.

He thinks that relationships in business is the only skill that will help you build yourself and your company’s service in terms of communicating effectively with people. It is key in your company’s growth.

“And that’s what you want. You want to have— Those relationships are really how you grow your company… We will go across the street or drive five miles to spend money with someone who we have a relationship with.”

RESOURCES

If you want to watch the full video of the interview with Eli Smith as he shares his success secrets and his insights about systematic racism in the field, then be sure to click the links below:

Black Proud and Successful Business Owner Eli Smith shares his journey to millions- Eric Coffie

https://govcongiants1.wpengine.com/podcast/057-2/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KE4hU9x9MT0&list=PL6-jBNNcc98vTBvNhFYfUTeH0k-Vx2VBH&index=52

$60M Architect-Engineering Contract Awarded to Stantec Consulting Services

Posted on by Eric Coffie

Stantec Consulting Services Inc., Burlington, Massachusetts, is awarded a firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity, architect-engineering contract with a maximum amount of $60,000,000 for multi-discipline waterfront architect-engineering services in the Naval Facilities Engineering Command (NAVFAC) Mid-Atlantic area of operations (AO). Task Order 0001 is being awarded at $1,389,246 for 35% design of Dry Dock #1 caisson replacement at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, Kittery, Maine.

Projects may include single or multiple disciplines, including but not limited to, structural, civil, mechanical, electrical, architectural, planning, environmental, fire protection, cost estimating and/or geotechnical. The types of waterfront projects may include piers, wharves, quay walls, dry docks, bulkheads, crane rail systems, fender systems, berthing and mooring, dredging, coastal and shoreline protection and waterfront related utilities (e.g., steam, low pressure compressed air, fresh water, salt water, sanitary sewer, oily waste water collection, high voltage to low voltage electrical, fire protection and alarm systems, control systems, lighting and communications (telephone, television, fiber optics, cyber security, supervisory control and data acquisition and local area network)).

Work for this task order is expected to be completed by May 2023. All work on this contract will be performed at various Future task orders will be primarily funded by O&M. This contract was competitively procured via the Navy Electronic Commerce Online website with four proposals received. NAVFAC Mid-Atlantic, Norfolk, Virginia, is the contracting activity.

Stantec Consulting Services Inc. provides architectural, engineering, and environmental services. The Company offers interior design, power engineering, geotechnical, transportation infrastructure, and geomatics engineering services.(bloomberg.com)

 

Sources Sought for Python IT Maintenance and Support Services

Posted on by Eric Coffie

The Fleet Logistics Center, San Diego (FLC-SD) is conducting a market survey to determine the interest and capability of industry to participate in a competitive acquisition of non-personal services in support of NAVAL POSTGRADUATESCHOOL (NPS). Services shall be required at NPS in Monterey, California. The primary North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code for this procurement is 541511, Custom Computer Programming Services, with a size standard of $30.0M. The requirement is currently filled under Contract N00244-18-C-0005 awarded to Edatatech, Inc. in the amount of $2,204,788.30 for 31 months.

The contract term will be a base period of 12-months with a potential of four 12-months option periods, if exercised. The anticipated award date is 30 November 2020. It is anticipated that the Request for Proposal (RFP) will be posted in October 2020. The resulting Task Order is anticipated to be Firm Fixed Price (FFP)

  • Original Set Aside: Total Small Business Set-Aside (FAR 19.5)
  • Updated Set Aside:
  • Product Service Code: D308 – IT AND TELECOM- PROGRAMMING
  • NAICS Code: 541511 – Custom Computer Programming Services

Responses are due not later than Sep 11, 2020 EDT

Full details via beta.sam.gov

GovCon Giants Check out our RESOURCES page for a sample letter that we use in response to government market research.

7 Construction Firms Awarded $92M To Increase Aggregate Capacity of IDIQ Multiple Award Construction Contracts

Posted on by Eric Coffie

Harper Construction Co. Inc., San Diego, California; Hensel Phelps Construction Co., Irvine, California ; M. A. Mortenson Co. doing business as Mortenson Construction, Minneapolis, Minnesota; R. A. Burch Construction Co. Inc.,* Ramona, California; RQ Construction LLC, Carlsbad, California; Solpac Construction, doing business as Soltek Pacific Construction Inc., San Diego, California  and Straub Construction Inc., Fallbrook, California, are being awarded $92,000,000 to increase the aggregate capacity of previously-awarded suite of firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity, multiple award construction contracts. The maximum dollar value including the base year and four option years for all seven contracts combined is increased from $240,000,000 to $332,000,000.

