GovernmentVAR of the Week: CSSS.NET

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"Know your market" is such obvious advice in any business, but CSSS.NET president and CEO Lisa Wolford made sure to incorporate that philosophy into her staff -- now up to 75 employees. The management staff has an average of 20 years of experience in their given area of expertise with the federal government, and the accounting group, which maintains finances and assists in the procurement process, is led by a CPA who retired from the Air Force and Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS) and holds many government accounting certification.

"Building a dynamic management team has been a major element of our growth," Wolford says. "Before starting the company, I knew it was important to have a good understanding of the industry and an outstanding educational background. I have worked hard to ensure that the caliber of personnel in our corporation are equal to or better than in a large business."

The Department of Defense is among CSSS.NET's major clients, turning to the company to find new and innovative methods to accomplish their missions with less money.

"[Thanks to] our caliber of personnel [combined with] industry best practices, we have been able to capture business opportunities," Wolford says. "Our services are less expensive and more agile than the larger firms, [in part because] it is usually cheaper to bring in fewer higher quality personnel rather than many lower caliber personnel."

CSSS.NET carries most of the federal set-aside certifications -- Service Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business (SDVOB), Women-Owned Small Business, and 8(a) or Small Disadvantaged Business. In November, the company was one of eight firms -- three of which were small -- awarded a prime contract with the Veterans Health Administration for the Veterans Health Information Systems Technology and Architecture (Vista) program. The 10-year blanket purchase agreement is valued at more than $1 Billion.

And in February 2007, CSSS.NET was one of 36 firms awarded a Veterans Employment and Training Service (VETS) prime contract to provide services across all federal agencies. Set aside for SDVOBs, the 10-year contract carries a ceiling value of $5 billion.

While CSSS.NET's small business certifications place it in very a good position to win contracts, that certainly doesn't offer any guarantees, as other small businesses will attest to. Rather, CSSS.NET attributes its annual growth of 10 percent to 20 percent in contract dollars to an earned reputation of quality, a high caliber of services and solid customer relationships.

"In working with large businesses, it is easier to grow your business with them if they know that they can trust you to provide them with services and personnel that are equal to or better than their own," Wolford says. "We have found that being a protege of a large business is very valuable if you team with a large business who shares your same values. This was particularly helpful in the early years of our growth as we were building our processes."