The House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs held a hearing today to assess VA’s steps towards financial stability after the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations determined that the department had inadequate control over its financial management systems in 2008.

Since their findings in 2008, the U.S. Government Accountability Office reported that VA’s improper payments, waste, and mismanagement continues to occur in its financial systems despite recommendations to control deficiencies.

“Effective remediation will require well-designed plans and diligent and focused oversight by senior VA officials,” said Director of Financial Management and Assurance for GAO Susan Ragland. “Further, the extent to which such serious weaknesses continue raises questions concerning whether VA management has established an appropriate ‘tone at the top’ necessary to ensure that these matters receive the full, sustained attention needed to bring about their full and effective resolution.”

However, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Finance for VA Edward Murray refuted the claim citing multiple changes in VA’s financial policies. He explained that the department has made changes in its policy enforcement, documentation system and risk mitigation and oversight.

“New reports and data are available to help managers conduct the proper oversight, and the Secretary’s mandate requires them to exercise this oversight quarterly and certify the results for every facility,” he said. “VA will continue to pursue technological solutions as well, but I am pleased to report that VA has made significant improvements, as recent data show.”

Earlier in the month, VA canceled its $500 million Financial and Logistics Integrated Technology Enterprise (FLITE) program, a project that was created to revamp the department’s financial and management systems after it failed to direct financial system modernizations in a manner that reduced project costs, aligned projects more closely to top priority business needs, accelerated deployments, and improved the performance of the systems once deployed.

The hearing was also held after weaknesses were found VA’s handling ‘miscellaneous obligations,’ which are used by VA to obligate funds in circumstances where the amount to be spent is uncertain.

Tom Anderson

Tom Anderson leads Wyle’s Information Systems Group.  He spoke with ExecutiveBiz about cyber, OCI and his firm’s place in the business.

ExecutiveBiz:  Why did you join Wyle at this time?

Tom Anderson:  When I joined Wyle in March of this year, I found myself having enjoyed experiences in both large and small companies, and I felt it was the perfect time to put my industry knowledge to work in a mid-Tier company.  Wyle offered exactly that opportunity.   In my early discussions with the Wyle leadership, I was excited about the diversity that Wyle offered.  When I began to look more closely at the business possibilities, especially given the current market trends and business climate, I realized that the opportunity to grow and evolve the Information Systems business within Wyle was a really a good opportunity.  With three operating groups, I also saw an immediate opportunity to leverage capabilities across the groups.  Our company has strong leadership, led by CEO George Melton, who is well known and respected in the federal technology, science, and engineering markets.    I viewed it as a great opportunity to be able to work with him.  Thus far, it has proven to be exactly the great opportunity I thought it was going to be.

ExecutiveBiz:  How large is the business unit that you are responsible for?

Tom Anderson:  Wyle’s annual revenues are approximately $850M – the Information Systems Group currently is approximately one-fourth of that with 1,100 employees coast to coast.  Our company has been in business since 1949.  Like other companies in our business, Wyle has grown through acquisition.  The Information Systems Group, for example, has evolved from the acquisition of a graduated small business.  Most people don’t realize that Wyle is one of the 50 largest federal information technology (IT) prime contractors in our market.

Within the Wyle Information Systems Group, we provide mission-critical services to our customers in the federal civilian, defense, and intelligence communities.  Several of our key defense customers include the Air Force, DARPA, and the Office of Naval Research.   Several of our civilian customers include the Departments of Commerce, Transportation, and Treasury, as well as NASA.  Our group is dedicated to providing the highest quality service to our customers, demonstrated by organization-wide ISO certifications.  I am thrilled with the talent of our employees and their commitment to service excellence.

ExecutiveBiz:  Can you talk about your role and some of the decisions that you have made in the last ninety days?

