Businesses can encounter many barriers to entry when pursuing a contract. Whether it’s a lack of relevant past performance, technical capabilities, personnel with expertise, or experience with the customer…any business (including GOVCON!) seek solutions to such gaps. This challenge comes up in any number of situations, from Black Hat reviews, to market intelligence engagements and…
Headquartered in Washington DC, GovernmentCIO (“GovCIO”) is a private IT services company, providing services in IT modernization, digital solutions, analytics, cybersecurity, and management and advisory support. GovCIO’s portfolio also includes a Media & Research business, which runs a digital publication covering federal technology topics. With its recent acquisition of Salient CRGT, the combined company consists…
Intelligence collection is a cornerstone of the intelligence analysis process. This is as important in market and competitive intelligence as it is in the Intelligence Community. This blog will expand upon fundamentals of the collection aspect of intelligence analysis. Collection can be very time consuming in order to gather relevant information on a competitor. However,…
Editor’s note: Per a Huntington Ingalls Industries Investor Conference Call, it appears Alion may “absorb” the Technical Services Division (TSD) going forward. Note that post M&A integration efforts are often very dynamic so this is always subject to change. We last analyzed Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) in a June 2021 blog, examining their organization, M&A…
As we head into the second half of FY2021, it is important to recap and analyze some of the major ($200M+) contract wins that kicked off this fiscal year. This post is a follow-up of our November 2020 blog, which highlighted some of the major wins and losses at the end of FY2020. Take note…
We last examined ASRC Federal in October 2019. Since then, the company has rebranded, hired a new CEO, and maintained an emphasis on serving NASA and the Department of Defense. Significance of an 8(a) Alaskan Native Corporation You may be wondering, what makes ASRC Federal so special? Why are they unique? ASRC Federal is the…
Editor’s update on July 9, 2021: Huntington Ingalls plans to acquire ALION. We plan to update this blog with this significant change in a future post. The below blog was written in June 2021. More than a decade ago, Northrop Grumman spun off its shipbuilding business to create Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII). HII provides military…
Many sources of a competitor’s competitive advantage may often be categorized in one of four categories: People Processes Tools Past performance We often refer to this as PPTP. This blog focuses on the process of examining a competitor’s people, or more specifically their technical subject matter experts (SMEs). What is a technical subject matter expert…
Raytheon…a GOVCON mega-competitor Just over a year ago, Raytheon and United Technologies Corporation (UTC) underwent a massive merger to create Raytheon Technologies. Headquartered in Waltham, Massachusetts, Raytheon Technologies is one of the largest global aerospace and defense companies in the world. The company provides advanced systems and services for commercial, military, and government customers, specializing…
Participants make a Black Hat work Over time, we have shared approaches to executing a good Black Hat review as a facilitator. Now it’s time to focus on one of the most critical ingredients – the participants! As the saying goes, “teamwork makes the dream work!” The merits of participants can make a Black Hat…
