Name: Introduction to the Contract Maturity Roadmap
Uploaded: 2026-03-26T19:33:28.503Z
Duration: 1 h 2 min 36 s
Description: Introduction to the Contract Maturity Roadmap

Transcript for "Introduction to the Contract Maturity Roadmap": do that. Hey, Leo. Maybe we start with slide one here on the introduction of the contract road map. Thanks, Leo. So, Simone Leo, I'm Derek Boyd. I'm a principal at Baker Tilly, and I've spent my nearly twenty year career supporting government contractors both in house and as a consultant with a focus on accounting, cost, pricing, regulatory compliance matters across variety of industries, including aerospace and defense, technology companies, manufacturers, health care. So looking forward to today's session, and thank you all for joining. Over to you Logan. Thanks, Derek. Hi, everyone. My name is Logan Farrow, and I have been helping GovCons grow their business for the past six years. I'm a senior product marketing manager here at Deltek, and that just means we get to bring all the amazing enhancements we're making to Gov1IQ, Deltek's market intelligence solution to market to help our customers build proactive pipelines. Because we know when you have more time, you have a greater chance of working with partnerships and requirements and planning for growth strategically rather than reactively. So I'm super excited to be here today talking about how software needs change as your maturity increases, and I'm looking forward to a dynamic discussion. Leo, I think back over to you. And I will pass it off to Derek and Logan to provide a little background on themselves. Yeah. So, you know, as if one framework isn't enough, we always like an additional set of frameworks to think about it. But whenever we do these sessions for contractors, we in? I always like to think about it through the life cycle of a government contract. Right? And so Leo kinda touched on that where we're they. were focusing on these different stages. Right? People, process, technology, controls, organizational alignment. That's true for all the different systems that you're going to utilize to perform and win on government contracts. And so it's all of these different business activities. Yeah. And thinking let's do that. interconnectedness of all of these is really important to make sure that you can continue. to progress. So these maturity everybody for joining us today. that just wanted to thank Deltek out really for all of you. taking a little bit of time to are the different drivers the our activities? today. You know, how Before we operate? we begin, I just wanted we to sure that the group know this is the work that we do? of three webinars do we document are going to be make it delivering to everybody related we work our? contract what you're supposed to be. doing. What are one actually doing? is gonna be focused on all of that? an introduction does the software integrate with those things or not roadmap, integrate? And and we need to make sure that we're, for organizations looking to. evolve and pursue how is the system operating? work. Are we taking time to actually, revisit place in April, cycles that we're discussing business here and how to effectively pursue sure that we're producing. the expected results. And webinar? three will be taking place these things, are true that'll be discussing of the government contract life cycle, the cyber this right side here. security? journey in, the GovCon know, this is. our our Baker Tilly framework, As a is, very similar to the Delta framework designed to provide. a practical we kind of learned while help were writing this guide together their capabilities, hey. in wanna pursue. this space. So look wanna opportunities to win. looking forward to the conversation. today. We wanna execute. Also wanted? to highlight that we same be taking questions at the end of the presentation. this that you have this want to make this as much of a conversation as possible. that supports input federal sector strategy, in and we will be addressing growth toward the end of the presentation. stage of the maturity, life cycle that you're in, Just some background on myself, can operate and do Leo of. these different things that are unique government contractor of doing. business with have over government. twenty years supporting federal contractors on a wide variety of issues, directly from the guide, is also, have experience with stage framework, to really think about. And with commercial item and non traditional defense introduce. the guide. We encourage everybody look forward to download it, speaking to all of, you today and wanted to pass off to Derek and Logan. so they? can provide some background on themselves. a key step in that is using this guide to reflect on on where you stand today and what your organization's short, medium, and long term growth goals are in the federal sector. You know, I I emphasize federal sector because a lot of what we're talking about here are some of the unique aspects of doing business with the federal government. So this list is not, you know, small business in green and middle market in purple and and large enterprise in blue. Right? It's more complex than that. Or some of those complex scenarios I see often or might be, you know, a mid sized or established commercial organization that's trying to then expand into the federal sector space. So, actually, they're more in that new entrant category off to the left here. So, you know, you wanna be reflective and think honestly about yourself of what is it? Where do we fit with these questions? What are the indicators? What are we trying to accomplish through our federal sector growth? Right? And so this webinar, we're introducing this framework, but it's not just a focus on this new entrant category, although I'm sure many of you are new entrants and are are first getting into this to for this first webinar. So it is helpful, hopefully, for everybody. We're just trying to make sure that we're addressing how to think about growing across this journey and realize that