On the heels of a Federal judge early March ruling in favor of a handful of contractors who protested not being awarded a piece of the General Service Adminstration’s Alliant contract, the GSA let it be known things wouldn’t be resolved anytime soon.

Rather than open a can of worms by folding the eight protesting contractors into Alliant without addressing other losing bidders, the GSA opted to take a step back and re-evaluate all 62 bids for the 10-year, $50 billion governmentwide acquisition contract. After satisfying the Judge’s ruling in how it evaluates the bidders, GSA will, at some point later this year, award the contract a second time to an undetermined subset of the 62 bidders.

For those who lost out the first time around, a second chance to land the fish that got away. For the initial Alliant winners - uncertainty. After months of work submitting the bid and then building a strategy to execute once announced as a winner, these contractors have to put these plans on hold and enter wait-and-see mode.

While the wait will be excruciating, the GSA knows that rushing the process will not result in an outcome that satisfies any interested party, be they winners, losers, or, most importantly, the judge.

Herndon-based satellite network provider iDirect partnered with Intelsat and international relief organization World Vision to launch a global satellite platform that will bring high speed Internet access to remote areas around the world.

The new network, called SandukaNet, meaning “deep change” in Zambia’s Tonga language, will allow instant voice and Internet connectivity through a network of satellites.

High-speed broadband Internet access is certainly a luxury in many parts of the world, but in remote areas, there’s simply zero ability to connect online at any speed. “Remote areas of the world typically have no connectivity, or poor connectivity at best. By installing an iDirect carrier class solution, you’ve now brought them up to a standard we enjoy and take for granted in the U.S,” said Glenn Canales, Director of Enterprise Sales for iDirect.

While iDirect provides the communications hardware and software for the satellite network, Intelsat supplies the satellite capacity. As a result of this partnership, World Vision is able to provide its locations across the globe with email, voice and Internet - which, in turn, allows the NGO to connect with its supply lines and monitor information flow in remote corners of the world.

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When the NSA or CIA attempts to search its databases for intelligence information they’ll soon be able to say what most civilians do when searching for information: “Google it”

A little known group within Google, the federal sales team, recently signed a deal with the federal governments’ intelligence agencies to provide servers for a secure searchable database much like the popular civilian Internet search engine.

“We are a very small group, and even a lot of people in the federal government don’t know that we exist,” said Mike Bradshaw, head of Google’s federal sales team, in a recent interview with the San Francisco Chronicle.

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Comedian Rodney Dangerfield is perhaps best known for his line “I don’t get no respect.” One wonders if, in a previous life, Dangerfield was a chief operating officer. While the president and chief executive officer are accountable for establishing an organization’s goals – and meeting them – over time it is the COO who is charged with delivering results on a day-to-day basis. Operating down in the trenches, the COO is often overlooked and under-appreciated, but make no mistake: A company with a strong No. 2 holds a tremendous edge over its competitors.

To offer COOs a little respect, ExecutiveBiz has assembled its list of 10 Beltway chief operating officers who are especially instrumental in driving business growth and sound operational efficiency for their companies. You can find these 10 executives listed below in order of height from shortest to tallest (just kidding, they are not listed in any particular order).

Lawrence B. Prior III, SAIC

Prior assumed the COO role for SAIC in October of last year, previously serving as president of SAIC’s Intelligence, Security and Technology Group. Prior played a leadership role in the company’s October 2006 IPO, which involved a strategy to keep employees focused on client work during what can often be a challenging internal culture shift. Whether it is working on the IPO, global acquisition activity or establishing strategic alliances, Prior has proven adept at marrying day-to-day execution with the company’s long-term vision.

As COO, Prior serves as the company’s highest-ranking DC-area executive, and will continue to lock in on delivering top- and bottom-line growth for the rest of the year. Prior also remains intensely focused on the details of business fundamentals and execution, and expertly fulfills the day-to-day COO duties by tapping into extensive experience in program execution, and financial controls and functions. In an ExecutiveBiz interview last year, Prior cited “Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done,” by Larry Bossidy as his favorite business book. In Prior’s case, he has clearly been practicing what he reads — with great results.

Stacy Mendler, Alion Science and Technology

Mendler, the company’s first COO, is no stranger to our ExecutiveBiz top 10 lists. The employee-owned technology solutions provider relies on Mendler to manage execution of corporate strategy during what has been a highly active growth period – both organically and through acquisitions of Anteon and LogConGroup.