The contracts are for new commercial and institutional building construction projects at various locations within the Naval Facilities Engineering Command (NAVFAC) Southwest area of operations (AO) including, but not limited to, California (90%); Arizona (6%); Colorado (1%); Nevada (1%); New Mexico (1%); and Utah (1%). All work will be performed at various federal sites within the NAVFAC Southwest AO. No funds are being obligated on this award. No funds will expire. Future task orders will be primarily funded by military construction (Navy); operations and maintenance (O&M) (Navy); O&M (Marine Corps); and Navy working capital funds. The original contract was competitively procured via the Navy Electronic Commerce Online website, with 21 proposals received. NAVFAC Southwest, San Diego, California, is the contracting activity.

SOURCES SOUGHT: Service and Maintenance Agreement

Posted on by Eric Coffie

This Sources Sought is to facilitate the Contracting Officer s review of the market base, for acquisition planning, size determination, and procurement strategy. GENERAL REQUIREMENTS This SOW is for the maintenance of the hardware and software systems associated with the PACS at the Dayton VA Medical Facility and 4 CBOC locations (Lima OH, Middletown OH, Richmond IN, and Springfield OH) and the Communications closets at the Kettering NCO 10 Contracting Office and the Dayton Vet Center.

  • Product Service Code: J063 – MAINT/REPAIR/REBUILD OF EQUIPMENT- ALARM, SIGNAL, AND SECURITY DETECTION SYSTEMS
  • NAICS Code: 561621 – Security Systems Services (except Locksmiths)
  • Place of Performance: Dayton VA Medical Center 4100 W. Third Street , 45428-9000 USA

Responses are due not later than Sep 11, 2020 04:00 pm EDT

Full details via beta.sam.gov

GovCon Giants Check out our RESOURCES page for a sample letter that we use in response to government market research.

Geospark Analytics Inc Granted IDIQ Contract Worth $95M

Posted on by Eric Coffie

Geospark Analytics Inc., Herndon, Virginia, has been awarded a $95,000,000 firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract with a five year ordering period for the Phase Three commercialization of their Small Business Innovation Research Phase One technology of Hyperion Artificial Intelligence. This enterprise-level contract provides near real time situational awareness capabilities to the entire U.S. federal government, enabling users to make better decisions faster. This is accomplished by identifying and forecasting emerging events on a global scale to mitigate risk, recognize threats, greatly enhance indications and warnings and provide predictive analytics capabilities. Work will be performed in Herndon, Virginia, and is expected to be completed Sept. 1, 2025. Fiscal 2020 operations and maintenance funds in the amount of $200,000 will be obligated at the time of award.

Headquarters U.S. Space Force, Peterson Air Force Base, Colorado, is the contracting activity.

Geospark Analytics Inc provides consulting services. The Company offers threat and risk analysis, and data science services. Geospark Analytic serves clients in the United States. (bloomberg.com)

Christoph Mlinarchik: How Improved Strategies Can Help In Doing Business With The Government

Posted on by Eric Coffie

A nationally recognized and certified expert in government contracting, Christoph Mlinarchik shares his insights on how small businesses can improve their strategies in doing business with the government.

BACKGROUND

Christoph Mlinarchik was a former Senior Policy Advisor in the Office of the Secretary of Defense. He also had previously worked in the Office of Naval Research and in the Washington Headquarters Services as a Senior Contract Specialist and as a Senior Policy Analyst in the United States Air Force.

With this background, he has trained over a thousand federal, military, and government contracting professionals nationwide. He has  also negotiated, reviewed, and managed billions of dollars of government contracts over the course of his career.

He was also recognized as one of the “Top Professionals Under 40” by the National Contract Management Association. His article entitled “How Many Bid Protests Are Too Many” also gathered the title “Best Article of 2016” by the same awarding body.