attendees are gonna be from all. three. Thank you. So if you consider yourself a new entrant as you're listening to this, those of you who may not lots familiar information Baker you, to gain throughout a global. accounting and consulting firm headquartered in the experience. category, We've got also hope offices pick up some ideas country. or the through the framework or categories. of ways to operate that of our work focuses on traditional everything and audit services. your systems, We have a processes, robust different platforms that consulting use, and, truly look to that which is where our. risk advisory practice So, fits within. you know, Our you are listening to this and you're asking, well, I'm, already a a $1,000,000,000 that group and is based in Washington I'm, successful in the commercial we. are dedicated, have this fancy ERP system. supporting companies I be able to accomplish and service to the federal government. experienced contractor day in, would? day out, Well, our team is helping, federal contractors? This slide indicates the why in entering view. and operating in the federal marketplace. those of you new to the federal, marketplace, you know, throughout the complete government contracts life cycle from proposal development in a lot of different ways. to And some, of those are very different than the, commercial marketplace. addressing compliance this, characteristics name it, of, these phases really done it, in this space. of the more significant compliance other thing that, we like to say is we we regularly partner with outside counsel look out for within matters, some of these individual stages. that obviously? a strong compliance you should be thinking one helps contract types, make some of the different compliance cycle much easier to accounting systems. or record keeping systems, some cost information a quick snapshot kinds. of services? that we offer. I one a very, the very unique strong contract doing business with the federal government. team might reimburse a lot of experience costs commercial item contracting, just charging, a price. and different compliance if. you don't wanna go into that space, you can potentially now to get to, in that more we're here for today, intermediate space where a brief overview of, how we're gonna be structuring the discussion. firm fixed price where with not really operating in a larger the. purpose of the maturity that's. okay. Right? That's walk through the stages, of understanding the maturity current. stage and what you do and be exploring not wanna components to. that should inform the development of a tailored, point for the new entrants here, then conclude with a high level wanna kind of maintain roadmap can lower risk. category is that you know, you'll started. have government contracts that include contract clauses that, permit the government know, audit rights. about purpose that last column high the audit, risk. the guide is really meant to provide practical steps for government contractors you how, to think about their journey in the federal the. government. It's intended so it's really important understand have those you are today, systems, where you, have gaps, key controls you should be focusing on next. risk as necessary so that you can continue success in the middle. Success isn't just long, term organizational objective. work. It's about doing it well. It means strong compliance, good pricing after, hearing all of that, and and the, ability might be asking yourself, and report effectively. why would I wanna do business with know, the federal we? engage with with, clients is where we're getting into the, description often need current think about how. do we right size people, The government, is the largest buyer of goods and services in the world. your specific stage of growth, Just in 2024, you know, so that you're $755,000,000,000. not over investing too early and has been a steady increase even since 2024 and trillions of dollars of any undue. risk as you proceed the government buys. everything from, you know, the and paper clips together the way to tanks help organizations, all the way to services have that be sustainable. tools. Everything that I will pass it off to Derek for would need as a here. potential business or as a business, the government is going to want some and then more. Right? There's plenty of advantages to doing business with the federal government. Right? There's larger, steadier work, profit margins. There's a ways to recovery and through the prompt payment The government doesn't have bad debts. The government always pays valid, you know, non fraudulent invoices. But you wanna make sure that what you're doing with the government, can really bolster the foundation of your business if you're a new entrant or considering entering the federal marketplace. There's also the flip side of that where there's plenty of disadvantages. So you might have some more increased administrative activities or processes that you didn't necessarily have to have in just doing commercial business, and that's really what we're talking about here today. And that regulatory oversight I talked about. So there's additional audits and cost of compliance, things that are unique where the largest buyer of the goods and of goods and services in the world wants to have that additional buying power and, make sure that everything that they're being charged is valid and that they're using taxpayer funds effectively. So it's a huge market, and it's obviously something that crosses numerous industries. So we wanna make sure that companies that enter that market are doing so eyes wide open. Yeah. Thanks. So, you know, Leo's right. Right? The the government is truly looking to, have an ability to get what they want faster, better, and cheaper. And as a taxpayer, that sounds great to me. But as somebody that advises contractors and that sells to the government, the devil's in the details. And so this is just a smattering of some memos and information that's been put out there by the Department of Defense in the