>> Hello and welcome to the 8(a) STARS II Listen
and Learn Webinar Series.
My name is Herman Lyons and I'm a member
of the 8(a) STARS II team.
The listen and learn series is an 8(a) STARS II initiative
in which the 8(a) STARS II team members interview successful
8(a) STARS II industry partners in hopes
of helping all 8(a) STARS II industry partners
become successful.
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Today's listen and learn will be conducted with AMTIS-HeiTech.
AMTIS-HeiTech is an 8(a) STARS II joint venture
who was awarded the 8(a) STARS II GWAC in 2017
as a result of the open season.
AMTIS-HeiTech was awarded constellation one and two,
functional areas one, two, three, and four,
and has been awarded four task order awards
against their 8(a) STARS II GWAC with a total contract value
of $3.7 million dollars as of this recording in December 2018.
Joining me today is Barbara Stankowski.
Barbara completed a distinguished 28 year career
in the US Navy, retiring in 1998.
After her retirement from the navy,
she worked for several women owned, small businesses
as a training and education consultant
and facilitator supporting government and industry clients.
Since 2007, she is the owner and President CEO of AMTIS, Inc.
A SDVOSB and woman owned small business providing services
to commercial, federal, and state agencies.
AMTIS, Inc.
was selected by GrowFL as one of the 2012 Florida companies
to watch, awarded the CEO Nexus Cup by CEO Nexus
in collaboration with Rollins Center
for Advanced Entrepreneurship,
Florida High Tech Corridor and GlowFL in 2013.
Awarded business owner of the year
by the Orlando Business Journal's 2014,
Women Who Mean Business awards.
And selected as one of the fast fifty companies in Orlando
in 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2018.
AMTIS wass recognized from 2013 to 2018 by Inc .
500/5000 as one of the fastest growing companies in the US
and one of the very few companies
to be selected six years in a row.
In 2018 Barbara was selected
by the National Defense Industry Association, also known as NDIA,
to receive the Kathleen P. Sridhar Small Business Executive
of the Year Award.
AMTIS Inc.
is celebrating eleven years in business.
Barbara and her team have grown AMTiS
into a multi-million dollar company,
employing over 250 people located across 19 states,
serving multiple government agencies, including Department
of Veterans Affairs, Department of Defense,
Department of Homeland Security, the Department
of Health and Human Services.
Barbara, thank you for participating in the listen
and learn webinar series.
>> My pleasure.
>> Now, let's begin our discussion.
Barbara, what strategy drove you to seek the 8(a) STARS II GWAC?
How did you approach the procurement to be successful?
>> I have to say that, one that AMTIS was blessed early
on in 2012, in finding a mentor and having
that mentorship approved
under the SBA 8(a) Mentor Protege Program.
That mentor helped us build infrastructure and help grow
and they were a previous 8(a) with access
to the STARS contract.
So when the onramp was available and HeiTech,
my mentor was no longer an 8(a), we took a look at the options,
AMTIS was now a $20 million dollar a year company,
we were looking at how to compete
in the larger NAICS codes, most of which are IT
or Technically related, and we begin with talking
with our mentor about this opportunity.
One, because we knew that they had a far more substantial past
performance than we did.
We had past performance in a variety of IT opportunities,
but we didn't think sufficient
to be credible going after STARS.
So we kind of sat down and strategized and we said well,
we could submit alone as AMTIS,
or we could leverage this mentor/protege relationship
and our 8(a) SBA approved joint venture, AMTIS-HeiTech.
To do that we would have to go to the SBA and ask them
for permission to add the 8(a) STARS II GWAC
to our procurement plan which the SBA did approve,
and we worked up, basically AMTIS took the lead
in developing the proposal in working on our marketing plan
with advice and guidance from our mentor
who provided their past performance and experience
to be incorporated into that document
and in July of 2016 we submitted.
Now one of the things that was very nice
about this was both HeiTech and AMTIS held ISO certifications
which allowed us to bid for both functional areas or both lots.
So that was also very good, we found that only about 5%
of small businesses hold ISO certifications and we thought
that was an important differeciater for us early on,
and so we put that in place and it proved to be of great benefit
in this particular procurement.
So we went forward, submitted our proposal in July of 2016
and we're really delighted to be a successful awardee.
When that onramp was awarded.
I would want to point out just two things, and that's,
I want to highlight the value
of finding a great long-term 8(a) mentor.
It's tremendously helpful for understanding how to grow
and develop your infrastructure and we were lucky
to have a very successful five year mentor protege relationship
which began in 2012, with our long-term mentor.