Currently, Mlinarchik is focusing on his firm, Christoph LLC, wherein he provides expert advice in government contracting, professional training and instructions, and proposal consulting.

ADVICE

1. Set very specific goals. 

Before building his own company, Mlinarchik worked for over five years to learn about contracting. This didn’t happen overnight. But what he did was he set specific goals toward his end goal.

“I could just set a goal when I’m a federal employee and say, ‘I want to have a side business. I want to be self employed one day.’ That’s not enough. What I encourage you to do is to be methodical about your intermediate steps to get to that goal.”

With this, you must ask yourself what are the things that you have to do that would take you to that end goal. What are the sacrifices you’re going to make? What are the lifestyle changes you’re going to do?

Then, ask yourself what your intermediate step was. In Mlinarchik’s case, he taught biographies are the best ways to learn from.

“If you can read the stories of great men and women throughout history, you can see what they’ve done and maybe you can emulate that.”

So, what he found was that professions who were well-respected in the field had a long illustrious career, published a lot of articles, and had a lot of speaking engagements which then led to them being authority in the fields. Just as that, he realized that that’s what he needed to do and so he did.

“I realized those are my intermediate steps. I need to start publishing. I need to have a diverse career path where I work in a lot of different positions where I buy different things and wear different hats. And that really kept me focused. And all along the way, I’m taking tangible steps towards where I need to be. And I think that really paid off for me in the long run.”

2. Respond To Sources Sought Notices.

Consider that large businesses are playing in this marketplace

too. They’re doing the same thing that you’re doing. So, in order to get contracts and be recognized by your target government agency, you should get in the game of market research and respond to sources sought notices or requests for information (RFI).

“That’s your one chance to influence how this will be evaluated, what type of source selection they’ll use, and whether or not there’ll be a set aside. And if you wait for the solicitation, you’re kind of too late.”

Although responding to it might not equate to being given a contract, it’s better to respond to these research because when there’s no response from RFIs and sources sought, projects are mostly given to large businesses instead of small businesses.

“Think about the trade off between you or maybe one of your employees taking an hour, maybe two hours to draft up like a page of recommendations on the source selection type. Think about multiplying that by how much value that creates down the road when you’re actually responding to it. It’s, it’s a no brainer. People really, really kind of are not as aware as they should be about their ability to influence the actual acquisition strategy itself.”

3. Have A Plan Of Action.

In a chapter of Mlinarchik’s book entitled “Government Contracts in Plain English,” he tackled how to communicate with the contracting officers. With this, you must have a plan of action or a call to action if you want to have a good reputation in front of these decision-makers.

“Know what you want when you get on the phone with them. A phone is worth a thousand emails and an in-person meeting is probably worth a thousand phone calls. So structure your time, be prepared.”

Besides, this is also an advantage because this will help you have a good relationship with your contracting officer which will really help you when you get in a tight spot.

“When you need that modification in three days and the normal turnaround is, is two weeks, you’re going to wish you were one of those contractors that has spoken on the phone with the contracting officer, has made a good impression, has always had everything organized and never wasted their time.”

RESOURCES

If you want to watch the full video of the interview with Christoph Mlinarchik as he shares his insights on how small businesses can improve their strategies in doing business with the government, then be sure to click the links below:

054: Christoph Mlinarchik – Acquisition Policy Advisor, Attorney and Expert Witness

https://govcongiants1.wpengine.com/podcast/054-2/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V9rSh6wB6sc&list=PL6-jBNNcc98vTBvNhFYfUTeH0k-Vx2VBH&index=49

RFI: Advanced Tactical Weapon Data Link

Posted on by Eric Coffie

The Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR), Patuxent River, MD, intends to negotiate and award a contract for hardware and software design; and testing requirements to Collins Aerospace, – Communication & Navigation Products, Mission Systems, Cedar Rapids, Iowa to mature the development of the Advanced Weapon Agnostic Radio Enhancement (AWARE) Advanced Tactical Data Link (ATDL).

