What Our Clients Say
“Tim C. did a fantastic job of taking the previous schedule, and completely redoing it such that it finally made sense and was in sync with the schedule from my subcontractor. Tim attacked the effort with enthusiasm and software tool knowledge unlike any I had received from the combined efforts of all previous planners that had attempted to create a working schedule for me. Tim worked very well with our subcontractor’s planner to get the needed data and his resulting schedule was accurate and timely.”
“Just wanted to let you know how pleased our bid team was with the support we received from Jeff S. on our Task Order responses. The concept of operations designs he provided for both projects were easy to understand yet complex enough to cover the SOW. Jeff was a pleasure to work with and is well liked and respected by the whole team. We would be very happy to engage him in the future whenever the need arises again. We know that SMA is the place to turn for high caliber proposal help.”
“I want to let you know that the ability to add consultants to the team is really paying off. Mike D. is an excellent EV analyst and picked up the [program name] ball and is running with it. He is a breath of fresh air for me on the [program name] program.”
“I want to pass on my appreciation for the support Tim T. provided to the Surveillance component of the recently established EVM Program. When Tim and I began working together I knew enough about EVM to understand the high level briefings provided at PMR meetings. Over the course of a year, Tim taught me EVMS and Surveillance, drafted our company Surveillance policy, ramrodded us through the first full cycle of Surveillance Audits on all 32 guidelines, created Surveillance Program training packages for my newly hired boss and I, and finally incorporated a year’s worth of lessons-learned into our Surveillance Program policy documentation. His knowledge, professionalism, dedication to process, attention to detail and sometimes general prickliness all have made it possible for me to maintain a high level of effectiveness while we move forward in contracting government programs. I very much enjoyed my time working with him and learned a great deal. His leadership and knowledge allowed us to become effective much more rapidly than I ever imagined possible.”
“The proposal is complex due to the customer’s acquisition strategy and our team of multiple primes and internal lines of businesses. Jeannie S. did an outstanding job keeping the team focused on internal artifacts required to meet an aggressive schedule. She established schedules, setup proposal milestones and helped develop artifacts in addition to pushing internal and external coordination. Jeannie left our team in a strong position to meet the customer timelines.”
“Congratulations! We won one of the contracts for program. Thank you for your support in getting this pursuit into the ‘win’ column. Lee E.—your track record remains intact!’
“The IMS section of the PMR continues be a shining example of how far we have improved in this area since the start of the contract—this is directly attributable to thought leadership and diligence to the details by Chelley H. and Bryan A. Today during the PMR hot wash [there were] some great ‘well-dones’ to the team—but I want you to know that this is all their doing.”
“This has turned out to be the longest and hardest fought campaign…yet. I would like to mention the stellar work by Alan M. to lead the proposal writing and his efforts to ensure it was a first class submission.”
“Lee M. served as our Proposal Manager. And while Lee is a subcontractor he did not operate that way. He was committed to the successful development of our proposal and…put in countless hours to ensure that our proposal was of high quality and compliant.”
“Great job with your people: Lee E., Adish S., and Dave P. Great guys and we appreciate the guidance.”
“Rick T. is close if not on the top of the list of planners that embody the aptitude & drive needed to excel in planning. We have appreciated Rick’s support and look forward to having Rick join us again down the line. Lucas T. has also been a top asset was the trail-blazer in so many respects. When I want to bring in help, they are on the top of my list of those I’d choose to go to battle with. I hope down the line to cross paths with both of these unique and skilled professionals.”
“For the second half of 2019, Eleni T. has provided planner support for our project team. She quickly came up to speed to support the team and collaborated in multiple ways. Her major accomplishments include using Critical Chain to shorten schedule delays, creating customized Integrated Master Schedules and Master Phasing Schedules for high visibility tasks and for understanding our long-term product vision. Eleni is a team player and always seeks ways to help with EVMS and scheduling best practices. Looking forward to continued success and collaboration.”
“Al W., a big Thank You to you and the team. I really do not think we could have gotten there with such a great package without you. I really appreciate everything you brought to the proposal, including your sense of humor.”
“Paul S. fully understood everything about this effort, referred the right stuff to others, and answered the appropriate things yourself. You’d be surprised how few people actually do that well. It adds confidence to management that this team, and therefore this bid, is under control and in good hands.”
