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Community DC Jim Carroll Professional Services Council · Community D.C.

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Good morning, and welcome to another edition of Community d C.
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: I'm your host Dennis Glasgow. This morning, we welcome to
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: the program for the first time Jim Carroll. He is
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: the CEO for the Professional Services Council, also referred to
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: as PSC, which is the leading national trade association representing
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: the federal technology and professional services industry. It serves as
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: a primary advocate for government contractors, working to shape federal
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: acquisition policies and build consensus between the government and industry.
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: We cover a lot of ground over the next thirty minutes,
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: so I hope you enjoyed the conversation with Jim as
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: much as I did.
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: Good morning, Jim.
• 0:36
  Speaker 3: Good morning Dennis. Thank you for having me on.
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: Well, it's my pleasure first time on Community DC. There
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: is a lot to talk about when it comes to PSC.
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: My intro did not do it justice. I would like
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: to talk and I know your year almost a year
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: into the gig as CEO, and I know you've got
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: great stories. I want to talk about your partners, which
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: is also the membership and all the incredible things that
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: you offer. The four hundred membership and partners that you
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: have is really truly extraordinary. Since nineteen seventy two. The
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: organization has been around for our listeners. Beside finding out
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: exactly what you do, I would like to talk about
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: the mission and the vision, because I know that's important
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: about what you do and all the different partners you have.
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: Can you talk a little bit about that for us?
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, absolutely, Dennis, are four hundred partners and there are
• 1:20
  Speaker 4: member companies, but they really do. We form a partnership
• 1:23
  Speaker 4: here with our member companies, and for us, it's just
• 1:28
  Speaker 4: what the name implies. Our four hundred member companies, our
• 1:32
  Speaker 4: partners do work for the federal government. They are contractors
• 1:36
  Speaker 4: with the government, providing a broad range of services in
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  Speaker 4: every federal department and agency really throughout DC and across
• 1:47
  Speaker 4: the federal government, regardless of location. And so it's a
• 1:50
  Speaker 4: really great position to be, especially for me being a
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  Speaker 4: lifelong DC resident and in and out of the federal
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  Speaker 4: government for many, many years, to really be able to
• 2:02
  Speaker 4: sort of bridge this gap.
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: Well, let's do this, Jim, and you're starting to talk
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: a little bit about it. But if you were to
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: give all our listeners that are hearing about PSC for
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: the first time and maybe give a thirty thousand foot
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: view about what you do. What would you tell our listeners.
• 2:16
  Speaker 4: Yeah, for over fifty years, we've been the leading voice
• 2:19
  Speaker 4: for companies who do business with the government.
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  Speaker 3: That's the bottom line. We are their.
• 2:24
  Speaker 4: Advocate, we are their champion, and we interface every day
• 2:29
  Speaker 4: with either Capitol Hill or the administration or both advocating
• 2:34
  Speaker 4: for them. So this means better contracting, It means that
• 2:39
  Speaker 4: the invoices get paid on time, which is one of
• 2:41
  Speaker 4: those issues we're facing now, Dennis, that we'll talk about,
• 2:45
  Speaker 4: and that some of the work that is going on
• 2:48
  Speaker 4: is delivered as fast as possible. And then, finally, Dennis,
• 2:53
  Speaker 4: one of the things that we're seeing in every part
• 2:55
  Speaker 4: of our lives is more technology, whether it's AI or
• 3:00
  Speaker 4: something else. It's making sure that these new and novel
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  Speaker 4: solutions are being brought to the attention of the decision
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  Speaker 4: makers as fast as possible.
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: Well, Jim, there's a lot I want to talk about,
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  Speaker 1: you know. I want to chat about policy and regulatory influence,
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: market intelligence, networking and events, which I think is very
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: important for what you do with your partners, and also
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: thought leadership. But I would like to talk about a
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  Speaker 1: word that you mentioned and advocation. Now, I realize that
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: you know you're the voice of the industry along with
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: your team lobbying Congress and the White House and the
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: other agency leaders out there on acquisition, technology and workforce policies.
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: Can you elaborate a little bit about advocating what exactly
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: it looks like and what you do.
• 3:40
  Speaker 3: Yeah. Absolutely.