The scope of this contract is to mature the integrated three-mode software defined radio, providing  Link 16, Beyond Line of Sight (BLOS), and ATDL functions, along with embedded encryption, into a single module to replace the current Link 16 weapon data links used by the Navy.  This includes any and all support electronics, software, firmware and hardware required for the Government to complete check out and test of the WDL, and to produce a design specification for future procurement.

This effort will include initial production of the WDL.  The module Interface Control Document (ICD) will remain platform and weapon system agnostic, for a universal solution that easily integrates into systems across the DoD portfolio.

  • Product Service Code: 5821 – RADIO AND TELEVISION COMMUNICATION EQUIPMENT, AIRBORNE
  • NAICS Code: 334290 – Other Communications Equipment Manufacturing
  • Place of Performance: Cedar Rapids , IA 52498 USA

Responses are due not later than Sep 18, 2020 05:00 pm EDT.

Full details via beta.sam.gov

GovCon Giants Check out our RESOURCES page for a sample letter that we use in response to government market research.

Archer Western Federal Awarded $326,625,000 Construction Contract For Hurricane Florence Recovery

Posted on by Eric Coffie

Archer Western Federal JV, Chicago, Illinois, is awarded a $326,625,000 firm-fixed-price contract for construction of Hurricane Florence Recovery Package Seven for facilities located in Marine Corps Air Station New River. The contract also contains four unexercised planned modifications, which if exercised would increase cumulative contract value to $339,544,200. This project provides replacements for facilities damaged during Hurricane Florence. The proposed replacements consist of: construction of the Center for Naval Aviation Technical Training classroom building. The building includes a combination passenger/freight elevators, classrooms, administrative spaces, aircraft trainer spaces, auditorium and personal support spaces.

Work will be performed in Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, and is expected to be completed by February 2025. Fiscal 2020 military construction Marine Corps contract funds in the amount of $326,625,000 are obligated on this award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was competitively procured via the beta.SAM.gov website with four proposals received. The Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Mid-Atlantic, Norfolk, Virginia, is the contracting activity.

Archer Western Construction, LLC provides construction services. The Company constructs airports, data centers, federal buildings, bridges, pump stations, and water treatment plants. Archer Western Construction serves customers throughout the United States. (bloomberg.com)

SOURCES SOUGHT: IT & Telecommunications Network Management

Posted on by Eric Coffie

The Contractor shall provide all contract administration, contract management, personnel, tools, equipment, material, vehicles, transportation, consumable supplies, operation and maintenance necessary to perform Information Technology (IT) System Administration, Software Development, Web Based Application Development, Enterprise Script Writing, System Analyst, Database Administration, BMC Remedy products and Software testing for multiple Air Force IT systems in accordance with (IAW) this Performance Work Statement (PWS) and Government regulations Information Assurance Workforce Improvement Program, Personnel Security Program, Risk Management Framework, Cybersecurity Program Management, Information Dominance Governance and Management, Cyberspace Operations, Risk Management Framework (RMF) for Air Force Information Technology (IT), Information Operations, Cybersecurity Activities Support to DoD Information Network Operations, Architecting, Information Technology (IT) Asset Management, Command and Control (C2) for Cyberspace Operations, Public Web and Social Communication,
Computer Security, Cyberspace Workforce Management, Use of Commercial Wireless Devices, Services and Technologies in the Department of Defense (DoD) Global Information Grid Cybersecurity, Identity Authentication for Information Systems, NetOps for the Global Information Grid. The Contractor shall provide recommended solutions for technical issues associated
with this PWS.

The Contractor shall perform to the standards, workload estimates, and the degree of ability, knowledge, skills and timeliness required in the PWS. The Contractor shall be knowledgeable of developing technologies and shall be expected to have the technical expertise to transition into new operating environments.

  • Original Set Aside: 8(a) Set-Aside (FAR 19.8)
  • Product Service Code: D316 – IT AND TELECOM- TELECOMMUNICATIONS NETWORK MANAGEMENT
  • NAICS Code: 541519 – Other Computer Related Services
  • Place of Performance: Hill AFB , UT 84056 USA

Responses are due not later than Sep 24, 2020 03:00 pm MDT. + Add New Category

Full details via beta.sam.gov

govcon giants logo Check out our RESOURCES page for a sample letter that we use in response to government market research.