On Sept. 4, the finalists for this year’s Greater Washington Government Contractor Awards were announced and WashingtonExec is bringing you its annual series with the nominees.
The winners will be unveiled on Nov. 13 at The Ritz Carlton in Tysons Corner by the Fairfax County Chamber of Commerce and the Professional Services Council. With more than 1,000 business and public sector leaders attending the event, our series will keep you up-to-date about all the finalists for this year — who they are, what they do and why they are worthy of winning.
Our latest interview is with Attain LLC‘s CEO Greg Baroni, who was the recipient of the 2012 “Executive of the Year” in the less than $75 million category. The company is nominated this year for “Contractor of the Year” in the $25 million to $75 million category.
WashingtonExec: What was your organization’s largest accomplishment in the last 12-18 months?
Greg Baroni: Years from now, when we look back at Attain’s history, I believe 2014 will stand out as a milestone year marked by tremendous growth. Our vision for the firm is to create a company that represents the next generation of strategy, management and technology consulting services; that is built to last; and is values-driven. We’re now five years into our journey, and we’re continuing to successfully follow and achieve an aggressive, organic growth trajectory.
During the last 12-18 months, one of the biggest contributions to the growth of our Federal Services business was securing one of the largest and most strategic contract vehicles in the federal market — the Chief Information Officer — Solutions and Partners 3 (CIO-SP3) program, which is managed by the National Institutes of Health Information Technology Acquisition and Assessment Center (NITAAC). Our first five months on the vehicle yielded a ranking by NITAAC among its top five contractors in 2013. In fact, NITAAC’s most recent ranking identified Attain as the number two contractor, by orders, on the vehicle.
I’m very proud of the teams in the field that are supporting our clients and their mission success, as well as the broader team we’re building. During the last year, we’ve significantly increased in numbers, expanding our team of talented consultants, who are committed to our mission of service both to customers and community. We’ve also expanded our geographic presence, with the opening of a permanent office in North Carolina’s Research Triangle Park area, and we completed a major overhaul of our corporate website to reflect the evolution of Attain as an organization and our capabilities.
With a commitment to following Attain’s core values — Invent the future, Be the best, Be bold, Execute with Discipline, Team for Speed, Obsess externally, and Have absolute integrity — employees continually evaluate how to best live these values…
WashingtonExec: How has your business been able to grow as the federal market contracts?
Greg Baroni: We’ve maintained a strategic focus on what we do best and delivered on that commitment. We’ve got a great team that has an intimate connection to the market and the clients they serve. When the market contracts, you have to leverage those circumstances and find opportunities, whether that’s a tactical adjustment to the work you’re going after or providing the capability to help customers find opportunities to operate more efficiently and cost effectively in a tight environment. We’ve also been able to grow through strategic alignment of our portfolio of vehicles and corporate alliance partners.
WashingtonExec: What is your organization’s plan for growth over the next 3-5 years?
Greg Baroni: To capitalize on our success to date, we’ll need to continue to drive organic growth, while remaining lean and agile. In addition, we’ll ramp up efforts to explore acquisition opportunities that can be a force multiplier. We also need to invest further in the development of our world-class team and in the continuous improvement of our solutions by building out our portfolio of intellectual property.
Finally, we can leverage our growth to raise the Attain profile as a market-leader and accelerate future growth through thought leadership and exceptional outcomes for our clients.
WashingtonExec: What are the largest challenges that you predict your business will face in the next 5 years?
Greg Baroni: We’ve grown quickly, which necessitates a new level of organizational maturity and requires our business model to evolve, including the people, processes, and technology and infrastructure that support the business. As we continue to grow, each new stage brings new challenges and opportunities, from adjusting the business model in terms of our organization to fine tuning our approach to the market and how we develop new business opportunities. Making the right adjustments, while maintaining and deepening the core of what we do and how we do it is what we need to accomplish to leverage our success to date.
WashingtonExec: How is your business involved in the community?
Greg Baroni: A critical dimension of our vision is to be a values-driven organization. That translates beyond how we work together with our clients. From service delivery to serving the broader community, we are intentional about our legacy and its impact on our clients, employees and our community.
At the heart of Attain’s vision is an organizational culture that’s rooted in what we call The Attain Way — seven core values that guide our approach to every interaction. This foundation drives our decision-making every day. With a commitment to following Attain’s core values — Invent the future, Be the best, Be bold, Execute with Discipline, Team for Speed, Obsess externally, and Have absolute integrity — employees continually evaluate how to best live these values, creating a strong culture focused on excellence and service of others. We even reinforce our values through a quarterly Attain Way Achievement Award which recognizes employees who exemplify our core values and make significant contributions to our business.
Our culture and values cause us to “Obsess Externally,” which means we are relentlessly focused on serving the needs of our constituent public, including society at-large. To honor this commitment, every year we actively support the events and activities of several charitable organizations. These include our three cornerstone charities that serve the National Capital Region, the National Kidney Foundation; the American Red Cross; and The Women’s Center. We also support the causes that are important to our people – from the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, Samaritan Inns, the Fisher House Foundation, Breast Cancer Research Foundation, the Annual First Responders’ Cup, Our Daily Bread, Toys for Tots, The Children’s Inn at NIH, and the Adopt a Platoon program to the Potomac Watershed Clean-up, Partnership to Prevent Homelessness, Race for a Cause, Holiday Mail for Heroes, Dreams for Kids, Biking for Books, and the roster of charities keeps growing.