Mendler views her role as one of chief administrative officer; the person responsible for leading the company’s day-to-day strategy and execution. The formation of the COO position was in fact a testament to Alion’s growth, and with no predecessor or hand off, Mendler has made it her own, while continuing to play a lead role in executing the vision of the company.

Ray Winn, BearingPoint Public Services

In 2007 BearingPoint Public Services was like the New York Giants of the prime contractor community. While the usual suspects were grabbing headlines, BearingPoint quietly and matter-of-factly closed major deals and rose to No. 24 in Washington Technology’s Top 100 Federal Prime Contractors listing, an increase of over 60 percent during a three-year period.

One man responsible for helping the public services unit experience such dramatic growth is Winn. In leading the business and operational organizations for the $1.4 billion public services practice, he has consistently helped to register sizable increases in operating margins and profitability. We should also point out that if President Bush misses a Cabinet meeting and needs an update, Winn might be just the man to provide it: BearingPoint Public Services oversees and supports client delivery services at all 15 Cabinet-level agencies.

Terry Glasgow, NCI Information Systems, Inc.

It didn’t take long – roughly three months – for the leadership at NCI to realize Glasgow was uniquely suited to improve efficiencies and drive new business across the company’s organizations. After joining the NCI as Executive Vice President of Federal Programs in February 2004, Glasgow rose to Deputy COO and then in May of that same year to COO, reporting to Michael Solley, President of NCI.

Since that time, Glasgow has managed the day-to-day operations of the company, which was named to the Washington Technology Top 100 Federal Prime Contractors list in 2007. In January of last year, Glasgow added the role of president to his duties after Solley stepped down. In naming Glasgow president, NCI chairman and chief executive offer Charles Narang cited his operational leadership and role in driving a robust new business pipeline, one that the company expects to grow this year.

Robert A. Coleman, ManTech
Coleman has held the COO mantle since September 2004, and since that time has led day-to-day operations while playing a key role in helping ManTech grow both strategically and through acquisition. His acumen was on display when ManTech acquired prime government contractor McDonald Bradley Inc. for $76.5 billion last year. Coleman was CEO and President of Integrated Data Systems Corporation (IDS) until ManTech acquired it in February 2003.

While ManTech hasn’t quite yet met its goal of becoming a $5 billion company, it won’t take long — based on the rapid growth and activity Coleman has helped to usher in over the past few years. And throughout the acquisitions and growth — ManTech was named one of Business 2.0 magazine’s 100 Fastest Growing Technology Companies for the second consecutive year and to the Deloitte & Touche list of the 50 fastest growing technology companies in Virginia — Coleman has not taken his eye off day-to-day operations.

Gary Hobbs, Unisys Federal Systems

As is the case with top COOs, Hobbs wears multiple hats for the IT services and solutions provider. At Unisys, he is not only responsible for sales, service delivery, account management and driving profitable revenue growth within defense agencies, but also improving the overall operational effectiveness across the Federal systems organization.

Over his 30-year career, Hobbs has developed particular expertise reengineering organizational structures to maximize efficient operations, as well as generating new business opportunities. He is also part owner of ‘Ferrari of Washington.’

George H. Wilson, Stanley

While in the Navy, Wilson served on a number of submarines and his final tour was with the Tomahawk cruise missile program. When it comes to cruise missiles, locking in on a strategic direction to hit the intended target is essential. Wilson has applied that instinct to his executive role with Stanley since joining the employee-owned systems integrator in 1989.

Wilson oversees Stanley’s account managers and executives responsible for customer relationships, revenue growth and client base expansion. In addition, he is responsible for corporate development activities and setting the direction for strategic services, corporate communications, marketing, business intelligence and proposal activities.

Aided by Wilson’s efforts, Stanley executed a successful IPO in October 2006 (though the majority of stock is owned by employees), and the company has grown to 3,500 employees and become a go-to integrator for Federal agencies mission critical needs. This year has been a busy one so far: the company was recently awarded a $570 million contract to continue support of the Passport Program, and in January the company was named – again – to the Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For list.

