Project Staffing Has Never Been Easier. TOD® revolutionizes how you can identify and deploy expert professional talent by providing direct digital access to an exclusive network of vetted professionals. Whether you need to fill a single gap or staff a full project team, TOD® instantly finds professionals with the right skills, availability, and experience.

Make Workforce Flexibility Your Competitive Advantage. Unleash the power of flexible talent with TOD®, an agile talent management system that empowers your organization to mobilize internal or external talent. TOD® captures and digitally enables the full end-to-end process from identifying talent options, comparing experience, checking availability though to assigning and managing individuals on project teams.

Use our strategic approach to navigating reporting and pricing requirements in SB 17 and other states’ actions

Start early and aggressively attack the risks that can cripple the transition from proposal to program

With customer budgets shrinking, cost is becoming the deciding factor in most procurements: make sure your bid price remains competitive. Our rigorous Basis of Estimate (BOE) development process results in a well-substantiated price.

An EVMS Mock Review increases your likelihood of a favorable government review, significantly reduces the risk of a poor customer review, increases the effectiveness of your EVMS, and gives you insights from EVM industry experts

Control Account Manager (CAM) training make sure your CAMs are better prepared, and government reviews are more successful. Issues uncovered through interviews can be addressed before the government review.

Our CAM EVMS training is a fast and effective way to learn the basics of EVM, providing better program reviews. We have trained over 15,000 students over 20 years. This course is part of an integrated CAM training curriculum, backed up by a full range of EVMS services.

EVMS Gap Analysis is a valuable first step to implement a certified EVMS, reveals gaps which can be addressed, and expedites the EVMS certification process. Our 22 years of corporate EVMS experience ensures a fast, cost-effective implementation

Have a better audit, or avoid one altogether. Our IMS Compliance Review reveals IMS gaps which can be fixed ahead of an audit, and improves effectiveness of your IMS as a management tool

All our service offerings on one page

Our Market Assessments are 100% tailored to your current capabilities, financial thresholds, growth goals and risk profile. We maintain an independent stance, unbiased by corporate dynamics, to develop the most effective revenue growth path into your adjacent markets. Whether you are looking for growth via a new technology, customer or domain, we have the expertise and demonstrated client successes to jump start your revenue growth.

Our PTW process uses fact-based, rigorously documented, open source data providing your capture team with the detail to adjust your solution to improve your competitive position. Our team-based analysis by using our own proven methodology provides you with a holistic view of your competitive position, not just price

We provide complete services for EVMS, planning, scheduling and cost management; the right level of support, from surge to outsourcing, from proposal through execution; and dedicated schedulers and EV personnel for short or long term jobs.

Don’t go it alone on your most important programs. Our COMPASS solution avoids costly delays at program start up, avoids rebaselining, provides better control of high-risk subcontractors, and reduces government scrutiny

These nine principles of winning and proposal development have made SMA, Inc. the most successful and largest capture and proposal services firm in the world with over $400 Billion of contract awards across all industry sectors. Traditional approaches get in the way and today’s best practices are insufficient to consistently win. Undertake your next pursuit with confidence with the nine principles revealed in this presentation.

SMA presents a re-evaluation of price-to-win and other similar methodologies traditionally used in pricing strategy. Today’s competitive environment is an order of magnitude more complex than when the traditional approaches were matured and are no longer adequate.  This presentation describes SMA’s point of view on a modern approach to pricing strategy for competitive procurements, and how to avoid the next strategic surprise!

In this presentation, SMA President and CEO, Ajay Patel, CF APMP, asks if we have neglected proposal text by focusing too much on the graphics. Do we need to re-emphasize proposal text as the cohesive glue that binds the graphics and tells our story?

SMA CEO Ajay Patel offers guidance on what to do when you find yourself in the unfortunate situation of a proposal that all instincts are telling you is deeply in trouble.

In their White Paper, James Farwell and Dave Patterson ask whether China waging war against the U.S. and other nations with their response to COVID-19. If so, what should be the response?

Hybrid threats cover the range from propaganda to what is often called warfare in the “gray zone,” using proxies or “little green men.” Yet the focus of more recent concern is threats and attacks that seek to remain below the level of kinetic war. What challenges does this create for intelligence?

In 1965, distinguished defense journalist Hanson Baldwin lamented that the Armed Force Procurement Regulations, the “bible” for military contractors, less than 125 pages in 1947, was 1,200 pages and growing daily by 1965. He would be both surprised and pleased to find that today’s bible, Defense Department (DoD) Instruction 5000.2 is a reasonable 172 pages. However, the time to execute a contract has risen dramatically, delaying the fielding of new capability. What would Baldwin say about that?