wintertime, and I have some other notes on more recent activity. But, ultimately, the idea here is identify ways that the government can buy things commercially, identify other ways that are outside of the normal acquisition cycle, which is through the fair acquisition regulation, and identify competitive prototyping and other techniques such as other transaction authorities or commercial solutions offering CSOs where contracting with companies can be easier, better, and faster. I think, again, all of this is great, but the bottom right here, right, there's always a downside or risk that I point out to my clients of, well, the incentives can be good, but what are penalties if we're not delivering? And we've seen some of that in a more recent executive order in January where the president issued EO fourteen three seventy two prioritizing the warfighter and defense contracting, which actually talks more about not allowing major defense contractors to conduct stock buybacks or issue dividends the expense of accelerated procurement or increased production capacity and also limits on executive compensation for companies that do business with the government. So a a ways that the the government. is. going, to try. to push contractors. to and and as we progress to the slides here, you'll notice the chevrons at the bottom line the. what the company are really intended. to help inform the the road map that we'll be building up to as we go through the presentation. or a pass through. This is kind of a a watch starting space item. the, the GovCon market, these contract a new entrant, provisions or, you know, one one of the first. things that you'll need to understand where you are on that maturity spectrum I. went through earlier, At the center of all of that are the federal wanna keep an eye out for to make, sure that you're reading your contract, rules for how the, government buys goods and services. is the government gonna be pushing down to, you, there's specific sections your systems and processes allow you. to comply put those on the. that. So things like how our commercial items purchased, Less so from executive negotiations but, from, actual legislation for those in the more, intermediate and how costs are are defined and and and evaluated. and those that do business 52 the DOD. there frequently comes up. Those are the actual contract clauses year, that live National Defense Authorization that you'll be that you'll be required to comply with. That's very important because as we'll. talk about later on, A couple of key threshold changes, again, define your your compliance, the direction of. minimum trying to allow for companies working do business Department of War, companies to do business with the federal government, an additional defense industrial base, the DFARs, changing dollar know, thresholds, builds on the FAR with these are coming up. requirements the other agencies have regulation would say that you change them, as they. are changing in the future. the key takeaway here is that success or truth will cost your pricing data act threshold increasing to, $10,000,000, because they directly impact how you price, what it means to, have adequate and ultimately competition you stay compliant. an exemption to Tina. Additionally, expanding what is required to be a trigger. I CAS coverage it's, or cost accounting, standards. So that's now increased that 2025 was a year of significant not requiring the federal marketplace. CAS coverage until administration 100,000,000 over 200 executive CAS cover contracts focused on reforming opposed to $50,000,000 government purchases is what used to be. there. On this slide, all of this is trying to exempt a few. You'll notice there the first one, contractors, the executive is defined two the code of federal regulations as an entity that is not currently performing the revolutionary has not, performed, which is the first comprehensive or subcontract the FAR subject forty full. coverage of the cost cutting standards. So so the the idea CAS covered that. language that is not rooted so, in exemptions from DFAR's business system clauses, specific buying guides, truth of negotiations intended to give cost or pricing data components and FAR cost principles. making decisions. Again, to be determined exactly how this is gonna work. executive order, again, the fourteen two lot of significant changes in the is contract marketplace, because it directs is a the federal government to centralize more procurement entrants and of domestic guide that much services applicable to General and thinking about. your federal growth strategy. this elevates the role of GSA within the acquisition system And it also directs a review of the government's or GSA's government wide acquisition contracts to determine if there's overlap with GSA contract vehicles and review options for consolidation. So the government is consolidating how it's purchasing and then it's moving to bigger contract vehicles and executing its buying decisions. Know, sort of folded into all of that, there is GSA's OneGov strategy. This calls for deeper direct engagement with OEMs and software providers. GSA's Technology and software has traditionally found a path to federal agencies through resellers, but GSA's approach appears to be shifting so that it begins negotiating directly, which could elevate the need for these contract vehicles that we spoke about earlier. That's an important shift as it could fundamentally change how companies think about interacting with the federal government and pursuing work within the federal marketplace. And then finally, you'll see a mention there of, GSA's elimination of the price reductions clause. If you're a GSA schedule contract holder, you'll be very aware of this thorny regulation that has been a compliance burden for decades with for GSA schedule contractors. By removing this particular requirement, it is expected to lower the barrier to entry, hopefully increase the pool of eligible vendors on the program and help the government get what it needs. So we