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  Speaker 4: You know, one of the things that we're doing right
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  Speaker 4: now and that we're seeing, you know, a major work
• 3:47
  Speaker 4: by the Administration with the support of Congress, is re
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  Speaker 4: endoring the federal acquisition regulations so that those are the
• 3:54
  Speaker 4: laws the regulations of how companies do business with the
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  Speaker 4: government and right now are tedious, they are duplicative, they
• 4:02
  Speaker 4: are out of date, they're the farthest thing from AI
• 4:06
  Speaker 4: or newest technology that exists. And so both the Congress
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  Speaker 4: and the Administration is serious about updating those and so
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  Speaker 4: we're working hand and glove to make sure that the
• 4:19
  Speaker 4: rewrite that is coming out of that far better acquisition
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  Speaker 4: regulations really reflect a way for our companies to be efficient, effective,
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  Speaker 4: provide the best solution to the government really at the most,
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  Speaker 4: you know, the best price point that is possible. Our
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  Speaker 4: member companies truly believe in what they do is government
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  Speaker 4: service and whether it's at the Department of War educating
• 4:46
  Speaker 4: and bringing the warfighter up to use the most current technology.
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  Speaker 3: Maybe it's an HHS.
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  Speaker 4: And getting you know, new and model medication and treatments
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  Speaker 4: available in databases that improved lives.
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  Speaker 3: It's across the board.
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  Speaker 4: We're working you know, at our members again, are working
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  Speaker 4: at Fannie and Freddie making sure that loans go through
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  Speaker 4: faster and faster and more effectively. And so you know,
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  Speaker 4: it's the work that we do with across the board.
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  Speaker 4: And that's why we've been so successful for over fifty
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  Speaker 4: years is because we really are a force multiplier for
• 5:23
  Speaker 4: our member companies. And you know, we're we're very fortunate, Dennis.
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  Speaker 4: We're adding members all the time, we're growing. And what
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  Speaker 4: I tell them is really the truth is, you know,
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  Speaker 4: when they join, we want to kickoff meeting just with
• 5:37
  Speaker 4: them to make sure that we are advocating for them,
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  Speaker 4: that we're making sure that we understand their business model
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  Speaker 4: and what they need and so we can go out
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  Speaker 4: and fight for it. You know, we're small, we're two
• 5:49
  Speaker 4: dozen members or two dozen folks here at PSC. We
• 5:53
  Speaker 4: punch well above our weight. Good sports analogy for our
• 5:55
  Speaker 4: sports guy like you, Dennis, because we've been around for
• 5:59
  Speaker 4: so we're a trusted resource and so you know, not
• 6:03
  Speaker 4: only do we reach out to the administration with the Hill,
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  Speaker 4: they're reaching out to us as subject matter experts for
• 6:10
  Speaker 4: government contracting.
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  Speaker 1: That's good to hear, and I imagine it's always as
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: best as you can at two weeks Street. I heard
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: you talk about this in another podcast, and I think
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: this goes with any nonprofit out there, Jim who has
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: to go to Capitol Hill in the White House to
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: advocate for what they do, whether it's grand funding or
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: changing laws out there or helping your partners in your membership.
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: That it can change every four to eight years and
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: be challenging at times and not so challenging. But I imagine
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: this year, because listen, with all the prices up and
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: all heck breaking loose, and just a lot going on
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: in the world today, being on fire like it is,
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: I imagine this past year your tenure of your first
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: year has been a little bit challenging.
• 6:45
  Speaker 2: Can you kind of talk about that a little bit.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, I've been on the job, you know, about ten
• 6:50
  Speaker 4: months going on eleven months.
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  Speaker 3: I did not have much of a honeymoon period, right.
• 6:55
  Speaker 4: We had those hitting us. If you remember it seemed
• 6:58
  Speaker 4: like a long time ago. Yeah, but the Department of
• 7:01
  Speaker 4: Government Efficiency hit our members pretty hard, and I think
• 7:06
  Speaker 4: it was one of the things the concept was actually
• 7:09
  Speaker 4: something was supported by our members. They wanted to be
• 7:12
  Speaker 4: more efficient, they wanted to be able to deliver solutions faster,
• 7:17
  Speaker 4: but there was a bit of an overreach by DOGE
• 7:19
  Speaker 4: to put them mildly. And so, you know, we were
• 7:22
  Speaker 4: working with those folks to understand that it's fine to
• 7:26
  Speaker 4: cut the fat, but they were cutting into meat, if.
• 7:29
  Speaker 3: Not into the bone.
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  Speaker 4: And so we were able to you know, advocate really
• 7:35
  Speaker 4: with those officials to try to understand the important role
• 7:39
  Speaker 4: of government contractors working alongside their federal government employees, you know,
• 7:44
  Speaker 4: their colleagues literally sitting at the dust next to them.
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  Speaker 4: And so you know, that was a big hit right
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  Speaker 4: at the beginning of my tenure.