Tom Anderson:  It has been an exciting time to say the very least.  I have full responsibility for the daily operations of the business plus the execution of evolving the business into the future; much of that starts with taking stock of what existed when I arrived.  I had an immediate opportunity to bring some new leadership into the company.  When I arrived here, there were a number of key leadership positions that needed to be filled so I was given the opportunity, inside those first ninety days, to fill four or five key leadership positions.  I’ve been very fortunate to have filled those positions with people who I consider to be some of the best in the business.   A good example is Mark Abel, who joined us to lead our business development organization.  He came to us most recently from ManTech International.  Rocky Thurston joined us to lead our efforts associated with the civilian agency business, previously from Lockheed Martin.  And Paul Thomas joined us from L-3 Communications and leads our efforts in the defense and intelligence business.  Those are three examples of some great leaders that we have brought onboard to compliment the leadership that was already in place.

Upon joining and hiring the new leaders, I restructured the business to position it to best serve our customers and allow for a transition to growth.  I observed that there was an opportunity to evolve a solutions consulting function in this organization.  I asked Rick White, a current Vice President, previously with the Gartner Group, to lead this new Solutions Division.  This division is a critical element of our business, as it is home to the innovation and growth areas of the business.  Soon after joining the company, we took a close look at the range of core capabilities available within the business, and worked closely with Rick’s team to align the existing capabilities into a new framework.  Our business capabilities are now branded as Enterprise Solutions, Business Solutions and Cyber Security Solutions.

We have also made some important changes in the business development arena.  I previously mentioned the recent hire of Mark Abel, the new vice president of Business Development.  He has quickly worked to align his organization to the business and has hired several key individuals.  As an example, Ron Treattau has joined the company to run the capture and proposal management organization.  Mark established a new GWAC organization and hired two industry veterans to lead this business, including Drew Steever and Mark Henderson.  Wyle has been very successful at winning many GWAC programs and with the addition of Mark and Drew, I am certain that we now have the talent to offer our many capabilities to the market through these vehicles.

One of the things that I did right away was to make sure that everybody understood that customer satisfaction is my number one priority.  I have made it a priority to get out and meet with our clients – I want to personally understand our client’s environments and issues.  That is one of the things that I felt we needed to do right away to ensure that we are successful in the transition to the new leadership team and to the future of our business.  Additionally, I would add that in addition to the organic growth there will be acquired growth and I’m very active in those areas today to find the right kinds of acquisitions that make sense for the evolution of this business.

ExecutiveBiz:  We talked about the fact that cyber is one of your key growth areas.  How do you look at the cyber landscape and how does Wyle play in that space?

Tom Anderson:  The cyber landscape presents a multi-dimensional challenge for the Federal Government, and protecting government information and ensuring the security and resiliency of IT networks is a national security priority. Wyle provides a robust set of capabilities in information assurance and computer network defense to both DoD and Civilian government customers.  DISA recently evaluated our cyber capabilities and reported that Wyle provides “outstanding computer network defense.” Today, Wyle fields over 300 Cybersecurity professionals across more than 20 Federal and DoD contracts, and more than half of our staff possess security clearances.  Many of our staff hold key cyber security certifications, and we provide industry leading security training to Federal employees at our Information Assurance Training Academy. Looking to the future, our Federal customers are not only challenged with maintaining a proactive posture toward internal and external threats, they are also playing a significant role in the adoption of emerging technologies and architectures like open government and cloud computing. Wyle’s Solutions Division is chartered to address the government’s toughest challenges with innovative solutions. Our team is working on solutions to improve cyber situational awareness, deploy innovative forensic analysis techniques, and enable organizations to achieve security while achieving compliance with cybersecurity standards and guidelines.

ExecutiveBiz:  Another hot issue out there is OCI so when you look at the acquisition landscape are there opportunities of other companies having challenges that you think would be an acquisition target?

Tom Anderson:  While I generally don’t comment on specific areas of acquisition, the issue of OCI is one that Wyle takes seriously.  That said, we certainly wouldn’t want to acquire a property that had an inherent OCI issue, so we look very carefully at this.  Our growth strategy includes a desire for acquired and organic growth, so its something to be carefully managed.

ExecutiveBiz:  What would you say your biggest challenge in business is today?

Tom Anderson:  Well, I think there are a number of them.  One of the first is getting brand recognition for Wyle.  While our company is well known in aerospace and life sciences, we need to expand the brand in the federal IT market.  Another challenge is getting out there and getting to know all of our clients and making sure that we understand their needs.  And as you might imagine, any time there is a leadership transition, there are lots of things to do to ensure that all of the employees and customers understand the change and what it means to them.    Moving forward from there, I think there are issues that are affecting the entire industry including procurement delays, protests, OCI issues and so forth.

