Results

Acquisition Consulting

NRC: Acquisition Strategy & Procurement, Program Management, Change and Transition Management

THE CHALLENGE
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) was created as an independent agency by Congress in 1974 to enable the nation to safely use radioactive materials for beneficial civilian purposes while ensuring that people and the environment are protected. NRC’s Acquisition Support, Transition Management, and Service Delivery Enhancement group streamline acquisition of services for NRC data center contracts, as well as other potential services to meet the evolving programmatic and business needs of the agency. In the Information Technology (IT) group, some of these core and optional services include IT and business system hosting and system administration, user-level desktop support services, enterprise telecommunications and voice/video support, Enterprise Operations Center (EOC) support, help desk services, and overall service integration and support. Specific needs of the NRC program acquisition staff can include wide-ranging market research, source selection plans, pricing analysis, and various contract administration tasks.

THE SUNTIVA SOLUTION
Suntiva supports NRC with a team of acquisition professionals with thought leadership, managerial support, and consulting services throughout the procurement lifecycle based on Suntiva’s combined expertise in Federal acquisition and procurement, organizational transformation, and information technology. Specifically Suntiva provided the NRC with change, facilitation, Transition Management, and Program/Project Management, and brought our unique understanding of when IT issues stem from “human factors,” and how to implement solutions.

THE RESULTS

Very early on in the project, the Suntiva program manager identified key potential risks to the project, and relayed those perspectives to the government leadership team. All of these potential risks were mitigated or eliminated through careful and steady application of a strict protocol of Suntiva’s change management and stakeholder alignment methodologies;
Suntiva supported the NRC in change and transition management – the team developed a transition risk management plan that identified potential risks during the transition from the current support model to the future support model and sets out mitigations for each of the identified risks. Suntiva also conducted facilitated change management sessions with a variety of stakeholders across the United States and constructed a communications plan to improve alignment and engagement of the stakeholders;
Suntiva conducted nearly one hundred impartial interviews and focus groups across a representative range and depth of the agency, providing recommendations across a variety of contract vehicles and approaches, helping to frame the scope of the new contract, and providing best practices from industry and government for both contracting and IT Service Management;
In addition to describing 22 core service delivery areas, Suntiva and the NRC worked together to describe IT service provisioning in the Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) V3 framework to ensure that government and contractor responsibilities across the scope of the contract were clearly delineated.

Defense Threat Reduction Agency: Acquisition Strategy & Procurement

THE CHALLENGE
The Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) is entrusted with the mission of safeguard America and its allies from Weapons of Mass Destruction (chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, and high yield explosives) by providing capabilities to reduce, counter, and eliminate threats. DTRA programs are often on the leading edge of technology, and thus require innovative and collaborative approaches to acquisition and procurement in order to bring R&D results to the field in a rapid yet safe and cost effective manner. Specific needs of the DTRA program acquisition staff can include wide-ranging market research, source selection plans, pricing analysis, and various contract administration tasks.

THE SUNTIVA SOLUTION
Suntiva supports DTRA with a team of acquisition professionals that provide end-to-end procurement support in a challenging and dynamic environment. Our staff brings expertise ranging from acquisition planning and sourcing to contract pricing, proposal evaluation, award, and contract management support.

THE RESULTS

Suntiva plays a significant role in the execution of the program mission, and in helping DTRA to manage complex R&D efforts;
Suntiva played a crucial role in creation and award of an innovative Broad Agency Announcement (BAA), as well as numerous contracts, MIPRs, and other transactions
More than $1.5B in contract obligations
Unique Other Transactions developed and just the 2nd and 3rd to be approved by DoD Acquisition, Technology & Logistics (AT&L) leadership

Marine Corps: Contract Support & Advisory Services

THE CHALLENGE
The United States Marine Corps (USMC) is in the midst of an enormous modernization effort for combined land and amphibious assault capabilities, as demonstrated by the Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle (EFV) program. EFV is a keystone for both the Marine Corps Expeditionary Maneuver Warfare (EMW) and Ship-to-Objective Maneuver (STOM) warfighting concepts. The EFV is an armored amphibious vehicle capable of seamlessly transporting Marines from Naval ships located beyond the visual horizon to inland objectives – with both speed and maneuverability. As the first major weapon system program to completely co-locate with the prime contractor (General Dynamics), the EFV program constantly strives to lead the way in collaboration and acquisition support for the DoD warfighter. This requires a continued focus on alignment of key stakeholders (in DoD, the USMC, the Program Office, and the Prime Contractor), and an expert understanding and translation of program requirements to contracting actions and eventual program execution.

THE SUNTIVA SOLUTION
Suntiva provides ‘trusted advisor’ consulting to the EFV leadership team and Program Manager as a liaison between the program, contracts, and the prime contractor. In addition, Suntiva provides contracting support in development of performance-based SOWs, requirements analysis, cost/price analysis, and other pre-award tasks. Suntiva staff also supports post-award contract administration activities.

THE RESULTS

Suntiva plays a significant role in the execution of the EFV program mission, interacting daily with both government and General Dynamics program managers and procurement staff.
Provides advice on acquisition strategy and program execution issues.
Assists in the award and administration of Purchase Orders and Contracts to support the Program.

DHS: Contracts Audit & Review

THE CHALLENGE
On August 29, 2005, one of the worst hurricanes in United States history slammed into the gulf coast. Many coastal cities were devastated by the storm, and in particular, more than 50 levees in New Orleans were breeched and caused over 80% of the city to flood. In all, at least 1,800 people lost their lives. In response to the storm, the Department of Homeland Security and Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) mobilized support for survivors and evacuees in the area, eventually writing thousands of government contracts, purchase orders, and credit card transactions to provide temporary housing, food and water, and other essentials.
In the aftermath of the storm, reports surfaced and inquiries were made as to the performance of FEMA contracting efforts related to hurricane relief. In particular, DHS wanted to perform a contract compliance audit, assess FEMA performance under these high-stress conditions, and gain valuable lessons learned to improve possible future efforts of this nature.

THE SUNTIVA SOLUTION
Suntiva staff was selected by DHS to provide a thorough compliance review and audit of the FEMA contracts awarded in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. A well-rounded team was assigned to this effort, bringing 100+ years of combined federal procurement expertise to the engagement. The team reviewed thousands of award actions across 63 different compliance factors, and used our web-based decision support tool to support this analysis. The results of this analysis formed the baseline for numerous process improvement initiatives.

THE RESULTS

DHS and FEMA were able to proactively identify contracting challenges and issues in advance of congressional inquiries and audit(s)
Trend analysis was successfully used to determine areas that required emphasis and training
Lessons Learned were developed and implemented to improve future operations and preparations for other major disasters
Automation was used to ensure consistent, standard ways of looking at the data so that it could be re-used and re-created as needed for further decision support regarding future FEMA contingency procurement operations