• 7:54
  Speaker 3: We've seen then the.
• 7:55
  Speaker 4: Government strike, the record breaking government strike last year that
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  Speaker 4: I think every in DC we're members.
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  Speaker 3: That was hit pretty hard.
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  Speaker 4: We went in to see the White House officials multiple
• 8:06
  Speaker 4: times during the strike to advocate for our members and
• 8:11
  Speaker 4: on that Dennis, you know, the political dynamics of why
• 8:15
  Speaker 4: there was a shut shutdown.
• 8:17
  Speaker 3: Was really in some ways bigger than we are, but
• 8:21
  Speaker 3: there was more so we.
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  Speaker 4: Are our meetings, you know, and they were these were
• 8:24
  Speaker 4: in the West, wigh and v for very senior people,
• 8:26
  Speaker 4: I'll say, and telling them that the shutdown will end,
• 8:30
  Speaker 4: and when it ends, this is what we need to do.
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  Speaker 3: One of the things that we asked them to do,
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  Speaker 3: which they did, was.
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  Speaker 4: To communicate to the members of the cabinet that when
• 8:39
  Speaker 4: the shutdown is over, please, you know, quickly restart these contracts,
• 8:44
  Speaker 4: get the invoices paid for work that has been performed.
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  Speaker 4: And Dennis, as you as you know, we're still in
• 8:50
  Speaker 4: the midst of a mini shutdown at DHS that is
• 8:54
  Speaker 4: impacting our members as well, and so you know we're
• 8:57
  Speaker 4: working those issues as well.
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  Speaker 3: But it does seem like it's been a bit of
• 9:00
  Speaker 3: a roller coaster since I started.
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  Speaker 2: I've been hope.
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  Speaker 3: I'm not to blame that.
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  Speaker 1: No, no, not at all, And I get it. You know,
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  Speaker 1: you're kind of walking into the fire and doing the
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: best you can. I don't want to bury the lead
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: on this because I think we've got a lot of
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: people's attention, and you do have the four hundred plus
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: members and partners out there. Jim, if somebody wants to
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: be a partner and a part of the membership with PSC.
• 9:20
  Speaker 2: How do they go about starting that up?
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, and thank you. We're very excited about our membership.
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  Speaker 4: We cover the portfolios and we'll talk about that in
• 9:29
  Speaker 4: a second. You know, the best thing to do is
• 9:31
  Speaker 4: go to ps Council. That's ps co ou and ci
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  Speaker 4: L dot org and there's information there about how to join.
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  Speaker 4: Everything is on this page. My email is on there,
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  Speaker 4: my cell phone number is on there, and we're happy to,
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  Speaker 4: you know, address any questions. We have a great vice
• 9:52
  Speaker 4: president for membership, Matt Busby, who I brought on board,
• 9:56
  Speaker 4: is just wearing a phenomenal job. I'm gonna give you
• 10:00
  Speaker 4: an exclusive that in the past two weeks we've just
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  Speaker 4: we've signed up four members, four new member companies, and
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  Speaker 4: quite frankly, it's it's not because of anything I personally
• 10:12
  Speaker 4: am doing. It's because the colleagues here at PSC. We
• 10:16
  Speaker 4: are out there every day advocating companies are seeing what
• 10:20
  Speaker 4: we're doing and they're signing up because they want to
• 10:23
  Speaker 4: be part of it. We're active, we're bringing some of
• 10:26
  Speaker 4: the government officials to us, and so in the last
• 10:30
  Speaker 4: month we've had one Undersecretary of Defense or Undersecretary of War. Dennis,
• 10:38
  Speaker 4: you've spent some time in DC, We're going to get
• 10:40
  Speaker 4: used to saying the Department of War. Just the time
• 10:43
  Speaker 4: for it to switch back the We've had two undersecretaries
• 10:51
  Speaker 4: that are doing exclusive meetings with our members. We're during
• 10:56
  Speaker 4: you know, events where they are coming to us so
• 10:58
  Speaker 4: they can sit down, you with some of our members.
• 11:01
  Speaker 4: We're rotating our members through to really hear what's going on,
• 11:04
  Speaker 4: to hear what they need. And it provides the opportunity
• 11:08
  Speaker 4: for our member companies, our CEOs business development leads some
• 11:12
  Speaker 4: of the technical people to explain, here's something new, here's
• 11:16
  Speaker 4: a new way to think about this issue, or we
• 11:19
  Speaker 4: have a solution for what we see as a problem.
• 11:22
  Speaker 3: And it's resonating.
