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5
2014 Year in Review
Through Edgewater’s support and expertise, we continue to implement
our growth strategy, evaluating opportunities for acquisitions, new
product line development and geographic expansion.
What are your greatest lessons learned as both a seller and a
buyer?
The work merely begins when the papers are signed and the
subsequent integration of the two companies starts. The secret to
ensuring a successful post-acquisition transition is in developing a
strong rapport between leadership teams that includes a mutual
respect and open dialogue between all parties. Additionally, from the
onset of any deal, it is essential to develop clear short- and long-term
plans around the initiatives that are critical to driving growth. Then you
must have the discipline to see these objectives through to the end.
Haystax, along with many of its competitors, increasingly serve
both government and commercial clients. Can you talk to us
about this trending approach and how you envision the
challenges and opportunities of serving both the public and
private sectors will impact Haystax’ profile going forward?
There is a convergence occurring in the marketplace associated with
cybersecurity and analytics. We definitely feel that the needs of each
market help fuel innovation across a full-service solutions portfolio.
The Government is interested in commercial solutions to drive costs
down and commercial clients want the safety and security standards
created by government customers. While the public sector has a
different content focus, the sectors ultimately face similar challenges –
mitigating threats to the enterprise.
Congress fully funding Fiscal Year 2015 has distanced us from
2013’s government shutdown and ensuing sequestration. How
has the tumultuous budget roller coaster of the past two years
impacted Haystax?
Industry One on One
(Aerospace)
Fortunately, we’ve seen a return to more normal acquisition practices over
the past year and companies that invested during that downturn are seeing
greater growth opportunities for the future. For example, we invested
heavily in software product development during the last downturn to
position our company to better address the emerging need to mitigate
insider threat risks. As a result, this is a major growth opportunity for
Haystax in the near future. The approval of the 2015 government budget
has reduced much of the marketplace angst and we anticipate renewed
growth in government markets for niche technology solutions.
We are trending away from an LPTA environment, but award protests
remain very prevalent, perhaps more so now than ever. Can you
comment on the current contracting environment?
In the current economic environment, reducing cost will continue to remain
a priority for government customers for several years. That said, we are
seeing some government customers shift from explicit LPTA back toward
best value as they realized that apparent cost reductions are not translating
to savings when the lowest bidders were unable to deliver successful
solutions at the quoted labor rates. Programs that provide commodity
services will probably continue to see LPTA-type contracts. However,
customers requiring higher value technologies, specifically state-of-the-art
solutions with applicability to commercial markets, are better served by
best-value awards with award-fee or incentive-fee structures.
Being the incumbent contractor does not possess the same
competitive advantage as in prior years. How has Haystax addressed
this in its bid and capture strategy?
Actually, we believe incumbency provides significant competitive
advantage through greater customer access and knowledge of their
missions. This is essential in generating exceptional value in government
markets. Access to multiple prime contract vehicles is also critical to
companies in the federal marketplace. In 2015, government acquisition
organizations will be under significant pressure to release and award a
large number of planned solicitations, which can be mitigated through
increased use of IDIQ and GWAC contracts.