Nov-2017

56 57 complexity? Howwell did you perform on those?’The government also has an appraisal system that tracks every time we do a contract.The agency evaluates us and gives us a grade of howwell we’ve done. So part of it is prior work.And then in the new proposal solicitation they’ll ask you to describe your approach for management: ‘Howwill you solve this problem? What is your procedure? Howwould you staff it? Who are the key personnel to perform the services on the project? What are their credentials?’ So, you have to differentiate yourself in howyou would do the work, howyou would solve their problem,meet their needs. You have to demonstrate, through this narrative content that you provide as part of your response, that you’re better than anybody else.And then pricing is obviously a big factor - it may not be the only factor, but it’s always important–the government is always trying to get the best value for its investment, and it’s trying to weed out the inferior vendors that don’t per- form, that don’t deliver, that don’t produce the quality solutions, and don’t stand behind their work.” SBD2 stays in the game by adapting to change while still maintaining its high level of customer service.“We have to be fairly nimble,”Goldbach states. “We have to be agile in a lot of ways to adapt to the changing landscape.When the DOD (Department of Defense) was cutting its budget, they would come back to us and ask us to sharpen our pencil for a way we could reduce costs while continuing to support their mission. It’s our job to make sure we can provide high quality value to the government at a fair price. One of our mantras is: ‘Performance over Price.’ It’s more important to perform than to drive profit, per se, because performance leads to future opportunity. Make the customer happy and they’ll come back to you.We don’t necessarily look for savings, directly, but we do look for ways to help the government be more efficient and more effective, building systems and processes that help them do the job better.And I think we’ve been rewarded, because we’ve always approached it from that perspective.” Goldbach continues,“In addition,we have had to Wiley Rein LLP congratulates Solutions By Design II LLC , on being recognized for its Best Practices and Innovations in the Tech Industry and as one of America’s Fastest Growing Technology Companies. We are honored to work with the company, and look forward to many successful years ahead. wileyrein.com PREFERRED VENDOR n Wiley Rein www.wileyrein.com SOLUTIONS BY DESIGN II LLC look at where we want to be in the next two to three years and plan accordingly. I think what a lot of small businesses forget to do is look past today and where they want to be in the future. It is easy to get caught up in the success of winning contracts, but it is those companies that focus on where they want to be in the future that are able to successfully transition from small to mid to large businesses and we want to be one of those companies.When one is small, any work is great work, but as you become large, that model won’t work all that well.You have to be focused. Competition becomes more intense. The earlier a small business starts that process, the better off they will be all around in the long run. Consequently,we have spent a lot of time over the past two years developing our vision to 2020, and I would like to say that we are executing against it pretty effectively.The biggest key to howwe will get there is focus, as I mentioned, and not being distracted by things (which is sometimes hard to do), but executing against our plan and spending the time,money, and resources on the things that matter, and the things that will get us to where we want to be.” In addition to SBD2’s operating ethos, Goldbach reiterates the three main things that have combined to foster the company’s success in the federal space: contract vehicles, key partners and relationships, and most of all, its own employees.“We recognize how important our people are,”he declares.“They’re the touch point for our customers.We have an outstand- ing management staff and our vision is wrapped around our people delivering high-quality services. All those things came together for us in a positive way and that has allowed us to succeed.”