will move on to the next slide, which again hits on this theme of acquisition reform initiatives. What you're seeing here is, you know, a wave of recent initiatives that have been coming out of the federal government specific to DOD. So, you know, while each of these memos and executive orders has a specific focus, they're all pointing in the same direction. It's about making, you know, making government move faster, having it be easier for the government to buy innovative solutions, you know, particularly in areas like software and AI. There's a strong push to reduce barriers, streamline acquisition, and open the door for traditional or excuse me, commercial and nontraditional contractors to participate. And all of that culminated in the DoD's broader acquisition transformation strategy, which really brings those efforts together in a unified approach. And Derek's going to talk about that on the next slide. Yeah. Thanks, Leo. I'll share you know you know, what's great about the public sector market is there are so many resources available, in the same breath, it can get overwhelming pretty quickly. And so knowing how each of these datasets plays into your pursuit strategy can help you gear your approach to how to make those informed decisions and see what's available to you and your business and your offerings. And so as Leo is going through kind of, like, what the different datasets each of these websites has, it's important to understand, like, contracting opportunities and what's actively available to win on sam.gov. That would be, like, your active pipeline. Or you can think about opportunities by looking at historical awards from the FPDS system and looking at when those are gonna expire to estimate when they come up for renewal or recompete. And so these kind of things where you're understanding spending patterns to help identify who buys what you sell. And when you're able to track trends over time, you can start to anticipate needs earlier to engage with that agency before the RFP drops and requirements are solidified. And so I'm gonna get into a buyer's guide in a few slides about what to look for if you're evaluating our market intelligence solution. But I'm also gonna give a a free plug for Gov1IQ. We do have a small business resource center that is free to both users and nonusers, and it's where we've really created this centralized dashboard with links to free resources if you're just getting started. And if you're a Gov1 customer, we also have prebuilt searches and spending dashboards or small business contacts. So if anyone's interested in that, feel free to put small business in the chat, and I can make sure you get that link after today's webinar. But, again, it's it's free for both our current customers and and noncustomers. So, with that, I'm gonna turn it back over to Leo. Thanks, Eric. Yeah. And all of this, I think, really bolsters what has been in place for the government over the past decade. Category management is an organizing principle that's expected to continue to to drive acquisition across the government, especially with with with many of other reforms that we've highlighted. At a high level, what this slide is showing is is how the government is trying to exert control over spending patterns. OMB uses a tiered rating scale to evaluate agency spend. Those are called the spend under management tiers that you see on the screen. The goal is to push more spending into higher tiers, especially contracts that are already established embedded like government wide or agency wide vehicles. And these higher tier contracts, especially the best in class solutions or where agencies are being encouraged to buy from. So what does that mean for contractors? It means that a large chunk, that large chunks of of open market spend are being moved up to spend under management tiers. So if you don't have one of the contract vehicles, you you know, you don't get, to see. a large portion, of. the of the market from an, opportunity, standpoint. I like to think of these stages, it it shows the government you move from the new entrant, to intermediate to inexperienced and you should be, of as that like, at don't know if anyone's contracts the meme you risk being locked It's from competition. Sunny in Philadelphia, On he's of, that, like, all the red strings on the bulletin board. FAR overhaul you enter each stage, that we mentioned earlier number of red lines kind of multiplies. the use of ordering that's often because as a new entrant, vehicles like the schedules on cash flow Plus. and winning contracts bottom keep, the lights on for your business important. or possibly your business unit if need to be paying close attention to them. team in a traditionally commercial organization. And then, finally, And so know, this slide, is, you need know, to find buyers for your goods and services government buys and, services. and that often one end, you have more commercial type subcontracting and teaming first just like Leo went through. largely defines then as you mature, the solution and the price and and pricing is more leads and are. often looking to uplevel as you, move across where you spectrum, where we government a little more of what I like to call the requirements. So the specifications tea leaf leaf activities. from the seller to the buyer, are things can see there on the top left. And, know your, buyers at the, same time, the the contracting mission, approach also changes. knowing who move from fixed price contracts your space, where you're responsible buying managing costs and procurement more. And this is where models like cost reimbursement your favor to get ahead of requirements because more of that risk. stage, you're likely the key takeaway is that influence the right people work, or continuing work becomes more complex and less it, so you're more focused on the quality requirements and the contracting model become more structured and government driven. your pipeline. And so again leads to the audit, risk that Derek was talking about earlier. start to dry