• 11:25
  Speaker 4: As I said, the government is inviting us to their
• 11:28
  Speaker 4: events or asking us to organize events, and so you know,
• 11:34
  Speaker 4: we're fortunate. We've got to se several good events coming
• 11:37
  Speaker 4: up for our members, not only in DC, but actually
• 11:41
  Speaker 4: across the country. We have a big one, you know,
• 11:43
  Speaker 4: coming up in a few weeks on the West coast
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  Speaker 4: that is exclusive to our members, and so we're really
• 11:51
  Speaker 4: we're out there, don we really you know, I say,
• 11:54
  Speaker 4: we try to be an extension of the company. We're not,
• 11:59
  Speaker 4: you know, just sitting here collecting information. We are very
• 12:04
  Speaker 4: very involved.
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: Well, hence you using the word partners and really meaning that,
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: And I think that's extraordinary that you and your team
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: field that way. I love to give our listeners and
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: people's attention that we got with this wonderful conversation Jim
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: about real world experiences, because everybody said, well, that's really
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: cool that Jim and his team do all that. So
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: if I want to be a member and a partner
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: with you, besides starting the process, what do I get
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: with being with PSC, what's in for me? If I
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: make widgets and I'm working with the government, what do
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: I get.
• 12:37
  Speaker 3: The widgets that you have.
• 12:39
  Speaker 4: We're being able to tell you here's a better way
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  Speaker 4: of contracting.
• 12:43
  Speaker 3: Here is the latest information.
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  Speaker 4: We provide intel, which in this town in the federal
• 12:49
  Speaker 4: government is power.
• 12:50
  Speaker 3: Knowledge is power.
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  Speaker 4: We try to tell our members what's going to happen
• 12:54
  Speaker 4: before it breaks. When we know the issue, we're also
• 12:59
  Speaker 4: bringing them into to the room. There's some other great
• 13:01
  Speaker 4: associations in d C, but we operate differently.
• 13:05
  Speaker 3: We when we have you know, these meetings.
• 13:07
  Speaker 4: In whether it's in the West Wing or in members
• 13:11
  Speaker 4: of Members of Congress offices. I'm not going alone or
• 13:14
  Speaker 4: it's not my you know, colleagues going alone. We are
• 13:16
  Speaker 4: bringing our companies with us. Dennis, You're great at iHeartMedia,
• 13:21
  Speaker 4: but I will and I know iHeartMedia, right I said,
• 13:23
  Speaker 4: I grew up here and know you know exactly about iHeartMedia.
• 13:27
  Speaker 3: Listen to some of your.
• 13:27
  Speaker 4: Stations for sports radio and of course talking about the
• 13:31
  Speaker 4: you know, the business of d C.
• 13:34
  Speaker 3: But I'll never tell the iHeartMedia story like you will.
• 13:37
  Speaker 4: So I would rather if I'm having a meeting in
• 13:40
  Speaker 4: the West Wing or up on Capitol Hill, I want
• 13:44
  Speaker 4: to bring my member with me to tell your story.
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  Speaker 4: So we are actively going along with our members and
• 13:51
  Speaker 4: having them tell their story directly to those decision makers.
• 13:56
  Speaker 4: And that's one of the ways that we are differentiating ourselves,
• 13:59
  Speaker 4: and I think it's one of the reasons that we're
• 14:01
  Speaker 4: getting you know, more and a really fun group of
• 14:06
  Speaker 4: new companies in areas where we've not been before.
• 14:10
  Speaker 3: And quite frankly, it's.
• 14:11
  Speaker 4: Because folks have asked us in the government or on
• 14:14
  Speaker 4: Capitol Hill to get more involved in sectors.
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: Makes sense, you know, Jim, I was thinking with you,
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: being a longtime DC resident. I've talked to so many
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: different people like you that are lifers here. Most of
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: their life has been spent here as a child and
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: then an adult. Knowing the landscape and knowing the people,
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: knowing how politics works and policy.
• 14:33
  Speaker 2: And all that.
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: It must be just a benefit for you since you
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: know the DMB so well that it gives you an
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: extra advantage of doing the very hard work with your
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: team when you're talking about policy and intelligence and networking,
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: all the things you have to do for your membership.
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: I imagine must be helpful that you know the landscape
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: in DC.
• 14:53
  Speaker 4: Oh, Dennis, And this is why I'm glad it's radio
• 14:56
  Speaker 4: and not TV, because.
• 14:57
  Speaker 3: People won't see a little bit of gray hair. I
• 15:00
  Speaker 3: say that jokingly.