“Garrett C. is great! I am very happy with the support, guidance, and counsel from him, makes a big difference for us and our proposal. Thank you very much and please let him know we couldn’t be happier he is here!”
“I can’t thank you all enough for being so gracious and including Luke A. in your organization at SMA [as a summer intern]. He really appreciated being involved with the team and feels a strong sense of allegiance to the team. I asked if he wanted an internship over the year with [our family company]. He promptly replied, “No Dad, you had your chance. I work at SMA!”
“Tim C. has proven so valuable that we expect to have him here for the foreseeable future.”
“Noel J. and Terry T., thanks so much for your assistance on this killer proposal. To say we could not have submitted without your help is an understatement. We submitted on Sunday with 5 minutes to spare and the orals went well. And now we wait.”
“I got a lessons learned summary from Brian S. this week, showing not only his expertise in graphics and proposal preparation, but in the training and quality of the people SMA has. I will continue to suggest SMA help on major proposals…”
“Thanks Lee E., and I didn’t realize yesterday was going to be your last day. It was a pleasure working with you and thank you for all your efforts working [our two proposals], you ROCK Lee!!!!”
“Jay K.—We very much appreciate your project management…to date. Your relentless persistence and can-do attitude is a big part of all the work we’ve completed. Thank you for all the hard work, long days, and time away from home.”
“Lee M. just finished the first major task order proposal and it was lucky that he was transferred from capture to proposals last month. The customer is in a hurry to obligate money and they gave the contractors 11 days to respond with 150 pages and pricing for $50 million. Lee billed almost 200 hours during the past 11 days and had a couple of sleepless all-nighters. Had we had a lesser PM doing it, the impossibility of the task might have overwhelmed him or her. He did not complain. He just dug in and did the job.”
“Holly H., thank you very much for all the support that you provided for this. We certainly could not have done it without you. On behalf of the entire team please receive our gratitude and appreciation.”
“In July we received a formal CPAR from our USAF customer and the program received the highest grade of any program supporting USAF contract efforts in the company! In 5 out of the 7 categories we received the highest rating of Exceptional! I made sure the entire team and their mangers were aware of this achievement and I wanted to let you know that Elisca S.’s role and support as PCA for this contract effort was a key part of our team’s success as documented in this CPAR!”
“Just wanted to touch base and let you know that we were genuinely pleased with the quality of the work that your team did for us recently. It was well done… thank you. Two things stand out: First, the quality of the CA was very high—as much as we really appreciated the great detail data, we also appreciated the solid, actionable insights your team drew from it. It also cohered and complemented with what we learned from other sources. Second, the PTW was also very high quality. It was impactful and caused us to reframe major assumptions of our approach.”
“Greg S. is working out very well. So far, he has shown that he has exactly the background and skills that we need. He is also a delight to work with.”
“I wanted to send a note of appreciation to Brian S. He is an amazing professional to work with. He was able to deal with our proposal inputs with changes and some within the 2-hour window of delivery.”
“I just want once again to reiterate how much I like working with Lucas T. He is professional, fast, straight to the point, and understands the program. He also provides the team with different view options to look at the data. It is benefiting both the team and leadership. I appreciate his help and support.”
“Luis E., thank you so much for investing your expertise in our team. I have received thanks and other positive feedback from people you interacted with over the last three weeks. I’ve also received inquiries from other adjacent organizations who have heard what we have done and would like to do the same. I greatly appreciate your written feedback. We’ll be having a major customer engagement in two weeks and I’ll be referring to your feedback during rehearsals next week. I hope we can work together again in the future.”
“Roger R. hit the ground running and is doing a great job. I would hire him again.”
“James E. successfully supported transition from the current Project Control Analyst (PCA) to become the new singular PCA for a $100M R&D full EV program. His support included managing monthly EV deliverables both to the PMO and the government customer, closeout of a major subcontractor, and working with the customer to determine desktop IBR criteria and movement toward implementing initiating criteria in preparation for a Q1 IBR. We plan to extend him until March 2021.”