And that partnership and friendship continues today.
>> Perfect, thank you Barbara.
And you know, question number two really kind of ties
into question number one in that, you know, we heard
and we learned of your great strategy on the front side
and you know positioning yourself
to obtain the 8(a) STARS II GWAC,
but question number two asks, have you leveraged your strategy
since being awarded the contract?
What did you do the first year
of having your 8(a) STARS II GWAC?
>> Well, it's very interesting; we had worked very long and hard
on a very large procurement that the army was submitting.
It was an AMTIS proposal effort, not with our mentor,
for the army's advanced virtual learning environment contract.
We did not win that contract.
But what happened afterwards is because of several protests.
There were a number of clients looking for an alternative
to get some of their training products developed.
Their high-end simulations and modeling products
and we were able to chat with them to talk
about the 8(a) STARS opportunity and option for them to consider,
and we were lucky to have four
of those clients submit sole source requests for our service
to support them in their training development effort.
Again, the training development effort being very high-end,
we would call it level 4, highly interactive,
simulated environments.
So again, it was a perfect fit for STARS, a perfect fit
for the client, and certainly a perfect fit for us.
>> Perfect.
Thank you.
Barbara, a question that we commonly get,
and when I say we meaning the 8(a) STARS II team here at GSA,
you know they say, what is the single most important thing I
can do Herman or Belinda or Lori, what is that one thing
that I can do to help grow my 8(a) STARS II sales.
I'd love to hear your thoughts on that and see
if you had any ideas of important things
that industry partners could do to become successful.
>> I think there are a number.
I think one, you need to keep your eye on the task orders
that are being published on a daily basis,
on the STARS TSA website and respond to those
that you're capable of responding to,
particularly those that are RFIs.
I think historically AMTIS has done thirty to forty RFIs
or sources sought a year.
We use it as a strategy to get our name out there,
to help get some traction, to introduce us to new clients,
and it's worked very successful.
So that's one.
Two is, in every capabilities brief we always talk
about the schedules that we have available.
So it's always talking about our professional services
and our GSA STARS II contract.
As a way to reach out and be able to get
to us whether competitively or sole source
when we were still an 8(a).
So those things were very helpful.
Our website also is something that we're very prominent
to have that information.
Both on our joint venture website as well
as our individual website.
And one of the things that I like best about some
of the first awards we one on STARS is,
my mentor was really not into training and it allowed me
to provide some give back to my mentor to develop
for them a kind of a new core area and gain past performance
and experience in high-end training development.
So it was a real win win for the joint venture,
for my mentor, and for us.
So again, responding to sources sought,
responding to task orders when you're able, on GSA STARS,
leveraging your website, always talking about it
in your capabilities brief.
We have a very diversified customer base,
we are always meeting with clients, and that's one
of the high points we hit every time.
>> Great, thank you Barbara.
And for everyone listening, you know we've had,
this is the third listen and learn that we've conducted
and Barbara is saying spot
on with our other two speakers had also said.
Referring to eBuy and the sources sought and the RFIs,
you all would be surprised
to know how many federal acquisition professionals,
or what we like to call customers, really have no idea
on who they would like to use.
So we would, I would echo what Barbara is saying
in that you know, take a look at those RFIs,
those sources sought, if you have time, go ahead
and reply back to those.
It's very telling that Barbara said they do around forty RFIs
and sources sought per year, that should give you an idea
on how active you should be in pursuing those opportunities so,
Barbara thanks for that.
I would also like to say, the website,
this is the first time Barbara
that I've heard anybody mention their website,
but when you think about it, it's often the window
into our company, right?
It's often the first time people see your company and your brand,
and your logo, and they get to see the acquisition vehicles
that you have, so you know, be sure take advantage
of updating your website, make sure it says the things
that you want it to say, you know, you may need
to take a look every month at your website
to make sure your core competencies are updated.
So, Barbara, thinks for bringing that up,
that's something we hadn't heard before so thank you.
Moving on to our next question, number four.
How many federal agencies did you initially market your
services to?
Would you say that would be more than 5, less than 5,
what are your thoughts on that Barbara?
>> A pretty large number because we're frequently doing
capabilities brief.
We never miss an opportunity to go tell our story.
So we started off with four different army clients
that we continue to collaborate with and talk to and talk
about a follow on opportunities under the STARS contract.
We also have talked with various components of FAA,
both flight standards and air traffic control, within health
and human services, FDA, the center for tobacco products,
CDC, all are clients of ours
for whom we provide updated capability briefs and continue
to touch base with them.