Dan Johnson, General Dynamics Information Technology

Johnson is another frequent focus of the ExecutiveBiz blog, most recently when it was announced in February that he would take over for the retiring Michael E. Chandler. Johnson is no stranger to the COO role, serving in this capacity at Anteon Corp., until his current employer acquired it.

Johnson officially assumes the reins in April, and will focus on continuing the firm’s reputation for delivering exceptional customer service in the areas of IT, systems engineering and systems integration to the Department of Defense, national intelligence, federal civilian and state/local agencies.

Mark Gray, INDUS

Like Mendler, Gray was hired as INDUS’ first chief operating officer. In that role, he has assumed responsibility for leading both operations and business development, while integrating the company’s business development efforts with ongoing operations. Though his role is a demanding one, he still believes that executing both functions in a hands-on manner is vital.

As the company grows, Gray is focusing on making sure that each business unit receives the resources it needs to succeed, while holding them accountable for results. Gray’s track record at Anteon and technical background serves him well as he seeks to help INDUS become a $300M+ company four years from now – a goal that will require aggressive organic growth as well as M&A activity.

Paul Leslie, Apptis

While Leslie has only held the position of President and COO at the Federal IT services and solutions provider for about four months, it is certain that we will all be hearing a great deal more from both Apptis – and Leslie – as 2008 progresses. With Leslie on board, Apptis will continue its focus on an “…organizational strategy that emphasizes its broad technology services offerings while expanding the company’s value-added reseller business as the Apptis Technology Solutions business.”

To continue to usher along Apptis’ growth in the Federal market – it ranked No. 44 on Washington Technology’s 2007 Top 100 list of the largest government prime contractors – Leslie will tap 13 years of technical and management experience at EDS. While day-to-day operations will be a vital part of his role, Leslie’s background operating in entrepreneurial climates – most recently as part of the private-equity-backed management team that founded Apogen Technologies – will surely keep Apptis innovative and nimble as it grows.

Brian Lustig is co-founder of Lustig Communications, a Rockville, MD-based communications firm that works with growing technology and government IT firms. Lustig is also a contributor to local business and industry publications.

Long before he ever became CTO of Nortel Government Solutions, Alan Harbitter started his own company, PEC Solutions, with two other partners. When it went public in 2000, Harbitter wound up running a publicly traded company for the next five years. Then, in 2005, another milestone occurred: The company reached 1,700 employees and a $250M year run rate. That’s when it merged with Nortel Federal to form Nortel Government Solutions. The rest, as they say, is history. Today, as CTO, Harbitter has gone back to the things he loves most: more direct work in the areas he started out in — computer science and information technology.

Briefly tell us your background and how you got to where you are today.

Alan Harbitter: From an academic perspective, my training is in computer science and I received my PhD from George Mason. I’ve been interested in the university presence in this community for a while, so I’ve taught on and off at Mason. From a career perspective, I started out at Computer Sciences Corporation where I met my [former] partners, Dave Karlgaard and Paul Rice. Dave, Paul, and I started a company, PEC Solutions, in 1985. We went public in 2000. So I wound up running a publicly traded company for five years with Dave and Paul. In 2005 we reached 1,700 employees and a $250M year run rate. At that point, we merged with Nortel Federal to form Nortel Government Solutions. Back in the PEC days my time was monopolized with the responsibilities of running a publicly traded company. And I really missed more direct work in areas I started out in — computer science and information technology. So, with the Nortel acquisition in 2005, I got to return to what I loved the most. All of my duties now are CTO duties, and fewer dealings with accountants, lawyers, and stock analysts.

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ExecutiveBiz members have had the pleasure of interacting with a long line of IT thought leaders. One of note is Chris Rasmussen, a great advocate for information sharing and collaboration within the federal space and a master of the use of new tools to get groups working together on hard problems (read more about Chris here). Chris will speak with members again on 24 April 2008 at The New, New Internet.

Federal users are making increasing use of Web2.0 capabilities, and we look forward to hearing Chris’s views on where this is all going. We are already seeing that some of the nation’s hardest problems, like those the intelligence community must address, are being tackled with Web2.0 tools and techniques. One recent development is a YouTube-type capability for the intelligence world called “iVideo.” (see Federal Computer Week’s article on “YouTube for the intell community” for more info). iVideo is based on Adobe technologies, and provides users from around the globe the ability to securely upload video and other media for the use by others. We can expect the use of iVideo will grow dramatically, like the adoption of other advanced Web2.0 tools provided by the Office of the Director of National intelligence (ODNI).