• 15:01
  Speaker 4: It's almost all great, especially in the past twelve ten
• 15:03
  Speaker 4: months of being here. The first twenty years of my career,
• 15:08
  Speaker 4: we're working for the government. My professional life was working
• 15:12
  Speaker 4: for the government, and I started out in the local
• 15:15
  Speaker 4: government and went to the state government and then the
• 15:18
  Speaker 4: federal government. The I ended my career federal service at
• 15:23
  Speaker 4: the White House. Oh my gosh, twenty years ago. I
• 15:27
  Speaker 4: don't know how that happened.
• 15:29
  Speaker 5: Quickly, and I then, you know, I spent ten years
• 15:33
  Speaker 5: in house at a you know, Fortune twenty five company
• 15:39
  Speaker 5: as their Washington leads, their Washington Council and so.
• 15:43
  Speaker 3: And then went back to the government.
• 15:46
  Speaker 4: And then I hate to admit this, Dennis, your your
• 15:50
  Speaker 4: listeners are gonna hate me.
• 15:51
  Speaker 3: I went to a law firm and was partner at
• 15:53
  Speaker 3: a law firm in d C for a while.
• 15:54
  Speaker 4: But I found something much more honorable to do, which
• 15:59
  Speaker 4: is go back, and like I said to really, what
• 16:01
  Speaker 4: I view at PSC is the perfect blend between government
• 16:06
  Speaker 4: service and private sector is being be able to advocate
• 16:10
  Speaker 4: for them, and quite frankly, in many instances, we're advocating
• 16:14
  Speaker 4: for government employees as well, because you know, we truly
• 16:18
  Speaker 4: believe that the government would not work nearly as well
• 16:22
  Speaker 4: without us. But we really enjoy the partnership, you know,
• 16:25
  Speaker 4: that we have with our government employee colleagues and bringing
• 16:29
  Speaker 4: that together.
• 16:30
  Speaker 2: Getting into the weeds a little bit more.
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: As I was reading about all the cool things that
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: you offer your membership and your partners, one of them
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: was market intelligence, and I did not realize that you
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: provide all your members with actionable insights, including budget analysis,
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: procurement trends, and industry reports. And I know I'm just
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: hitting the tip of the iceberg, but can you elaborate
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: a little bit on that about what you do offer?
• 16:52
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean what we're doing.
• 16:53
  Speaker 4: One of the things that we do is called vision,
• 16:55
  Speaker 4: and it really is that it's a vision into the
• 16:58
  Speaker 4: next year. You know, we have a couple hundred volunteers,
• 17:02
  Speaker 4: both from the federal government and our member companies who
• 17:05
  Speaker 4: come together in teams anticipating, you know, what will happen next,
• 17:10
  Speaker 4: how will you know the contracting world go. And you
• 17:15
  Speaker 4: know it's not just you know, folks on the outside.
• 17:17
  Speaker 4: As I said, we have government representatives in this who
• 17:20
  Speaker 4: volunteer to be part of it, who are encouraged by
• 17:22
  Speaker 4: their supervisors because it means that they're able to really
• 17:27
  Speaker 4: think about the way the government is doing business and
• 17:29
  Speaker 4: their particular sector and move forward and be faster. And
• 17:34
  Speaker 4: so that's one of the truly exclusive things that you know,
• 17:37
  Speaker 4: we're doing for our members absolutely intel. You know that
• 17:41
  Speaker 4: we're giving them ahead of time, as I said, is
• 17:43
  Speaker 4: power in d C and so you know.
• 17:47
  Speaker 3: Our work is there.
• 17:48
  Speaker 4: But we're also you know, doing such things as advocating
• 17:51
  Speaker 4: for you know, certain congressional changes that might be paramount
• 17:57
  Speaker 4: or you know, as I mentioned that, during the shutdown
• 17:59
  Speaker 4: and some of our members weren't getting paid, we went,
• 18:02
  Speaker 4: you know, and not just to the and I love
• 18:05
  Speaker 4: the Eisenhower Executive Office building.
• 18:06
  Speaker 3: I worked there for many years, but into.
• 18:09
  Speaker 4: The West wing to talk to some of the assistants
• 18:12
  Speaker 4: to the President, you know, about getting paid the you know,
• 18:16
  Speaker 4: we saw those and we talked about that and some
• 18:19
  Speaker 4: of you know, they're pretty substantial cuts at the Department
• 18:23
  Speaker 4: of State, and some of our members were slow and
• 18:28
  Speaker 4: still waiting for some payments for work they've already been done.