“We truly appreciated the exceptional support that Jeffrey E. provided to our proposal effort. [He] went above and beyond the call of duty every step along the way, mentoring our authors to not only improve the product, but to improve their processes going forward here. Our proposal received high marks during color team reviews, and we could not have achieved those results without Jeffrey’s direct support.”
“I was recently copied on [the one year] anniversary of her [client] assignments. I had the good fortune of working with Eleni T. during her [program A] assignment and supporting my IPT CAM duties on the [program A] replan. I wanted to resonate on the professionalism, knowledge, and proficiency of her program planning and support, petitioning the recognition she deserves. I was sad to see her transition from [program A] to [program B]. Her program planning support was greatly appreciated.”
On Wednesday, 6 July 2017, an SMA client hosted an event in honor of Steve H.’s 17 years of continuous support to [one of their major programs]. We believe Steve’s 17 years is an SMA record for continuous deployment to a client. The client cited Steve’s ability to “make a positive impact” on all of his assignments on [that program].
“This is an absolute *AMAZING* accomplishment to achieve *first time quality approval* of SDRLs on the month we cut over from a manual process to the EVM Deltek Cobra tool. Not only did we complete the “90 day get well plan” objectives but we also achieved *first time quality* of the SDRLs. I want to thank you all for your effort in making this a reality!!!!”
“A big CONGRATULATIONS and Thank You for the support on the win! This couldn’t have been accomplished without you, and it’s been a privilege to work with y’all. Thank you for the guidance, for all of the long hours worked, for the training, collaboration, sprints, and for everything you did to submit the WINNING response! We look forward to future opportunities to work with you and WIN!”
“I wanted to sing Elisca S.’s praises to you. She is an amazing asset to our team; she clearly knows her stuff when it comes to planning, she drives the team to get their tasks done and she holds the team accountable. She’s fantastic at pulling together who she needs to get the right answers and leads all of us through monthly EV, rolling wave, etc. I’m very grateful we have her for all her hard work, week night and weekend efforts to support the team. She’s very deserving!”
“…I wanted to express my appreciation for the work SMA provided. In particular, John N. provided strong leadership and worked collaboratively to address and resolve issues. John made himself available day and night seven days a week. His dedication was remarkable and the work he produced was of high quality. I really enjoyed working with John and hope to have the opportunity again in the future. Thank you for making him available to work on our section.”
“…I wanted to express my appreciation for the work SMA provided. In particular, Jim G. was a stand out. He was the first to volunteer for assignments. He would finish the work quickly with high quality and then seek out new assignments to keep progress moving forward. Jim was a pleasure to work side-by-side with in developing our response. I appreciated his sense of humor and dedication to the effort. Thank you for making him available to work on our section.”
Robert D. and Brian S. were commended for their work with a new client pursuing a strategic opportunity. They did an outstanding job of leading the proposal effort. The government recently announced that the client won the competition, which will grow the company in a big way. [The client’s] owners praised Robert and Brian’s dedication to getting them a WIN. They stated that they had never met two guys that worked better together and represented SMA better!
“I think this virtual experience worked well for us. Rod O. was very well capable of handling virtual meetings as well as SharePoint for configuration management. Overhead support from Peter S. and Jeni P. made it even smoother. Thanks to entire SMA team.”
“Dan M. has been a great help for us here…over the many months he has worked here. Dan has diligently and skillfully supported multiple program teams with accurate and up-to-date schedule performance assessments. Without his support, we would not have been able to satisfy critical program reporting requirements. Dan’s support and willingness to help is well recognized by myself and the entire program management team here.’
“Our proposal was submitted at 12:07 pm today!!!!!!!!!!!! Ralphine I. and Al W., thank you for all your advice, hard work, guidance, and hand holding!! You are true professionals and I really appreciate your support and look forward to working with you as we move forward.”
“Elisca S. joined the team in April/May 2020 and has done an outstanding job. We just received our CPAR rating from US Air Force for the program and Scheduling has improved from Satisfactory to Very Good rating. I appreciate her help and dedication to the team and would like to share this good news with you. She always goes above and beyond and is very responsive. I enjoy working with her and hope to continue working with her in my next program.”
“Janet L. and Louise P. have been great assets to our team! Should the need arise for a Cost Analyst or Scheduler for my team I will definitely reach out to you because of the great support SMA has provided.”