up, So often in factors spot to really inform a roadmap for an organization a healthy log of of thinks about. maturing in this market. And Derek's going to go through that in detail playing the in the, presentation. following those forecasts, tracking competitive behaviors, All right, moving on to better than. they know themselves, So for new entrants, and tying everything to highlight that there are, a wealth, of priorities. free federal platforms top performers make each a little easier stages often borrow particular landscape. from the stage above them of a central of for federal opportunity data. from the pool of, you know, who who a searchable record of federal stage of maturity that. they're in. So there's always things to to learn and bring into your business. front end website that makes FPDS, I'm a new entrant from day one, to year three and then contractors to. explore federal transaction information flow. around who's buying, how much they're spending, what agencies are awarding here, etcetera. Acquisition.gov how, houses the acquisition hope everyone can walk away with some tools to evaluate government buys goods and services. And of course, the SBA mature. has a tremendous I'm gonna talk through a series wealth of information meant to help businesses, navigate these are structured train the federal marketplace. you assess where you, are and what's next. are, And they're organized by maturity stage, in the market that can. really enhance and help are all just, guidelines, even rules. easier for contractors. with all that caveating, out of the way, gonna speak to that now. let's get into market intelligence. Because if you can't find and qualify the right opportunities, nothing else matters. And so new entrants need to answer basic questions. Which agencies buy what I sell? Technology at this stage should filter opportunities by your NAICS codes and set asides or provide contract history context and have a low learning curve. Really, bonus points if they take research tasks off your plate, like hunting down questions with the government on your behalf. And you've probably outgrown this when you're manually tracking opportunities in spreadsheets, learning about opportunities too late, or can't answer who are our competitors because you have a limited, fragmented view of the market. Intermediate contractors really shift from focusing heavily on finding opportunities to also understanding the competitive landscape. So you'll need tools that track competitor win patterns, show recompete timing, enable custom opportunity scoring, and integrate with your CRM and ERP or accounting tools. And you've outgrown this likely when leadership is asking, what's your pipeline? And you have to scramble together for an answer or when you can't model different capture scenarios. For our experienced group, they are forecasting, you know, eighteen to thirty six months ahead of time, conducting portfolio analysis, and using intelligence to map agency relationships and support strategic planning. You need tools that deliver portfolio level analytics, provide budget tracking, and offer API access to workflow automation so that your tools really are working for you throughout that BD life cycle. And you've outgrown this when strategic planning lacks a data foundation and you're missing early signals from agencies. And so the progression here is critical. You move from help me find opportunities to help me shape the market. And so start where you are, but choose technology that can grow with you. So we're gonna back to back buyer's guides here. But we're transitioning now that. to was looking for the mute button. about scalable. processes, you know, just wanted. to to talk a little bit about, As you see at the bottom, you know, if you're. keeping track of where, we are on our know, new new. entrants and even experienced contractors, way to think about this, is if market a a very important tool to help build, momentum in the federal marketplace. and ERP systems are what, enable you know, to perform that work in as a as a prime right away, compliantly. it can be challenging. And so here's what's critical. with an established crime gives you, fundamental know, instant access to particular contracts, from a requirement, it helps create some of those agency relationships. accounting. It also helps reduce risk. from a new entrant to, learn about federal contracting, you need separate it works, direct versus, everything from. compliance to delivery, You need to be able to track costs by project and it allows, you to to learn from from a more experienced contractor. ready audit the same, time, you're building past calculate, provisional is, you know, critical for eventually. competing as a prime. look for purpose teaming, built can combine your capabilities to go after work that organizations may automatic qualify for. on their own. You've is one outgrown the reasons why we've we've seen the proliferation of joint ventures and mentor protege joint ventures in recent years. doesn't have job costing. really help small businesses win your indirect rate, tool, or you grow quickly. quickly trace cost, to contracts know but but, of course, we you. know, there needs to be careful thought in how those relationships are structured, perspective, and the opportunity has need to handle for both, contract. types, And, those contexts, time and materials, fixed price, a thoughtful simultaneously. attorney is critical. And so you're managing provisional pass, it back to Logan. subcontractor costs, and preparing incurred cost submissions. You need technology that automates billing and contract types, includes subcontractor management, and scales as your project complexity grows. And you've likely outgrown this when data lives in a disconnected system. Month end is taking over two weeks, and you can't generate reports without Excel manipulation. And then lastly, our established contractors, they need full ERP capabilities, so supporting multiple entities or segments, enabling enterprise consolidation, and providing