By David J. Berteau, PSC President & CEO | Dec. 20, 2018

Winter weather may blow in an unpredictable mix of snow, sleet and chilly winds, much like the federal contracting market may be hit with unpredictable factors that impact business, such as lapses in appropriations, regulation rescissions, new legislation, and more. Come what may, contractors must be agile, up to speed, and ready to adapt to the ever-changing federal market. In this edition of the Service Contractor, we look at modernization for tomorrow’s government missions and ways to keep members informed and engaged through it all.

One of the top items on PSC’s advocacy agenda is to address policies that will modernize the security clearance process. We have actively been at the forefront of testifying on and submitting recommendations to address security clearance reform. We are honored to have Senator Mark Warner, Vice Chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, offer his views on recent legislation he introduced. Learn more by reading his featured piece on page 6, “Modernizing the 21st Century Workforce by Fixing the Security Clearance System.”

Security clearance reform is just one of the issues we are working on for our members, and we want members to remain excited about this advocacy that PSC is doing your behalf. Read more on this in our quarterly “Sounding Board” feature on page 9, where PSC Board Chairman and Unisys Federal President PV Puvvada weighs in on increasing member excitement and engagement with PSC.

In our “Working for You” feature, PSC Vice President of Government Relations, Cate Benedetti, highlights PSC’s successes during the 115th Congress. In addition, PSC’s opposition of a Defense Department (DoD) rule on progress and performance-based payments led DoD to withdraw the rule, as PSC’s Alan Chvotkin explores more deeply on page 11. 

Staying abreast of regulations is critically important as contractors work daily to complete government missions with the highest standards. But we often move at the pace set by our agency customers and affected by the legislative process. Jeremy Madson, PSC Public Policy Director, writes about the importance of proper guidance and communications from government to industry during a lapse in appropriations. Dan Chenok, Executive Director of IBM’s Center for the Business of Government, explores “Accelerating the Pace of IT Modernization,” on page 16, noting ways that government can learn from industry on creating a modernized IT environment. And on page 20, Williams Mullen’s Kevin Pomfret examines the issues involved in selling unmanned aircraft systems to the federal government.

Our Vision Federal Market Forecast Conference in October provided several ways you can access its vital market intelligence. Learn more on page 22 and read highlights from our keynote speakers from the Department of Defense, as well as excerpts of several of our federal forecasts. In addition, we were also honored to be joined by Administrator Mark Green, who heads the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). He was among a host of USAID and State Department leaders—along with Congressman Gerry Connolly—who spoke at our 6th annual Development Conference in early December. Get caught up on page 37.

PSC warmly welcomes our newest members, listed on page 34. We want our members to get the most from PSC, and Matthew Busby describes ways to maximize membership value. The section also includes lots of exciting Member News on noteworthy items, along with photos from recent meetings with top federal agency leaders. These events reflect the content-rich information we provide to members along with our advocacy work on the Hill, in the agencies, and with the media.

As always, I welcome your ideas on how we can improve PSC and better apply systems and processes to achieve tomorrow’s government missions.

David J. Berteau

Click here to view the PDF of this article, which was featured in PSC's Winter 2018 Service Contractor magazine.