“I wanted to highlight Eleni T.’s commitment to supporting the program over the last month. We have had a challenging month with lots of BCRs and some issues with our software. Eleni worked long days and supported right up until her PTO. Upon her return she eagerly jumped back in and supported all deliverables to guarantee on time completion of customer deliverables.”
“Betty G., Steve H., and Alan M., …I wanted to personally thank this team for your dedication, professionalism and stick-to-it-ness as you persevered in preparing and delivering the proposal. For sure, there is more to go, but your tireless efforts are much appreciated and foundational in carrying the program forward. Thank you for carrying our water. All the best and thanks—looking forward to capturing this program in support of the program!”
“We conducted our Technical Volume Red Team last Friday and received excellent comments from the reviewers. Lee E. has been a tremendous asset, working with me over the weekend to revise graphics and to re-apply formatting styles to produce a clean baseline document.”
“Steve B., thank you for your efforts supporting us here. You have done fantastic work. When we get closer to the Final RFP (or release of a Draft RFP) on the proposal, we will be reaching back out to you to re-engage full-time.”
“Joe B. We got this beast over the line! It was a pleasure and an honor to work with a true professional like you. Your calm demeanor, willful conduct of activities and tireless effort enabled us to collectively get there. Thanks for being a true partner in this effort and I wish you what promises to be a very relaxing weekend (at least I hope haha!).”
“Lee E. has been invaluable at turning our engineering concepts into polished diagrams. He has been responsive in getting the last minute changes in place.”
“Just a short note to thank you for bringing Lee E. to us. He is a seasoned professional, anticipating my needs and delivering what I need, when I need it. His experience with USG proposal requests makes us working together easy. Lee’s attitude of being a team player is the grease to keep things running smooth. Since I’m in proposal mode, graphically: Lee’s professional skills + direct/relevant experience + ‘here to help’ attitude → smooth, efficient proposal development!”
“We would be dead in the water without Mike’s skillset and stellar performance pushing us in the right direction. In my opinion, Mike D. operated far outside of his requirements to help our team succeed; he was truly a team player. I’ve never seen anything like it! At the end of the day, if I can have one person on my team in the future, it’s Mike. He’s genuine and capable. Thanks to SMA for sending him our way!”
“[Chris J.,] thanks again for the great [proposal development] training this week…and your flexibility. I’m going to [say] how much I appreciate the training and your approach. The group felt very comfortable with you and the impromptu topics and sidebars made this new knowledge real for our group. Great work, thanks again!”
“Marc W., Debbie D., and Bill H., we are successfully under contract for the DARPA program. Your help in the proposal last year was instrumental for this success! Thank you again! I only regret that I had to wait this long to share this news!”
“Brian S. and Robert D. just completed their work yesterday and did a great job getting us to final! Very long days for Brian, and he was key contributor to our electronic and print ‘book check’ submission success. Thank you for SMA’s support on this bid!”
“[The customer] put a very nebulous task in front of us, and Shane T. took it by the horns and through a lot of [Excel] acumen, patience, and many meetings really delivered for [the customer]. It continues to be a pleasure working with Shane on the team, and I wanted to pass this glowing review of his performance along to you.”
“We couldn’t have won this award without Danny L. He was a key member of the team, and is always a pleasure to work with.”
“Jeffrey E. is doing an excellent job, without his expertise and guidance we would not be where we are. He has taught us many things but the most important fact he keeps reminding us: ‘the only thing that is fixed is the proposal delivery date.’”
“Elisca S. has been doing an outstanding job. I gave her one of our toughest programs, one that was on the CEO’s watchlist, and she has made significant contributions to getting them ‘out of the red.’ I consider her one of the top planners in our product line and trust her with overseeing the training of a new hire. She has been my go-to for providing backup support and has helped a number of programs get on track where they were struggling. She is a really a credit to SMA’s excellence!”
“I wanted to say thank you to Dick E. on so many levels! (1) for an awesome job on the templates and user guide—HUGE success!!! (2) for putting up with my crazy thoughts—no easy task. (3) for getting up oh-dark-early to share with our team—sorry! And most importantly for making me look good to my boss—he called me after and was tickled pink with everything!”
