How 25 Small Federal Contractors Beat the Odds

20 Hoffman Technologies Inc. (HTI)
Location: Roseville, Calif.
References: GSA, VA
Category: SDVOB
Top exec: Gary Hoffman, President/CEO
Partners: Cisco, Compaq, HP, IBM, Sun
Employees: N/A
Year founded: 1997

HTI started to see real growth in the past few years, when president and CEO Hoffman made the choice to de-emphasize straight product peddling. The company's services department, originally formed in 1998 to support the equipment sold, was transformed, providing solution design, implementation and integration. The result? As other resellers struggled to meet the changing demands of agencies, Hoffman is experiencing growth and winning key contracts with a focus on network integration, disaster recovery and enterprisewide storage solutions. Most recently, HTI was named among the award recipients of the $5 billion, 10-year Veterans Technology Services GWAC contract for systems operations and maintenance, and information-systems engineering. The IDIQ contract was open only to businesses owned by service-disabled veterans.

21 Automated Systems Consulting
Location: Tampa, Fla.
References: Army, Navy, NASA, DoT, Department of Education
Categories: 8(a), HUBZone
Top exec: Rodia Numa, CEO
Partners: CA, Cisco, HP, IBM, Lexmark, NEC, Symantec, Sony, ViewSonic
Employees: N/A
Year founded: 1993

One key to mastering federal contracting--particularly as a small business--is through industry partnerships. ASC has managed to forge valuable alliances with heavyweight systems integrators, such as Lockheed Martin, CSC and SAIC, as well as dominant direct-marketer CDW Government. As a result, the company experienced more than 200 percent growth in 2006, providing procurement, professional IT and project-management services. ASC currently holds a basic ordering agreement for products and services with Schriever Air Force Base and a blanket purchasing agreement with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

22 Blue Tech
Location: San Diego, Calif.
References: Navy, Corp of Engineers
Categories: 8(a), HUBZone, Women-Owned
Top exec: Susan Stone, CEO
Partners: APC, Check Point, Cisco, Dell, Fujitsu, Gateway, HP, IBM, Oracle, Panasonic, Sony, Sun, Toshiba
Employees: 30
Year founded: 1984

Easier than listing the vendors Blue Tech does partner with is listing those that it doesn't. The solution provider has a portfolio that would make a distributor green with envy. That said, the company does far more than peddle products; it maintains a perfect balance between leveraging its status as a small disadvantaged business and not relying solely on that to drive success and growth. The company takes advantage of set-aside opportunities, such as the Streamlined Technology Acquisition Resources for Services (STARS) GWAC, which provides the full range of IT solutions through 8(a) firms specifically, and GovWorks, an acquisition center intended to help set-aside companies to be more competitive. On the other hand, Blue Tech goes after the mega- opportunities and wins--serving as a prime contractor for the $8 billion, 10-year Seaport-e Navy GWAC and was awarded a piece of the Department of the Navy Enterprise Solutions (DoN ES) contract, which helps create network-centric, battle-management capabilities.

23 Ross Technologies (RTGX)
Location: Columbia, Md.
References: Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), DoD, DHS
Categories: 8(a), Women-Owned
Top Exec: Kathlyn Adams, President/CEO
Partners: Business Objects, CA, IBM
Employees: 85
Year founded: 1997

RTGX focuses on a diverse set of skillsets that cover information security, auditing and analysis, e-government, network/systems integration, project-management and software engineering. That strategy--of being a one-stop shop for customers--has led the company to a significant number of contract wins, including the Program Management Support Services IDIQ with the SEC, the Encore Information Technology Solutions contract with the DoD and other federal agencies, and the DHS Eagle program as a subcontractor providing infrastructure engineering, services and support, operations and maintenance, and software development. In recognition of its many successes, RTGX was named among the nation's Top 500 Women-Owned businesses in the United States by DiversityBusiness.com.

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