• 18:31
  Speaker 3: And we're engaging, you know, with a member of the
• 18:34
  Speaker 3: Cabinet with.
• 18:38
  Speaker 4: Secretary Rubio's staff to get our member companies paid for
• 18:43
  Speaker 4: the work that they've already performed. But you know, as
• 18:47
  Speaker 4: I said, like in NASA, NASA has talked about the
• 18:51
  Speaker 4: reinvigorating the workforce there.
• 18:54
  Speaker 3: We're actively engaged with them.
• 18:57
  Speaker 4: We've been in to see OMB, the Office of Management
• 18:59
  Speaker 4: and Budget it and I was the general counsel to
• 19:02
  Speaker 4: OMB for a while, which people like to call the
• 19:05
  Speaker 4: most important agency in d C that no one's ever
• 19:08
  Speaker 4: heard of. To talk about what's happening there. We're fortunate
• 19:11
  Speaker 4: to have great relationships with the political and the career
• 19:15
  Speaker 4: staff at OMB and again bringing our members in to
• 19:20
  Speaker 4: talk about budget impacts, budget cuts and we're you know,
• 19:25
  Speaker 4: what importance are the most critical things for the government.
• 19:29
  Speaker 4: We've been going into the Department of War, as I said,
• 19:32
  Speaker 4: meeting with the under secretaries. Then they are coming here.
• 19:36
  Speaker 4: We had a meeting in the last two weeks with
• 19:39
  Speaker 4: one of the service secretaries and as we know we
• 19:44
  Speaker 4: have this I guess they're calling it a conflict going
• 19:47
  Speaker 4: on with Iran. The telling us our members. These were
• 19:51
  Speaker 4: the CEOs of various members. So we have very large,
• 19:56
  Speaker 4: largest government company contracting companies in the UNI in states
• 20:00
  Speaker 4: and some smaller startup ones and for these meetings we
• 20:03
  Speaker 4: bring you know, whether it's small, medium, large, We try
• 20:06
  Speaker 4: to bring you know, ones from every size in because
• 20:10
  Speaker 4: they have different needs.
• 20:11
  Speaker 3: But we had a service secretary tell our.
• 20:14
  Speaker 4: CEOs if there are barriers to getting contracts, tell me now,
• 20:19
  Speaker 4: and he, you know, gave them his phone number, his
• 20:22
  Speaker 4: email and said, I want to know what are the barriers.
• 20:25
  Speaker 3: To you know, getting government contracts to fulfilling them?
• 20:29
  Speaker 4: And that's great, that is power right there for our
• 20:32
  Speaker 4: CEOs to be able to connect and say here's a
• 20:35
  Speaker 4: problem that you can fix and we'll be able to
• 20:38
  Speaker 4: deliver faster. We have heard some horror stories, Dennis, about
• 20:43
  Speaker 4: what's going on because with federal contracting, including the use
• 20:46
  Speaker 4: of AI, which is really going to be the future.
• 20:51
  Speaker 4: One quick story I'll tell you is police We had
• 20:55
  Speaker 4: a department I won't name which one. We're one of
• 20:57
  Speaker 4: our member companies had contract to provide I think it
• 21:02
  Speaker 4: was two hundred people in a government agency. The member
• 21:08
  Speaker 4: company went to the department and said, we're using AI.
• 21:14
  Speaker 4: We are able to actually reduce the number of people
• 21:18
  Speaker 4: in from two hundred down to one hundred and fifty
• 21:21
  Speaker 4: and deliver the same result. And the department said no,
• 21:29
  Speaker 4: that they were contracted to have two hundred people sitting
• 21:33
  Speaker 4: in seats and they needed to put two hundred people
• 21:36
  Speaker 4: butts in seats there without letting them take advantage of
• 21:40
  Speaker 4: some of the new efficiencies. And so we're reaching out
• 21:43
  Speaker 4: on their behalf to say this makes no sense.
• 21:47
  Speaker 3: The government is wasting money. We can get a.
• 21:49
  Speaker 4: Better, faster solution by taking advantage of some of the
• 21:54
  Speaker 4: new technology. And it wasn't that the government department.
• 21:59
  Speaker 3: Was fearful of ai I.
• 22:00
  Speaker 4: It was that they had a contract for two hundred people,
• 22:04
  Speaker 4: and by gosh, they wanted two hundred people.
• 22:07
  Speaker 3: And so, you know, those.
• 22:09
  Speaker 4: Are some of the inefficiencies that are happening, not just
• 22:13
  Speaker 4: in that one department, but across the board that we're.
