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Featured Articles
How 25 Small Federal Contractors Beat the Odds
Full Article from GovernmentVAR:
By Jill R. Aitoro, VARBusiness
12:10 AM EST Mon. Feb. 19, 2007
From the February 19, 2007 issue of VARBusiness
To say the odds are stacked against small businesses that target federal government with IT products and services is a major understatement. Standard challenges that plague all contractors--long sales cycles, procurement red tape--are magnified, and "fair competition" suddenly seems more like a page out of David vs. Goliath. So when small businesses manage to succeed despite this, they deserve accolades.
GovernmentVAR's inaugural list of leading minority solution providers highlights 25 small businesses from across the various set-aside categories: women-owned businesses, service-disabled veteran-owned businesses (SDVOBs), businesses located in designated historically underutilized business zones (HUBZones), and Small Disadvantaged Businesses (SDBs) or 8(a) companies. While they range in size and focus, each of these companies understands how to compete for a slice of the federal contracting pie and win. Each holds its own GSA contract (except Arlington, Va.-based By Light, which expects to be awarded one by midyear) and all tout references with both federal agencies and the megasystems integrators. In short, these are 25 small businesses that act like anything but. And that may very well be the secret to their success.
10. Akimeka
Location: Honolulu, Hawaii
References: Army, Navy, Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA)
Categories: 8(a), Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned, Native American-owned, HUBZone
Top exec: Vaughn Vasconcellos, President/CEO
Partners: N/A
Employees: 85
Year founded: 1997
While most might say that it doesn't get much bigger than the Department of Defense in terms of customers, Akimeka's long-term goal is much more focused at home. Serving the needs of such agencies as the Joint Staff, Office of Naval Research and DISA with network, software and Web-driven solutions drives growth and expertise that the Hawaii-based company can use to promote increased IT innovation in its own community, as well as other regions in the Pacific. That consideration earned Akimeka a long list of awards in business leadership and entrepreneurship from both diversity organizations and as the federal government itself.
For direct link to the full article, click here.
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