Gov Contracting Comeback?
Octo Consulting Group recently announced a slew of contract wins. Is it possible the government procurement engine is back to normal business? (We try to avoid false alarms... unless it leads to a contractor being hired to fix it.)
In the last month, the McLean, Va., company has won two USAID contracts worth $29M to work on various IT needs, including intranet and Internet modernization, IPv6, enterprise disaster recovery, and wireless. The firm also won a spot on the $400M FBI ITSC contract to support IT software deployments, infrastructure and enterprise support, and mission-critical technologies. CEO Mehul Sanghani and EVP Brian Swenson say the company, which provides IT solutions and management consulting, has grown rapidly since its 2006 launch by working on mission-centric IT systems—like developing a case management and health analytics system for OSHA's 3,500 workplace safety inspectors.
Mehul also credits the company’s success to a fun culture. It takes an annual retreat to a destination voted on by employees (most recently Vegas). That’s either Britney Spears or Mehul in the distance giving a state of Octo speech. One of the company’s most notable federal wins was a 10-year FBI contract to modernize its evidentiary lab case and information management system. Brian says Quantico, Va.-based e-Labs collects, studies, and analyzes evidence collected by agents like the 900 bags worth of evidence from the Boston Marathon bombing. Octo’s new system will automate that process.
The company also recently launched Octo Labs, which incubates reusable IP to build less-costly customized products for its federal customers. Mehul, who grew up in Blacksburg, Va., and naturally went to Virginia Tech, says it’s a Silicon Valley-esque feature that’s allowed it to attract talented engineers. Mehul also says Octo is transitioning from a small business with 130 employees to hiring more people in biz dev, recruiting, and accounting to help build a bigger infrastructure. It’s also targeting more business in national security and healthcare and is considering opening an office in Atlanta near its customer, CDC.