ExecutiveBiz:  Why is the brand recognition important to you?

Tom Anderson:  Brand recognition is everything, provided that you deliver a quality of service to your clients that they will remember in a positive way.  I want the federal IT community to know Wyle as a trusted supplier of solutions and services as we already are in the aerospace and science/engineering communities.  We are well on our way to making that happen.

ExecutiveBiz:  What is the best business advice that you have ever received or something that you have learned over time that serves you well as you approach this opportunity?

Tom Anderson:  I believe in the concept of a trusted partner in business.  I believe in building relationships and always delivering to your client’s expectations and then some.  I also believe in keeping things simple and following your instincts – they are usually right.

ExecutiveBiz:  What is something that people would be surprised to learn about you?

Tom Anderson:  I have many interests and hobbies.   I think there are several that come toward the top of the list.   I love gardening and enjoy it when I have the time to be outside.  It is a great way to relax.  I also love wood working; I took four years of wood working shop at the high school level.  Another interest is the guitar.  I first started playing the guitar when I was in my early teens.  I’ve transitioned from the electrics to acoustic and enjoy playing when I can find time.   I also have two lovely children that are in their early to mid teenage years and they are my number one priority.  I love spending as much time with them as I can.

ExecutiveBiz:  Can you talk about your company’s move.  Your company is moving from one location to another if you could talk about that and what that means.

Tom Anderson:  The current headquarters location for the Information Systems group is localted in McLean, Virginia. Our lease expires soon and we’re going to relocate to the Tyson’s area in the January or February of 2011.     We started the process of looking for the new space not too long ago.  Our headquarters office is home to some of the senior management and many of the business support functions.   We plan to include a new solutions center at the new location.  It will showcase our innovative solutions, including classroom/training space for our  information assurance academy and other programs.  I think it will be very nice for our employees and very nice for our clients.  There are lots of changes taking place here and it’s all good.

ExecutiveBiz: Is there anything you would like to add?

Tom Anderson:  I’m really impressed with the range of capabilities the company has to offer.  The organization has performed work as a solutions integrator for many clients.  I look forward to building on this baseline and I think we have just the right team to make this happen.  I think that  you will see an increased level of participation of Wyle leadership in industry programs and associated sponsorships.  With respect to the federal IT community, we are becoming very actively engaged in organizations and sponsorship.  Part of the branding initiative is to get our name out in that way.  One of the interests that I personally have is to be able to address the local community by giving back through support of various service activities and events.  You will see more of that in the future.

Just as the Pentagon feared that the money to fund troops was about to run out, the House Appropriations Committee passed a bill yesterday that allocated almost $59 billion towards funding for war efforts in Afghanistan and other programs.

The House voted 308-114 on the legislation, which dedicates nearly $37 billion to the additional 30,000 troops in Afghanistan and continued military operations in Iraq, as well as State Department operations in both Iraq and Afghanistan.

The rest of the almost $23 billion will be used to fund other programs. It includes money for the the Federal Emergency Management Agency disaster relief fund, State Department aid programs in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq and Haiti and benefits for Vietnam veterans exposed to Agent Orange.

“Supporting the requested levels of force structure in each of the Military Services contributes to moving toward a better balance between periods of deployments and time at home,” said Chairman of Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense Norm Dicks during his opening remarks yesterday, “a balance that is essential to maintaining good morale and the well-being of individuals.”

The bill comes amidst concerns over the recent release of confidential Afghanistan war documents on the site, Wikileaks.com. Although the brief controversy raised some concern, President Barack Obama commented that the documents do not hinder efforts in Afghanistan.

“While I’m concerned about the disclosure of sensitive information from the battlefield that could potentially jeopardize individuals or operations, the fact is that these documents don’t reveal any issues that haven’t already informed our public debate on Afghanistan,” he said yesterday from the White House Rose Garden. “Indeed, they point to the same challenges that led me to conduct an extensive review last fall.”

Mike Bradshaw, director of Google’s federal services, is excited about the Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA) certification for the company’s “Google Apps for Government” cloud computing services, which happened earlier this week.