HUD, in fact, we were just approached by a component
that operates under HUD to go give a capabilities brief
and one of their interests was,
an IT or technology market research they were doing
and we were able to talk to them
about this opportunity might apply under the STARS contract.
>> Perfect, thank you.
Barbara if I was counting over here, I know I got at least four
or five but you know, army, DOT, HUD, and it's amazing to me
and to everybody else that you know, you could only focus
on particularly five different federal agencies
at a high level, but there are so, so many sub components
and bureaus within it that you could really keep yourself busy
for quite a long time so, I took a note here Barbara
that you said you never miss an opertunity to tell our story
and I think that's a good quote and something
for our industry partners to really, really,
think about as you're looking through eBuy and sources sought
and the RFIs, you're looking
at expiring 8(a) STARS II task orders,
if you think there's an opportunity to tell your story,
well tell your story you know what I mean?
Tell your story and when you're done telling your story,
tell about the great acquisition vehicle that you have
on the back side called STARS II,
that could help streamline a contracting officers job so,
thank you Barbara, I appreciate that.
Remember, never miss an opportunity
to tell the story, perfect.
>> Absolutely.
>> We'll move on to question number five,
did you have existing customers
that were not 8(a) STARS II customers that you were able
to convert to 8(a) STARS II and if so,
can you tell us how you did it, or share an example?
>> Well I'll give you an example of one
that we're working on right now.
We're trying to convert them, right?
It's a contract that we've had for a number of years.
The contract has changed over time in that
at one point we were operating a physical library that's now an
electronic library.
We were operating now website, we're doing social media.
There were various evolutions of this over the five years,
and it made, makes the work much more STARS II like,
over that period of time.
It was originally an 8(a) under a very small NAICS code,
the work has changed significantly so we have been
in conversation with the client and the client with STARS,
trying to validate that the work really is applicable
under STARS II and might be a great opportunity for them
to do the recompete under STARS, so that's work in progresses
but something, a conversation we've been having
over the last six months and we're hopeful.
>> Perfect.
Alright, we'll move on.
So Barbara, this is the last question believe it or not.
It's question number six and it would be, I'd like to close it
by asking, what advice would you give another industry partner,
particularly those industry partners who, like yourself,
were awarded the 8(a) STARS II GWAC as an open season awardee.
What advice or what tips or what encouragement would you give
fellow industry partners?
>> I think I would go back and I would say,
talk it up with your current and new customers.
You know, include it as a strength the STARS contract
as a strength in all your briefs.
I'll go back to respond to STARS II task orders and RFIs.
And expand your capabilities by finding solid teammates.
So if you're looking at something, a task order,
and you say I've got 40% of it but I can't do the other fifty,
or I've got 65% knocked out of the park but boy,
the remaining I can't do.
Find great partners who you can team
with to bring that strength.
I think one of our greatest successes
as a small business has been partnering with small,
medium, and large companies.
That's been our success.
I believe that it's not about competition,
it's about getting together and working hard
to deliver great service to the clients
and our partners have been key to our success.
>> Nice, nice.
And just as a reminder to everyone out there,
building a solid team, 8(a) STARS II allows
for great flexibility and what I mean by saying that,
is that we don't need
to see approved contractor teaming arrangements.
We don't vet who your subcontractor's are going to be.
That's totally up to all of our industry partners
so whether you want to work with a large business, or a medium,
or another small business, or for that matter another business
on the 8(a) STARS II GWAC, it's totally your call.
So be creative in looking at partners and seeing hey,
who can I work with help me create synergy and help build
up the core competencies so, thank you for that Barbara.
With that--
>> In fact we just submitted a proposal on a task order
under STARS where we did team with another company
to enhance our capability
and we're keeping our fingers crossed that we'll do good
on that task order as well.
>> Nice, wishing you all the best.
>> Thank you.
>> Well Barbara, we want to say thank you for helping us
with launch this webinar series.
I know this is only the third one but we've got some really,
really, positive results from the first two of them
so I have no doubt we're going
to get some really good feedback on this one as well.
To everyone listening to this webinar,
we hope you found the information of value
and that you will consider incorporating some
of these strategies here today.
If you have any questions about the 8(a) STARS II Listen
and Learn Webinar Series, or if you would like to participate
as Barbara has, please email me at Herman.Lyons@gsa.gov,
which is h-e-r-m-a-n dot l-y-o-n-s at gsa.gov.
This concludes today's listen and learn webinar.
Thank you.
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