Govcon Giants

In this episode of Govcon Giants, we have Peter Vazquez, Executive Director of the Veteran Owned Business Roundtable and CEO of Brand Echo Media Solutions. Peter shares his insights on how his organization educates, mentors, and connects veteran-owned businesses with corporate and government contracting opportunities. He discusses his background in internet marketing and how he applies his experti...

In this episode, we're joined by a highly decorated Air Force Veteran and a retired Colonel, Ms. Michelle (aka "G-I") Gardner-Ince, who is the Director of the Women Veteran-Owned Small Business Initiative (WVOSBI) at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization (OSDBU). Ms. Gardner-Ince is the architect of the first program of its kind in the feder...

In this episode, we have Diane Dempsey, the Director of Small Business Programs for BAE Systems Intelligence & Security Sector. With her extensive experience in procurement, subcontracts, and supplier diversity, Ms. Dempsey is a highly respected advocate for small businesses in the DC Metropolitan area. We talked about her current role as Director of Small Business Programs for BAE Systems Intelli...

Today's guest is Lori Smith, founder of Acu-Elligent LLC, a consulting agency specialized in helping small businesses successfully obtain government contracts. With 40+ years of experience as a Procurement decision maker & Contracting Officer, Lori provides insider perspective and guidance to navigate the government marketplace. In this episode, Lori shares her insights and tips on how to successf...

In this episode, we have Joshua Atkinson, an experienced project manager with a passion for improving military leadership and helping veterans transition from active duty. Joshua Atkinson is a seasoned project manager with over 17 years of experience. He is dedicated to improving military leadership and bridging the transition divide through the integration of project management certifications as...

In this episode, I share one extremely helpful tool for conducting market research, the Federal Procurement Data System (FPDS), which is a database of government contracts. By searching for contracts related to your industry or product, you can gain valuable insights into which agencies are buying what, how much they are spending, and who the top vendors are. To use FPDS effectively, it's importan...

In this episode, we have our recently concluded live session from Chase LA featuring six top executives from the government contracting industry. These executives, who have been previously featured on our podcast, come together to share their personal experiences and insights on government contracting. Throughout the episode, I'm sure you will gain valuable knowledge and advice from these Govcon G...

Today's guest is my Father. My parents have been married 60+ years and for most of that time (40+ years) he was a truck driver. He shares his experiences growing up during those times and fun times on the road driving trucks. We do not always get to capture the story of our parents and I thought it worth sharing this month with the world. Hope you enjoy.

In this episode, we have Angela Chamberlain, founder of Kana Consulting. She was born in Manila and came to America when she was 6. Angela went to University in DC as a Business major and Division 1 athlete for Field Hockey. She worked in Finance / M&A in the corporate world for many years. While living in California she became a personal trainer and continued when moving to North Carolina. How di...

Shane Prosser is a US Army veteran and cofounder of FalconTek, an SDVOSB GovCon services firm, and GovBrew, a GovCon focused media firm. After his time in the Army, Shane worked as part of the corporate development team at Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC), focusing on m&a for the publicly traded company. Shane and his older brother Chad Prosser acquired a small professional services business in...

Our guest for this week's podcast, Eugene Tinker, was born and raised in Alabama and is building two world class companies simultaneously. He is the CEO/Founder of CTE (Certified Technical Experts) and Creative Tech Group (CTG), a Native Hawaiian Organization (NHO) 8(a) providing Systems Engineering and Program Management Support. He has been in the government arena for more than 14 years with a v...

Today's podcast was a Youtube live session that I recorded just a few weeks ago regarding the new open AI Platform, ChatGPT. In this Youtube Live, we go over some examples of how to use ChatGPT to help small businesses with proposal writing. As we know, a lot of people have difficulties and challenges with putting their proposals together and so in this particular episode, we're taking this new AI...

In today's episode, we bring our guest Manish Gorawala, a serial entrepreneur, Technology Expert, and a Chief Visionary and CEO of Tri-Force Consulting Services, Inc., headquarter in Lansdale, Pennsylvania, USA. Since 2000, under Manish's leadership, Tri-Force has executed projects worldwide focusing on enterprise application development, business intelligence, process automation and mobile soluti...