• 22:15
  Speaker 3: Trying to fix.
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: Right you know, one of the things I was trying
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: to get my hands around is that I imagine between small, medium,
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: and large companies that you work with, everybody's got a
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: different agenda out there in your four under plus membership
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: and your partners and credit to you and your team,
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: because with all the different opinions and how companies roll
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: and what they want out of life in the world,
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: it's got to be a three ring circus at times.
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: I'm just imagining what it's like for you and your
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: team at times, because to my point, everybody's got a
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: different agenda out there. I know, everybody wants to make
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: money and had success and grow and all those normal
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: things that we all want when you run that and
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: you partner up there, but it's got to be a
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: little wacky times that everybody's got a different voice out there,
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: and you're trying to get it all together at the
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: same time.
• 22:58
  Speaker 4: Dennis, I think the best way is that is I'm
• 23:00
  Speaker 4: blessed in so many ways. One is our member companies
• 23:04
  Speaker 4: really understand that we're here for the greater good and that.
• 23:08
  Speaker 3: A rising tide lifts all boats.
• 23:10
  Speaker 4: And so you know, we're able to operate and explain
• 23:15
  Speaker 4: to companies that might have slightly varying interpretations that we're
• 23:21
  Speaker 4: able to go in and negotiate and work with the
• 23:24
  Speaker 4: government or the hill to get really.
• 23:26
  Speaker 3: What is a solution that is the best for everyone.
• 23:29
  Speaker 4: And we're really, as I said, we're fortunate, we're blessed
• 23:33
  Speaker 4: to be able to be in a position where we
• 23:36
  Speaker 4: are so respected that we're generally don't have a problem.
• 23:41
  Speaker 4: We generally don't I mean, obviously there are issues some companies.
• 23:44
  Speaker 4: For example, we talked about us AI D and the
• 23:47
  Speaker 4: cups there. You know, they would want us to spend
• 23:49
  Speaker 4: all of our efforts on USA I D and not
• 23:51
  Speaker 4: you know, look at what's happening.
• 23:52
  Speaker 3: At DHS or HHS.
• 23:55
  Speaker 4: But again this is how you know, we're two dozen people,
• 24:00
  Speaker 4: but we are all hopping all the time and trying
• 24:03
  Speaker 4: to really be an extension of their business. And so
• 24:06
  Speaker 4: it's not uncommon for you know, what's going on right
• 24:09
  Speaker 4: now for us to be engaging with State Department to
• 24:11
  Speaker 4: get people paid.
• 24:12
  Speaker 3: Meanwhile, with the change.
• 24:14
  Speaker 4: Or what's happening at DHS and a new secretary at
• 24:18
  Speaker 4: least a pairing to get confirmed and signed in as
• 24:22
  Speaker 4: the new secretary to talk about some of the barriers there,
• 24:26
  Speaker 4: and so we're working, you know, with that to be
• 24:29
  Speaker 4: able to one of the barriers, for example, at DHS
• 24:32
  Speaker 4: right now, Dennis, is that any contract over one hundred
• 24:36
  Speaker 4: thousand dollars at DHS has to be reviewed and signed
• 24:40
  Speaker 4: off on by the Secretary directly. It can't be delegated.
• 24:46
  Speaker 4: You know, that's just not very creative. When I had
• 24:49
  Speaker 4: a friend, because again I spent so many years in
• 24:52
  Speaker 4: the government, I've a friend who works at DHS who
• 24:54
  Speaker 4: called me, you know, when that was first announced and said,
• 24:56
  Speaker 4: we spend more on coffee, more than one hundred thousand
• 24:59
  Speaker 4: on coffee. Was the secretary really going to sign off
• 25:02
  Speaker 4: on our coffee order? And you know that's been a
• 25:07
  Speaker 4: barrier and so we're addressing that right now simultaneously at
• 25:10
  Speaker 4: the same time, you know that we're working on the
• 25:14
  Speaker 4: issues at the State Department the same time that we're
• 25:16
  Speaker 4: talking to folks at the Department of War about some
• 25:20
  Speaker 4: of the new technology and what Secretary heads up and
• 25:22
  Speaker 4: the President have said about for companies to get more effective,
• 25:25
  Speaker 4: more efficient, and you know, at the same time, we're
• 25:28
  Speaker 4: heading over to HHS. We're talking with some of the
• 25:31
  Speaker 4: director administrator level folks there about the changes that they want.
• 25:36
  Speaker 4: We're heading into Fanny Freddie, you know, to talk about
• 25:39
  Speaker 4: the way that technology can assist, you know, with loan mortgages.