“In the year Liz C. has been here, she has earned the respect of everyone for her diligence, hard work and pleasant personality. Her boss relies on her as much or more than any of our employees because she always gets the job done with little need for supervision. She is always ready to help out and has covered for me more than once in important meetings. In the face of increased work load and attrition, she has been the steady competent hand that keeps things moving in proposal management.”
“Melissa W. is a valued member of my team. She is professional, determined, proactive and creative with her project management assignments. I am able to rely on her projects being well-managed and know that I will only be engaged when needed. Melissa handles her team well, her project management duties well and is an excellent communicator. She escalates effectively, and when she has a communications difficulty, she contacts me for guidance and support. I’m glad to have her on my team.”
“Just wanted to take a moment and thank Shane T. for all his efforts on our project. It’s been great to have him back! It can be challenging work, with no shortage of twists and turns. And Shane handles it very well both with the client and with the team. Also, on the project economics side, he has really done a pristine job to get the forecast and tracking all in order—better than many other projects I see across our business. Glad to have him as a part of our team delivering for us.”
“As COVID-19 home working procedures were enacted, the proposal team took on the challenge of running a complex, multi-business unit bid entirely remotely. All worked under tight deadlines, the proposal team delivered a high quality proposal on time and within budget to the customer.” (SMA Associate Jolyne T. provided production & graphics support to this effort.)
“First and foremost, Carla W.’s demeanor makes her a joy to work with. In a very short time Carla forged friendships and professional alliances with team members that allowed her to be much more effective in getting the job done. Her work products with the IMS and multiple other tracking tools allowed us to keep track and stay on top of all the key activities—which is critical for complex jobs like ours which have so many ‘moving parts.’ We already miss her! I heartily endorse Carla for any future engagement involving complex scheduling and planning needs—hands down! Thank you for sending us such a capable and personable resource in Carla. She has been a huge help to this program and a positive influence in our organization.”
“I’d like to pile the compliments on. This was a complicated deal that could have significant long-term benefit. …Rod O., you continue to impress me with your ability to lead us all to an exemplary product. The dedication and can-do attitude of all of you who invested so much time on this made it not only a success but even enjoyable (most days). Thanks to all of you for an awesome job!
“Seriously, finding amazing multimedia talent has been the bane of my professional existence. You two [Luis E. and Carolina] are stuck with me moving forward because I will want to work with you again. Not only was Carolina damn good at what she does, but she was a pleasure to partner with.”
“I just wanted to reach out and let you know Simon D. has been a pleasure to work with and we are making good progress.”
“Congratulations for another win for SMA. Our relationship with your team is instrumental in our success current and future. Thank you!”
“I want to extend my thanks to the SMA graphics folks (Lori C. and Jeannie W.) for their tireless support on the proposal. Typically, proposals are a major impact on my team resulting [in] complete disruption to our normal workflow while forcing my team to work many weekends. In fact, their great work has reduced that significantly. [The proposal] graphics has been seamless with minimal impact. In short, Lori and Jeannie have been rock stars who are doing an incredible job. Thank you!”
“Liz C. exceeded my expectations and greatly enhanced the quality of our proposal. We could not have done it without her! She worked very well with the team and enhanced teamwork among its members. Our proposal was much better than would have been the case without Liz’s support. The final product had a look of professionalism and detail that would not have been possible without her assistance.”
“I just wanted to share that [we] think Lisa N. is awesome. We were talking about how relaxed we feel, and how collaborative we’re all becoming. We aren’t afraid to ask questions anymore or share ideas. [She] makes us feel valued and that our group is really becoming whole. [She’s] doing a great job as our lead and are just an awesome person all the way around. Thanks for all you do.”
“I have nothing but the highest praise for all you did to get us to where we are, Ralphine I. Please put me down as a fan and a reference any time you need it!”
Mike D. is implementing Earned Value Management at our client. On delivery of his first Program Performance Report, client responses included, “Hey Mike, superb work!”, “Mike, great work!”, and “Holy cow—this is incredible!”
“I do want to express my sincere appreciation for Carol M.’s work with our team. We have no in-house experience in this area and she was incredibly patient with us, returning to first principles and being thorough and deliberate. I really enjoyed the experience and am grateful to both Carol and SMA.”