After meeting primary federal IT security measures, Google was certified for passing the security controls under FISMA and, now, a full suite of office applications will now be available to federal, state and local municipal agencies.

“We’re excited about this announcement and the benefits that cloud computing can bring to this market,” Bradshaw said. “The president’s budget has identified the adoption of cloud computing in the federal government as a way to more efficiently use the billions of dollars spent on IT annually.”

FISMA certification was not a simple process, however. Google submitted a certification and accreditation package to the General Services Administration (GSA) back in September 2009. After passing an extensive security review, which requires over 200 security controls that were fully documented for Google Apps, tested and validated by an independent auditor and thoroughly reviewed by the General Services Administration, Google Apps government cloud computing services received the GSA green light, which is the first of its kind in the federal adoption of the cloud.

“I think this is indicative also of our commitment to the federal marketplace,” Bradshaw said.

Now, there are over a dozen federal agencies evaluating Google Apps for Government. The FISMA certification has made Google Apps, like Gmail, the Docs productivity suite and the Talk instant-messaging application, more attractive to federal customers.

Google has announced that it has received the first Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA) certification for its Google Apps government cloud computing services, making it the largest contender in the federal adoption of the cloud.

During an interview with Federal News Radio, Google Business Development Executive David Mihalchik explained that Google is now certified as meeting the security controls under FISMA and that a full suite of office applications will now be available to federal, state and local municipal agencies under ‘Google Apps for Government’.

“This is a top to bottom security review of all the controls in place for Google Apps,” Mihalchik said. “FISMA requires over 200 security controls that were fully documented for Google Apps, tested and validated by an independent auditor and thoroughly reviewed by the General Services Administration. We are very, very excited that this represents a green light for federal government agencies to move forward with cloud computing with confidence, specifically with Google Apps.”

Back in September 2009, Google announced that it had submitted a certification and accreditation package to the General Services Administration (GSA). The certification means that the clients will be “able to deploy Google Apps knowing that it is authorized to operate under FISMA,” he explained.

Now, there are at least a dozen federal agencies evaluating Google Apps for Government after they received the green light from GSA.

“We believe that now, in federal, we will see the same kind of adoption that we have seen in the state and local,” he said.

The benefits of cloud computing, explained Mihalchik, include cost-saving, the ability to upgrade applications with improving technology and allowing agencies to focus on their mission as opposed to their IT infrastructure.

“What it means for federal customers is that they have a way of evaluating the security of Google Apps,” Mihalchik said in an interview with ExecutiveBiz. “[The customers will be] able to understand that Google Apps has equal or better security than their existing systems.”

Your product is your people. Holding on to them isn’t easy. Not when it comes to current challenges faced by government contracting. The list of challenges is long, topped by the prevailing question over insourcing. While no one knows for sure where the issue will land, contractors are already seeing more seasoned — and difficult to replace — employees move over to the government side. Meanwhile, both industry and government alike continue to vie for the same pool of talent. And it’s shrinking.

Where will the talent competition leave your ability to cultivate — and hold on to — your own employee base?

For answers, ExecutiveBiz brings you the latest best practices from eight top HR leaders within government contracting. What are they doing that’s yielding results? What’s new? What’s out? Their answers come on two fronts: recruitment and retention.

Recruiting and retention: What’s ahead

When it comes to recruitment, Jerry Calhoun (right) is thinking ahead. Over a year ago, this senior vice president of human resources for Vangent saw the writing on the wall: traditional recruiting approaches were no longer enough.

“Search firms are expensive … job boards are expensive …” says Calhoun. Besides, they weren’t necessarily generating the best results. What has worked, with increasing frequency, is social media.

Today, Jerry Calhoun of Vangent says: “LinkedIn is rapidly becoming a primary tool for us.”

Calhoun predicts that social media tools could even replace job boards such as Monster and CareerBuilder as a primary platform for HR professionals.

At CSC North American Public Sector, the past few years have seen recruiting breakthroughs as well. Particularly among college-age recruits, says John Heim (left), Defense Group Vice President of Human Resources for the company. For a time, CSC’s recruiting program amounted to a mere 25 to 50 college hires a year. Today tells a different story. Over the last two years, the company has brought in roughly 575 new college recruits. In addition, the HR team has overseen 260 summer internships among sophomore and junior-level students.