• 25:44
  Speaker 3: We're very, very busy, and again, Dennis, you are too.
• 25:47
  Speaker 3: Everyone is.
• 25:47
  Speaker 4: That's the nature of being in DC and we're just
• 25:51
  Speaker 4: fortunate to have this opportunity to work with our four
• 25:54
  Speaker 4: hundred member companies.
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: Jim, we only have a couple of minutes left before
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: we get some final thoughts. I did want to ask
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: you about being funded you our nonprofit. How's money coming
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: in as a grant? Is your membership? Is it a
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: combination of both? How are you funded?
• 26:06
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean we're funded by our members and you
• 26:09
  Speaker 4: know they pay annual dues. We also have some great
• 26:12
  Speaker 4: educational events and that people you know can come to
• 26:17
  Speaker 4: those our conferences and you know there's a charge for those.
• 26:23
  Speaker 4: But we are a nonprofit. You know, we try to
• 26:25
  Speaker 4: have a for this town kind of shocking. We try
• 26:28
  Speaker 4: to have a balanced budget the end of every year.
• 26:30
  Speaker 4: And I thought that might get a chuckle.
• 26:36
  Speaker 3: And so you know, we're not trying to maximize profit.
• 26:40
  Speaker 4: We're trying to maximize services and solutions to our four
• 26:43
  Speaker 4: hundred partners and so you know we're able to do
• 26:47
  Speaker 4: that at a pretty efficient rate.
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: Outstanding. Well, let's do this. We do have about two
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: minutes left. I'd love to get some final thoughts from you.
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: I know a lot of our very intelligent listeners have
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: already found you on the web, but we are going
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: to give the website and all the cool things. And
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: by the way that people that have designed a gym
• 27:01
  Speaker 1: with your team, it's easy to navigate. It looks cool
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: and there's a lot of information on there, so I
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: want you to check that out. But just want to
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: get some final thoughts from you, Jim about what we
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: talked about. The floor is yours.
• 27:12
  Speaker 3: Well, thank you so much. Donnis.
• 27:14
  Speaker 4: You can find us at PS Council p s ce
• 27:17
  Speaker 4: O U n c I L dot org. You know
• 27:20
  Speaker 4: my email, my phone number is on there. The whole
• 27:22
  Speaker 4: team can be tracked down by that, but you know,
• 27:25
  Speaker 4: at the end of the day, our mission really is
• 27:27
  Speaker 4: quite simple. It's to help the government and industry work
• 27:31
  Speaker 4: together to solve problems. And whether that's you know, making
• 27:35
  Speaker 4: the work fighter, as Secretary Heseth says, you know, effective
• 27:39
  Speaker 4: and officient, or whether it's.
• 27:41
  Speaker 3: Saving money at one of the you know, maybe the
• 27:44
  Speaker 3: i R S, the being able to find.
• 27:47
  Speaker 4: Those issues, getting healthcare because of technology more available for people.
• 27:53
  Speaker 3: The we we.
• 27:54
  Speaker 4: Have been asked to organize a new fintech group by
• 27:59
  Speaker 4: government officials and so we're working hard on fintech, space
• 28:03
  Speaker 4: and satellite all sorts of work is going on right
• 28:07
  Speaker 4: now that as technology is evolving, we are evolving, and
• 28:12
  Speaker 4: we really seek to be an extension of our member
• 28:15
  Speaker 4: companies and be able to make sure that they are
• 28:19
  Speaker 4: maximizing the work that they do. And so we're very
• 28:22
  Speaker 4: fortunate to be there and we're really fortunate done us
• 28:25
  Speaker 4: to be able to talk to you today, and so
• 28:27
  Speaker 4: thank you very much for having us on.
• 28:29
  Speaker 3: This is a real honor.
• 28:30
  Speaker 1: Well, it's our pleasure to have you on community d
• 28:32
  Speaker 1: C Jim, thank you so much, and let's give that
• 28:35
  Speaker 1: website one more time for everybody.
• 28:37
  Speaker 4: Absolutely, it's ps for Professional Services Counsel COO un cilpscouncil
• 28:45
  Speaker 4: dot org and feel free to reach out to me,
• 28:49
  Speaker 4: call me, email me, email anyone on our staff and
• 28:52
  Speaker 4: we'll get right back to you.
• 28:54
  Speaker 1: Outstanding Jim, Thank you so much. Let's stay in touch,
• 28:56
  Speaker 1: and once again, thank you for joining us on Community DC.
• 28:58
  Speaker 1: We really appreciate it.
• 28:59
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