real time program performance visibility. It's also important to maintain DFAR's business systems compliance if that's the type of work that you do. And we need systems that automate compliance monitoring, deliver advanced analytics and program insights, and enable continuous monitoring. And you've likely outgrown this when you're building custom integrations to keep systems connected, consolidation across entities is difficult, and the executives lack real time program visibility. And so if you notice the pattern here, complexity drives requirements, and the compliance demands of your contracts actually determine what your systems must do. And you can't bolt on government contracting accounting into commercial software. It it really does need to be built in from the ground up. So we just talked about software. Let's talk about some of the systems internally. So the ERP is important, but how you implement it becomes that much more important. And this is a framework with which you might think about implementing your ERP through different business processes and work streams. So each of these flows are end to end based on the life cycle, and this model covers a lot of different subcomponents that are extremely important, not just from an operational efficiency and effectiveness perspective, but also from an internal control perspective, which is shown by the elements of these contractor business systems that are overlaid here and unique to government contract accounting. So, Derek, I know this is right in your wheelhouse. What would you add here? Yeah. I was gonna jump in and say, you know, one, this shameless plug for the webinar that I'll also be conducting for part two of this series. The date's wrong on here. It's actually Thursday, April 30, not the twenty sixth, which is a Sunday. If you all would like to talk about contractor business systems on a Sunday, you can feel free to message me in the chat, and we'll figure out something that's not on a Sunday. But, yeah, you know, this is a framework with which we often think about different systems and processes that are necessary to cross pollinate and integrate together. And the gray boxes here had how the government looks at these things and how the government audits these things. If you think back to the discussion I had earlier on the current government contracting marketplace and whether these things are required or not required for contractors. Logan, I love what you said about these things being needing to be built in from the ground up from systems. And if you're thinking about a separate set of systems and how each of these business process workflows work, that's great. But these also need to be able to be connected and interrelated to get the data that each of these contractor business system requirements, those gray rows, really operate in. So a good useful way to think about this and we'll expand upon this even more in part two of this series. So I encourage you all to attend that as well. Moving on a little bit on our chevrons to project and resource management. I wanted to jump in again before I turn it back over to Logan. But similar to the earlier slide that we talked about some of the compliance requirements that go along with each stage of the maturity guide, there's different demands and comparison points that really expand the aperture of what's required for aspects of a project and resource management for government contracts. Most organizations probably have the tools necessary if you're one of those new entrants, but you still wanna be aware of what your individual contract requires, you know, for new entrants, whether that's a breakdown or whether that's a work breakdown structure, the WBS structure that you need to be managing to and what your labor categories are, the qualifications for those. So things to be aware of there. Once you get to some of the more advanced stages, intermediate or established contractors, you might have more advanced requirements and therefore advanced system needs, which, again, I'll I'll cover in a second. But I did wanna quickly point out in the advanced, experience column there, you might have some additional demands related to earned value management or EVMS, which can be contractually mandated through the DFARS clause. So, just be aware of that. Note that these are typically discouraged for firm fixed price contracts or generally not gonna be required unless the contract is over $50,000,000 and not even audited, unless the contract is over a $100,000,000. But, again, some of those unique aspects of doing business with the federal government that are gonna come into play. So, you know, you wanna know what good looks like. You still want good resource management and and project management skill sets within your organization regardless of of certain requirements, but some of them actually become contractual later on. Alright. For the sake of time, I'm not gonna go through my my buyer's guides from here out, quite in as quite as much detail. But I do wanna just do call out a couple things. One is, you know, moving from finance to delivery project and resource management is where strategy meets execution and where many contractors struggle to scale because they're operating reactively instead of strategically. And so the progression here is you move from who's available today to how do we build the workforce we need to execute our three year strategy as you if you once you get the slides, you can look at this in more detail. But resource management becomes a strategic capability, not a tactical scheduling exercise, and your tools must scale with that complexity and must integrate with your ERP for cost visibility and your business development systems for capacity planning. Leo, I'll turn it over to you. Yeah. Yeah. Totally agree. Right? This is where the requirements come from, and so that's really what you wanna think about. So what's what's presented here is a very basic simple example of some of the things that new market entrants would have to worry about. And