CSC’s college recruiting approach has allowed the company to look beyond mid-level candidates, that highly sought-after talent.

For CSC, recruitment happens at the local level, near customer sites. Concurrently, the company works with local schools to cultivate talent.

“Had we not had the foresight to engage in this strategy, we would have been stuck with our traditional ways of thinking … looking at a mid-level resource that we might have had to relocate from somewhere else,” says Heim.

At Agilex Technologies, it’s the company’s entrepreneurial vision that’s driving strong recruiting. So much so that the company was recently named the “hottest government contractor” in the Washington, DC area.

That achievement is all the more noteworthy given the company’s story; it’s only been around three years.

In June, Agilex Technologies was ranked among the top health IT companies by revenue — three years after its start.

Recruiting is one thing. Keeping the best is even harder. It’s an area that Mary Good, senior vice president of human resources for SRA, has covered. A key tool in her strategy: smart social media engagement.

Social media is playing a big role in breaking down “silos and barriers” that can exist across a global organization, says Good. “We’re in the process of formalizing, and creating, online communities that engage employees at customer sites both here and abroad.

Social media platforms, based on interests beyond work, has been one key to employee engagement — and retention — at SRA.

Also important is career development. “Providing the tools for people to take control of their career, that’s what works in attracting people — that’s certainly what works in retaining them,” says Rich Lakis, senior vice president of human resources for L-3 Services Group.

“Employees stay engaged when they understand we’re trying to provide them the tools they need to grow … and to give them a leg up in the event that something changes,” says Lakis.

L-3 Services Group helps employees through uncertain times in ways beyond severance models or outplacement firms.

When it comes to retention, nothing beats meaningful work, says Candice Mendenhall, senior vice president of human resources for ICF International.

From renewable energy studies to strategy insights into social programs, the Faifax, Va.-based consulting firm prides itself on doing the kind of work that improves lives in direct, tangible ways.

That mission helps explain the company’s relatively low turnover rate, across all job levels.

ICF’s turnover rate is lower than many of its competitors. One reason: meaningful work.

Jim Lawler, chief human resource officer of TASC, Inc., knows just how important retention is. As the company’s former association with Northrop Grumman fades into memory now that decoupling is complete, Lawler is focusing on building up core business functions. And cultivating talent.

Of particular focus is senior-level employees.

“We don’t make products. We don’t sell systems. We provide talent — our product is our people,” says Lawler.

“People care, particularly as they look at the last few years of their career, whether they’re in an exciting place, a place that practices good ethics and integrity,” says Lawler.

At TASC, Jim Lawler is focused on areas such as senior-level employee retention.

For Alion’s Kathy Madaleno, retention starts on day one. “You have to communicate the coporate culture, that we’re committed to our people,” says Madaleno, senior vice president and director of human resources at Alion Science and Technology.

Keeping employees vested also comes through on-demand e-learning solutions at Alion.

Alion now offers courses online, in diverse fields, from engineering and management, to government contracting and finance.

FULL STORIES HERE:

Social media for recruitment: Vangent’s Jerry Calhoun finds success beyond traditional HR approaches

No excuses: John Heim on CSC’s bold vision for college recruiting

Charlie Virtue of Agilex: HR secrets to become “hottest government contractor”

Show good faith, and your employees will, too: Rich Lakis on L-3 Services Group HR approach

Candice Mendenhall of ICF: Employee retention through meaningful work

Jim Lawler of TASC: Faster, nimbler, more entrepreneurial culture ahead

SRA’s Mary Good: Three steps to solid employee engagement

Early and often: For Alion’s Kathy Madaleno, successful recruitment and development starts here

A company’s greatest asset is its people. That’s something that Jerry Calhoun keeps front and center in his role as Senior Vice President of Human Resources for Vangent.

Ever since Calhoun joined the Arlington, Va.-based provider of information management and strategic business outsourcing services in March 2006, he’s focused on ensuring that everyone, from the top on down, views themselves as a strategic game changer within the company.

That’s no easy task for any company to pull off. All of which makes Calhoun’s work, and that of his team, especially noteworthy.

