Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Introducing the Insider
The Industry Defined
HUBZones: Anyone Can Play
Beyond Reproach: The Incumbent's Bind
Breaking Wave: Human Resources BPO
Cooperative Personnel Services: Differentiating Not a Problem
Adventures in Marketing
Policy & Regs: Can We Satisfy the Appetite for Cleared Personnel?
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Inspired by an upcoming cinematic offering, The Sentinel, starring Michael Douglas, and the forthcoming FBI case management system, Sentinel, we thought we'd answer the riddle about why The Sentinel is more visible on the streets of Washington than the Sentinel RFP. You haven't seen much about the latter in the usual trade media in July. Why not?
Earlier this year we looked at branding in the federal acquisition marketplace. Real branding programs are not common, if necessary to distinguish a me-too company from the clutter of competitors. We found a company, The Delve Group, that had compared the branding postures of federal competitors using a unique analytical method. Now, as large-scale teaming is more common, we looked into the next thing, team branding.
In July last year, we revealed key reasons for Accenture's impressive win of the support contract for the US-VISIT program in DHS. It has a dollar ceiling of $10 billion. Accenture had really done its homework, according to our sources. Now, through the take from a Freedom of Information Act query, we can glimpse how Accenture made some winning points.
The federal government continues to crawl towards the starting line of the human resources business process outsourcing (HR BPO) market. While a hot service in the commercial sector, HR BPO is rarely done in the federal space. Convergys, a $2.5 B firm with little federal business but a strong state government and commercial presence in HR BPO, is monitoring the market as firms line up.
Federal agencies are broadening use of "cascading" for soliciting and evaluating offers. It's another technique to advance the socioeconomic goals of small and disadvantaged businesses. But cascading can leave your proposal unevaluated, even if you're a small business. Alan Chvotkin fills you in and recommends a fact-based, strategic approach to this new contracting method.
We give you the latest on: scrutiny of US-VISIT; why Indian IT giant Infosys is coming to town; the new fee structure for Boeing's Army Future Combat System contract; why EDS can start the climb out of the profit dunk tank of the Navy Marine Corps Intranet contract; Sen. McCain's proposed amendment concerning large "management contracts"; and a notable bump in the road for Northrop Grumman's MAXHR contract at DHS.