In today's podcast episode, we replay a recent Youtube Live interview that I did on the topic of minority certifications. In this interview we featured two guests, Kevin Williams of TekConnX and Heather Cox of CertifyMyCompany. Throughout the interview we discuss the Big 5 certifications that the Fortune 1000 recognize. Now, a little bit more about the guests, Kevin Williams of TekConnX, CEO and S...

In this episode, Renona Brown and Raffa Gibbard discussed how veterans can get money for starting a business. That's why I wanted to revisit this episode for those of you who missed out on this because there are a lot of veterans out here, but they specifically were in certain tracks that the government has that allows veterans to start their business and so we're going to talk about that in this...

The reason why I think this is a fascinating story for some of those persons who have not listened to her story is that she received her 8a Certification at the age of 60. Corliss "Mama U" Udoema served for over 20 years in the US Marine Corps, as an Assistant Officer in Charge for the Facility Supports Contracts, and as a Supervisory Procurement Analyst in the Naval Facilities Engineering Command...

Today's guest is Mr. Donnie Harris, is a former guest of ours on the show. However, given the fact that there's so much money put into the infrastructure plan, I thought it would behoove me to bring him back on to let all the listeners out there to listen to the episode once again. Donnie Harris is a former senior contracting officer with an unlimited warrant, meaning he could sign off at any size...

Real quick before we get started today, just want to let you know we have reopened Academy 3.0 our flagship program helping small businesses win large contracts, visit giantscourse.com for more info. Now back to our program. Given the current crisis between Ukraine and Russia. What is happening overseas withAmazon in China. The building of military commands within Africa, it is a common question t...

For the last four years, I've interviewed all types of companies across various industries and sectors serving the government. But every now and then you will find someone doing something unique in the space. Lynn Petrazzuolo of Avanti Corporation has a unique offering that she's been providing for the last 35 years, in short, she's provided federal agencies with environmental analysis that suppor...

Today's guest, Staci Martineau is the government contract manager at Diener & Associates. Having been with the company for almost 16 years she is one of the original associates and has a plethora of stories to share regarding the good, bad and ugly side of accounting.  In today's conversation we discuss:  Cost accounting  Labor Distribution  Job Status Reports  Staying DCAA compliant  How having a...

In this episode, we have Marsha Lindquist, a Strategic Pricing Specialist at Granite Leadership Strategies, she is one of the most positive entrepreneurs, influential Government contracting and professional women consultants in the United States today. Marsha is an inspiring strategist changing the way her clients view their business.  Marsha Lindquist has built a tradition of quality consulting t...

Today we have a sit down with Mr. Eric Crusius, a Partner at Holland & Knight. In this episode, Eric and I discuss the regulation changes between the current administration and the previous two administrations as it applies to certain topics related to government contracts, how he gets ahead of the competition on new and upcoming regulations, and cybersecurity. Eric is a Partner at Holland & Knigh...

In today's episode we bring on Susan Thibodeaux SBLO/ Director of small business programs at Acuity International formerly Caliburn International. The company was founded in 2018 with the acquisition of 5 different corporations to form Caliburn International. Susan brings more than 30 years of experience to the industry and she is the director of small business programs helping to match up small b...

In today's podcast, a replay from a recent Youtube live where I pulled up on the screen a DAU slide deck, which was labeled "Contracting Process for Acquisitions". What we discussed over the next 60 minutes with a live audience is the contracting process for acquisitions which includes pre-solicitation, solicitation award, and post award. And so you'll hear me discussing that with a live audience...

This week's podcast is my conversation with Jon Barker Founder at PTW (plan-position-price | target | win) Solutions Inc., he helps companies figure out the correct pricing to win government b ids. He has spent the last 15 years as Contract and Consultant Administrator, Contracts Manager, Director of Contracts and Deputy Director of Contracts for a slew of companies from 2k employees up to 90K emp...