Over the past few years, Vangent has maintained consistent growth, year over year. First quarter results for fiscal year 2010 saw revenue increase 46 percent — and operating income, 55 percent — over the previous year’s same period. A solid HR strategy underpins those gains. So does a unified communications strategy.

“We communicate out so that all our people understand the impact they have in their day-to-day job on the success of any given initiative,” says Calhoun.

That approach will come into play, once again, this coming fall. That’s when Vangent unrolls the next stage to its strategic plan, which is delivered in three year increments.

Calhoun has been busy setting the stage for the meetings to come. Senior management aren’t the only ones who’ll  pull a seat up at the table, he says. Last year’s meeting brought 55 stakeholders to the process; this year brings the total to roughly 75, including Vangent’s Senior Leadership Team, Vice Presidents and Directors representing every aspect of the business from Operations,  Business Development, HR, Finance, Communications and IT. They, in turn, will reinforce key objectives through one-on-one meetings with direct reports.

Social media for recruitment

Calhoun’s team is busy on the hiring front as well, in areas such as healthcare, which accounts for more than 50 percent of the company’s business. So far, recruiting has been strong this year: Among the hires are three doctors with strong IT backgrounds. Roughly 70 additional positions are now being filled, primarily in health informatics, clinical measurements, and informatic principles.

That story points to an overall shift that other HR leaders can take a cue from: the increasing role of social media in recruitment.

Calhoun began tapping into that approach over a year ago.

“As we were looking at the marketplaces we were moving into, like healthcare IT, we’d been doing a lot of traditional kind of recruiting — I felt we needed a new model,” says Calhoun.

For Calhoun, the path forward began with adding a key position to his team: Director of Talent Acquisition — the operative words being “talent acquisition.” (By contrast, the term, “recruiting,” says Calhoun, often implies “transactional activity.”)

Social media has helped connect with a richer pool of talent.

“LinkedIn is rapidly becoming a primary tool for us,” says Jerry Calhoun, who predicts that such social media tools could replace job boards such as Monster and CareerBuilder as a primary platform for HR professionals.

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“Search firms are expensive … job boards are expensive … we are not yet at the stage where we can simply replace them with LinkedIn but that networking is large,” says Calhoun.

But, he adds, nothing replaces solid reputation. “The first thing is to perform exceptionally well in the work that you do, because if you’re not doing that, top candidates are not going to be attracted to your organization no matter what your recruitment strategy,” says Calhoun.

Performance management breakthroughs

Calhoun’s foresight extends to other areas as well.

“What we’ve done so far won’t get us to where we want to go,” says Calhoun. “We have to make sure we have the HR practices in place to help people do the right things, the right way, all the time — it’s always looking for that.”

That approach was evident this past year when Calhoun created an additional role within his team: that of, Director of HR Performance Management.

The role goes deeper than the typical HR focus on attrition rates or “time to fill,” says Calhoun.

“Attrition rates might tell you how fast you’re losing people but not necessarily why that’s happening,” says Calhoun. Which is why, he adds, the newly-created role is tasked with not just measuring what’s happened but where the company is headed.

Gauging direction, says Calhoun, come through asking several key questions: “Are we focusing investments on positions that impact the company’s strategic success? Do we have ‘A’-level people in the most effective positions to move the company forward? Do we have a pipeline to move people into those kinds of career paths?”

Future HR investments

Looking ahead, Calhoun’s got his eye on talent management and succession planning.

“Both are where we need to devote additional time, energy, and resources,” he says. “We’ve always had talent reviews, we’ve always had some succession planning, but tying both directly back to strategic positions — that’s my focus going forward.”

So, too, will be a continuing focus on new workforce generations.

“You have a workforce that’s not necessarily looking to do 50-plus hours per week … they have other important priorities in their life,” says Calhoun, “and we have to be able to respond to that as well.”

What will drive effective results, he adds, is the company’s ongoing emphasis on meaningful work.

“I think that’s key, having a workforce that does meaningful work and understands the role that they play in the company’s overall success,” says Calhoun.

“That,” he adds, “creates a satisfied workforce in today’s marketplace … and that’s where we plan to be going forward.”