then, you know, when we talk about timekeeping, particularly service contractors, we'll get into more of these details in future webinars. So if you wanna think about how other foundational compliance elements need to be thought about, definitely attend those. But in this example that we have here for some of the things, right, think about your records, what you need to show to support an audit audit. Right? That's the first row. And think about how your processes work, how you could explain something to a new person in your organization, or, you know, if you're audited, how would you have to explain it to the government? And then think about it from a risk perspective. Where are your high risk areas? Why would I risk be to the customer that you're dealing with? In this case, the federal government. And then how do we implement some key controls to mitigate that risk? Right? So in this example, we're talking timekeeping. So we need to have clear timekeeping requirements, segregation of roles for daily entry, review and approval of time, clear understanding of what it means when you certify your time and have it be charged to the government and ultimately paid for with taxpayer funds. So this is just one simple example of how we think about foundational compliance and building that into your systems. I say building it in, right? I used to work as director of government compliance for a large government contractor. One of the things I would talk about is you know, we need to bake compliance into what we do. It's not an input. It's not an output. It's not an audit activity. It's part and parcel with your systems, with your processes, with your actions that everybody is taking on a day to day basis. And if you have that mindset or that paradigm, it makes, you know, how do you quote unquote buy compliance or or make check that box that much more applicable. So I know, Louie, you say you're gonna flip through the buyer's guide quickly, but that's kinda what this is representing. Right? Yeah. Yep. Exactly. It's are you demonstrating compliance or hoping you are? And by choosing software that builds that in from the ground up, you can have confidence going forward and really focus on the stuff that needs your expertise. I will. Yeah. Last buyer's guide to to wrap us up. And so finally, data security and controls, which has become a critical competitive requirement. It's not just about IT anymore. And this is about contract qualification. So you have to have the best technical solution and still you can still be disqualified because you can't demonstrate the required security posture. And so here's what's changed with CMMC enforcement and FedRAMP requirements and the new GSA security framework that applies to all contractors. In this space, security has moved from a technical checkbox to really a competitive differentiator. And we take security seriously. Doesn't win contracts. Demonstrated audible auditable continuous compliance does. And so, you know, taking away from this slide, understand your requirements first. What level of security do your contracts require, and then build the capabilities and evidence to prove it. And that's all I have for that. I will turn it over to Derek. Yeah. So just wrapping up here, and then we'll definitely get to some of your questions. If you do have any last minute questions, please throw them in the chat. We'll try to get those in the few minutes that we have. You know, right here, we're really just talking about what are some of the challenges and solutions that we see. These are very high level. These are, you know, some of the things that we messages that we get and are recurring in our our line of work. And, you know, what do you do to deal with some of these challenges? Right? So if you're a new entrant for those small businesses, right, how do we understand the regulatory environment in which we work? And then try to find those opportunities working with mentors or working through commercial offering means, so CSO CSOs, and trying to establish the ability to win federal contracts. And I think, Loewen, you said it more eloquently than I am at the beginning of if you can't win the opportunities, the rest of the stuff didn't really matter. Right? So that's really what we focus on with our new entrants and making sure that you're not signing up contractually for things that you can't actually do. And so for those intermediate and experienced, contractors, Logan. you know, we're definitely gonna think when we were those more in future webinar, slide, we were talking about foundational number. two in had put end of next month. words the contract really, in big post letters because, it's that that's really where all where the challenges you have here, stems from. addressing. You're building that into your plans for. growth. You have systems, begins processes you, and controls know that are established, are documented, you you win monitored, work, you have to be thinking that how have evaluating clear, direction and everything, is aligned. how you're putting your proposal things, are connected together. how you're capturing just, the. terms and go create some documentation what the team needs have to check a box. actually execute work. I'm doing these things so that I can open, you know, this, new market the way through closeout previously didn't have think. about capturing, Or I'm creating a rate, doc your that aligns with my organization, documents associated because I just want contract be able to bid, on this contract, but because. it's pursuant to the, overall growth, we're trying to pursue. takeaway is that Thinking you are building of these things interconnect, contract maturity. roadmap, And then so we think about it as defining, how do we put, it all together? is the end goal road map in place. for. Right? We have different functions, you wanna be targeting, complex IT, far 15 HR, procurements with, contracts know, higher. technical and cybersecurity different, op elements sensitive each of them have, to do, and they're all to be thinking