CSA Accomplishments

First Quarter 2006

1) Successfully fought for the industry on Capitol Hill: 

• Severely restricted the use of tiered evaluations or “cascading” at DoD.  Cascading is a poor proxy for market research.  Under this technique, a solicitation is issued using full and open competition but the contracting officer is permitted consider the offers on the basis of hierarchal tiers.  This process makes it likely that many, if not most, private sector submittals will not be evaluated at all, resulting in the waste of valuable bid and proposal dollars.  CSA led industry opposition and supported a successful provision in the DoD authorization bill that essentially eliminates the practice. 

2) Enhanced the market for service contractors at federal agencies:

3) Brought government and industry together at CSA events:

• Hosted over 40 government leaders at CSA events in the past year.  As a national association, CSA has held meetings in Hawaii, San Diego, Atlanta, Colorado Springs, San Antonio and Washington, DC, all featuring top agency leaders from OSD, Navy, Army, Air Force, DHS, DoE, NASA, GSA and Commerce.  These officials (Administrator of GSA, Commander of NAVFAC, Under Secretary of Defense etc.) have portfolios in the tens of billions of dollars. 

4) Developed 2006 Priorities:

• Defeat anti-contractor legislation.  A slew of anti-contractor bills have been introduced in the House and Senate to address allegations of contractor fraud, waste and abuse in connection with contracts awarded for Iraqi reconstruction and Hurricane Katrina recovery.  With titles like “Zero Tolerance for Contract Cheaters” you know where they are headed.  CSA is leading the charge against these ill-thought bills. 

  
  

First Quarter, 2005

• Held a record breaking 40th Annual Conference.   We had record attendance in San Diego, almost 40% more attendees than we had at the same location four years ago, which meant more networking opportunities for you.  We also had great speakers, such as David Safavian, Administrator of the Office of Federal Procurement Policy.  CSA is working with Mr. Safavian to open up the Department of Veterans Affairs to more private companies.  Because of legal restrictions, 54,000 jobs and $5 billion worth of potential business is off limits to the private sector, covering everything from sanitation to information technology.  

• Took SCA training to San Diego.  Over 80 people attended CSA’s Service Contract Act (SCA) training held on the West Coast for the first time.  The program received the best reviews ever for the revised SCA format.  CSA also can conduct personalized, on-site training programs for your company.  Contact Susan Kuhn to organize a program for your company at susan@csa-dc.org.  

• Re-started CSA’s Business Development Committee.  The committee will focus on enhancing federal markets for the service contracting industry.  Small groups of CSA members will meet with senior agency officials to provide industry input on agency initiatives and push much needed fixes to the federal government’s procurement process. 

• Developed our Annual Top 10 Public Policy Agenda.  CSA held an on-line vote to approve our public policy agenda rather than devote one-half day at the Annual Conference to our policy issues, which meant more networking time for attendees.  You can find the list HERE. 

• Testified before the House Government Reform Committee.  Vic Avetissian (Northrop Grumman), CSA’s new Chairman of the Public Policy Council, gave CSA’s testimony regarding GSA reform: 

• Hosted U.S. House Government Reform Chairman Tom Davis.  At February’s “Dialog with Decision Makers” luncheon, Chairman Davis discussed his committee’s agenda for the year as well as current issues affecting the industry like ethics, preference programs, and acquisition workforce issues.  Our next event will be on Monday, April 18, and will feature Bruce Bade, Director, Pacific Armaments Cooperation (Office of the Secretary of Defense).  He will talk about how to get business overseas. 

• Elected a new Executive Committee.  Larry Trammell of SAIC will be CSA’s Chairman for 2005.  Larry encouraged everyone at CSA to “think big” about our future.  Mike Shelton from Burns & Roe, David Swindle from KBR, Vic Avetissian from Northrop Grumman, David Miller from EMI Services, and Bob Ruhe from ASEG were elected as new members of CSA’s Executive Committee.

• Modernized our bylaws and dues structure.  In order to become more responsive to our membership, the CSA Board of Directors approved significant changes to our bylaws, dues structure, and Board representation.  CSA is currently accepting nominations for “at large” members of the board.  As past Chairman of CSA and Chairman of the Nominating Committee, John Lange will head up this effort.  Please contact him directly at john@madisonservices.com if you would like to nominate someone for the CSA Board of Directors.

• Announced our meeting schedule for 2005-2007.  CSA is holding more meetings in more places than ever before.  These events create great opportunities to network and gain key intelligence about new business opportunities.  We held a successful one day event in Atlanta in late January that sold out.  We will host a one day seminar in Colorado Springs, CO on June 29th.  The traditional “mid-year” conference will become the “Fall” conference and will be held in Washington, DC in mid October.  The 2006 Annual Conference will take place in San Antonio, TX.  For a detailed CSA schedule, click HERE.
  
  

• CSA will launch its new web site on April 18th.  Our new site will have many new member-friendly features.  For example, you will be able to search the membership database on-line to find business partners by company size, NAICS codes, and other variables.  As you may have noticed, CSA also has changed its logo and slogan.  We encourage you to use the new logo on your brochures, web sites and letterhead.  For more information about how to use CSA’s new logo, click HERE. 
  

Fourth Quarter, 2004

• CSA helped defeat the Small Business Administration’s (SBA) proposed restructuring of the Small Business Size Standards.  CSA and its members swung into action because of the potentially devastating impact on many CSA Small Businesses (whole business models would have become useless) and large businesses (partners and subcontractors would have been lost overnight).  As a result of industry pressure, led by CSA, the proposals were withdrawn. 

• CSA supported candidates in 4 Senate races and 24 congressional races and all 28 candidates won.  I’d like to thank our members for their support of CSA’s Political Action Committee (CSA-PAC).  CSA raised more than $100,000 for congressional candidates.  Electing pro-contractor candidates is a key component in improving our effectiveness in expanding the market for your company.

• CSA has issued more press releases in the past six months than it had in the past six years.  The result has been dramatically increased media coverage and visibility for CSA, its members, and our issues in trade publications as well as national media like the Washington Post (for the most recent article, click HERE).  

• CSA leads the FAR Part 37 Task force that is undertaking, at DOD’s request, a review of service contracting regulations and statutes.  This effort, with recommendations expected by mid-February/March 2005, has the potential to make wholesale changes in the way the Federal Government buys services for the next decade.  The benefits would include more business opportunities for CSA members, reduced cost of working with the government, and a cut back in regulatory requirements.

• Clearly CSA’s agenda in 2005 must focus on continuing to educate Members of Congress on the benefits of competitive sourcing and utilizing the talents and expertise of the private sector for the benefit of the federal government and taxpayers.  In addition, we will focus on helping the Bush Administration to improve the regulatory and procurement processes.