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No where is the changing online landscape more apparent than in the newsrooms of the major daily newspapers across the country. With more competition for attention than ever before, reporters and editors are struggling to create a product that both adds value to the collective conversation and is financially sustainable.

The 2008 Annual Report on the State of Journalism, conducted by the Project for Journalism Excellence highlighted that last year, despite efforts to partner with web 2.0 companies, many news organizations struggled to grow in this online space.

Unlike some other popular Web sites, online news providers are not financially capitalizing on the growing digital audiences. Despite the increase in digital readership, the news sites seem to be stuck in the old delivery model common with traditional print outlets.

AOL Executive Ted Leonsis recently published a 10 Point Plan to Reinvent The Newspaper Business. His first point is for newspapers executives to “get out of the newspaper business,” rather those execs “should turn over the reigns to young execs, women and people with diverse backgrounds, who are web based and new consumer savvy and will NOT be wed and enamored with the print-based delivery system of the past.”

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“If you had 15 minutes alone with President Bush, what is the one critical issue you would bring to his attention?” Now, that might have been a dicey proposition for the POTUS if asked at a different D.C. venue today, but in the context of the ExecutiveBiz CIO Series Event held this morning at the WestWood Country Club in Vienna, Virginia, the question was a very good one.

The hypothetical was posed by the event’s moderator Barry West, Executive Vice President of SE Solutions. West asked the two featured speakers - Casey Coleman, CIO of the General Services Administration, and Venkatapathi (P.V.) Puvvada, VP and CTO of UNISYS - what critical Federal IT issue they would bring to the President’s attention if given 15 minutes of his time. Coleman deftly deferred to P.V., who said he would focus on the supply chain problem that exists in terms of available talent, and how there is a critical need to educate and attract highly-skilled IT workers.

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Six years ago, Joe Kelley, vice president of government and public affairs for Eli Lilly and Company, lost his wife Shelley to leukemia. Rather than let the disease have the last word, Kelley decided to carry on his wife’s fighting spirit. Since then, he’s worked tirelessly with The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society to raise funds to advance the mission of the organization. So, it was only natural that he also became involved with the Leukemia Ball, too. This year, Kelley is co-chairing the event — the largest non-political fundraiser in the DC area — to be held Saturday, March 29. He spoke with ExecutiveBiz about the ball, and the life-saving results of its efforts.

Tell me a little about The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society(LLS) and the Leukemia Ball.

Joe Kelley: LLS is a nonprofit organization dedicated to finding a cure for leukemia, lymphoma and myeloma. At the same time, we want to improve the lives of patients and their families. The Leukemia Ball is a black-tie gala presented by the National Capital Area Chapter to raise money and awareness for its mission.

The Leukemia Ball offers unique business networking opportunities, at the event and during the planning months. I am one of 20 business leaders who serve on the Leukemia Ball’s Co-chair Leadership Committee and one of more than 60 who serve on its executive committee.

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A year and a half ago, Project Performance Corporation left behind the comfortable confines of the small business world. The rest, as they say, is history. Today, PPC is growing faster than ever. A big part of that success comes down to Mike Nigro, and a leadership style that is all about creating and nurturing PPC’s culture and vision. In the following Q&A, Nigro talks about his leadership style, and what’s next for PPC since joining the big leagues.

What do you think the biggest potential revenue is for PPC in ‘08?

Mike Nigro: Overall, we are projecting that we’ll continue the trend we’ve experienced over the last few years and enjoy another 15-20 percent growth figure in ‘08. All of our divisions and practices are projecting this kind of growth success. The specific services that we offer which seem to be growing the fastest and are projecting the biggest potential growth in 2008 are business technology services like data warehousing, business intelligence, business process management, enterprise information management, and IT optimization. Additionally, another area that will grow significantly for us in 2008 is our security and privacy division. There’s a tremendous amount of work to be done in this area: helping government comply with information and systems security rules; doing the engineering to ensure safety of systems, information, and people; building secure networks; protecting personally identifiable. But again, all of our solution areas — from IT investment management to energy and the environment — are expected to make it another good year for PPC from a growth perspective.

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