about. that as? being the desired there's impacts. not just to a new software, a gap assessment. to see where where this gonna impact, our that, sort of lays the? the the groundwork for for one of these road maps. we're gonna build enable us by roadmap, meet these mean sort of that step by step to establish, where you build in the right a, pricing, agreement in place with the government or time so that it's done in a structured the GSA schedule. and get an award that, for, that? it's whatever to individual contract. milestones are, I'll pass back actual road get in further detail. this that allows you to continue through that maturity. Right? Putting it on paper, right, is, you know, proven out for individual goals. Right? If you wanna, you know, start exercising more, write it down. Whatever your individual goals are. Right? Actually, write down a road map and try to bring it together with here's all the enablers that we're trying to do and these milestones that we're trying to meet and back up from there. Where are we trying to get to? So that's really how we think about and how we talk about it with our clients and and having the systems in place to do that. So I think, Bowen, you you know, kinda wrap up on that note, I think. Yeah. For sure. Thanks, Derek. And so for that, just thinking about choosing software that puts government contracting first, and brings that to that foundational layer. It's built in, not bolted on. And so here at Deltek, that's that's really our whole jam. We bring in bring it into our DNA. It's the foundation. We bring in compliance controls. We have secure cloud, offerings depending on what you need to deliver on those contracts effectively and and securely for the government. We have full project life cycle, support from our apps layer, which includes all everything from market intelligence through ERP and accounting, project management, and project delivery. And then throughout all of those, you know, we are bringing an layer of innovation that's industry tuned. So that is our Della assistant and orchestrator that sits really across that entire life cycle to help you gain efficiencies and work improvements, as you're in our applications rather than, you know, doing something on one tab and running to chatty bitty in the other, trying to meet where you work. So selfish plug for that. I think Alex has a couple of polls for us, and we have maybe about a minute or two for questions because I know we're right out of time. So, Alex, I will let you take over the polls. And if you have questions, drop them in the q and a. We'll be right back. Great. Thank you, Leo, Derek and Logan. So. just real. quick before we get to the Q and A portion, into data security do have two. short poll questions. cybersecurity, is an ever present issue. information about know Tilly, many of the attendees ahead and just this, click the boxes. cybersecurity maturity model certification. everyone a quick moment to respond are gonna be talking about that get to the FedRAMP, second has. to do with cloud and software solutions as well as I always. feel like Jeopardy theme song. then with that, on handling of second unclassified. information that is. if you would like to be contacted we will double check the date to make sure that we're not doing it on a on AI enabled a Sunday. platform we're success to be talking stage the cybersecurity power of the project life cycle. later on ahead and click that. so that people understand how that folds into the roadmap. Great. Logan, do you want to talk about the buyer's much. guide here? Now Logan, go ahead with the Q and A, please. Awesome. I don't see too much activity in there. So, the last plug I'll give before we may maybe try to get to this one question is we do have a bunch of resource slides that we didn't get to today, so make sure you download the deck, from the resources panel. If, you want that emailed to you, you'll get the link when we send out the recording. But with that, I only see a question from Robert about a as a solopreneur with SDVOSB guides, any advice perhaps to someone in that situation? So maybe Derek or Leo, I can pass it over to you. Awesome. Thanks, Leo. I'm just checking what other questions came through. I was at the very bottom, so it looked like none. Maybe I'll try and take one more. Let's do this one from Skit. How do you deal with multiple ERPs out there? And and we won't talk about pricing. We can have someone follow-up with you. But, Leo, I know this is also kind of in your space and and pairs so closely with, you know, the the services piece that we talked about. Maybe we could just. Yeah. Definitely. So, you know, I especially with, intermediate or, experienced contractors out there, you're gonna run into situations where you might have, you know, inorganic growth, right, M and A activity. How do we combine two contractors together? The short answer is it's hard. But, again, building it into your overall plan, how do we integrate or not these organizations? How do we kind of build on the synergies that the business case for that inorganic growth might need to think about? And, you know, ultimately, I like I think, Logan, you'd pointed to it too. Right? The building the government contract requirements in, not bolting it on. And so identifying what are your true requirements, what are your growth needs in the federal sector, and having an ERP that supports that, I think, is the most important thing and and and dealing with it that way. So Awesome. that that'll be my answer to the question. Yeah. Thank you so much. Well, we're about five minutes over. I'm gonna call it quits there. Leo, Derek, thank you both so much for partnering with me today on today's webinar. Audience, thank you for giving us an hour of your time. Please feel free to reach out to us. Our emails are on the screen here. We're always happy to help point you in the right direction or answer questions. And with that, I'm gonna wish everyone a good rest of their Thursday, and I will see you next time. Thanks, everybody. Thank you.