The goal of hybrid threats is to achieve outcomes without actual war. The target is opposing societies, not combatants, and the distinction between combatants and citizens breaks down almost entirely. Tactic include the simultaneous employment of a range of instruments, from threats of war to propaganda and everything in between. There are a number of ways we can respond…

Presented by Dick Eassom, CF APMP Fellow, VP Corporate Support, at the Association of Proposal Management Professionals (APMP) California Chapter Annual Training Day 2016 in Anaheim, California

Time as an Independent Variable (TAIV) offers a methodology for determining the right timeline for a given defense program through a process using time as an independent variable in a way similar to using cost as an independent variable (CAIV). Using TAIV establishes a credible way of reconciling cost, capability, and the time required to field a needed capability.

In 2004, the Monitor Group investigated the idea of applying Time as an Independent Variable (TAIV) to the US Department of Defense (DoD) acquisition process When combined with weighted consideration of capability, cost, and schedule in the requirements development process, TAIV will be a major factor in DoD acquisition transformation.

A 2004-2006 compendium and 2007 update from Monitor Government Venture Services, LLC, on the application of “Time as an Independent Variable” (TAIV) for Time Certain Development

This synopsis describes the changes in the DoD Acquisition System implementation contained in DoD Instruction 5000.02, reissued in December 2008. This reissue can be characterized as: major overhaul – reissue rather than revision; new policy directed by Congress – incorporates numerous new/revised sections of public law since 2003; and new/revised regulatory policy

A case study of our EVMS certification support for the DOE Hanford Plateau Remediation Contract

The law directs the DoD to increase internal regulation and external reporting in three key acquisition areas: cost estimation, systems engineering, and performance assessment

By Bill Fallon, ADM USN (Ret), former SMA Senior Advisor, and Drosten Fisher, former SMA Director of Management Consulting

Presented by Dick Eassom, CF APMP Fellow, VP Corporate Support, at the Association of Proposal Management Professionals (APMP) Bid & Proposal Con 2015 in Seattle, Washington

Presented by Ajay Patel, President & CEO, at the Association of Proposal Management Professionals (APMP) Bid & Proposal Con 2015 in Seattle, Washington

State and local legislation to manage prescription drug costs can change the pharmaceutical industry’s profitability and business models. California’s SB 17 law is catalyzing similar legislation from other states. One focus is drug price transparency. Our strategy-led approach and deep experience support your planning, structuring, and executing compliance activities.

Recently released government policy documents indicate that the Trump Administration’s national security priorities will benefit many SMA clients, especially in the aerospace and defense industry. For the first time in many years, a coordinated and integrated approach to strategy provides opportunities for accelerated new system development.

Greg Treverton, former Chair of the US National Intelligence Council, and SMA Executive Advisor, reflects on the last quarter century of NIC activities and assesses whether this organization continues to provide an actionable interpretation of the truth for senior US policy makers.

The “Pre-Decisional” draft Nuclear Posture Review (NPR) developed by the Trump Administration is thoughtful and addresses threats to the U.S. as they are. The introduction establishes that the world that might have seemed on the edge of security from nuclear conflict, today realistically shows no evidence for such optimism.

Large companies are particularly susceptible to poor forecasts as they try to extend their home market success beyond their borders with big projects that help them “make their numbers”. Our analysis shows that compared to forecasts in their home markets, these “adjacent” market predictions are wildly off.

By producing a National Security Strategy in his first year in office, President Trump has indicated that he views the NSS as an important security roadmap to keep Congress and the American people informed of his administration’s national security intentions.

Geopolitics, in the form of great power rivalry, seems back in the last half decade—an unwelcome surprise after the previous decade when the country had laser focused on the non-state threat of terrorism. So: is the Cold War back? Or even the risk of cold war becoming hot? Greg Treverton, SMA Executive Advisor, asks what is different this time around.

Recent SMA analysis shows that 89% of government procurement activity misses its target date. Of 18 recent representative Major Defense Acquisition Programs (MDAPs), the US government delayed 16 RFPs or awards up to 544 days or accelerated them as much as 128 days.

If we’ve learned anything in 2017, it is that we will continue to be surprised. And we’ve also learned that surprises are as likely, perhaps more likely, to arise here in the United States than somewhere else on the globe.In those circumstances, predicting the future is a fool’s game, but let’s play. Here are not predictions, but rather things to watch for in 2018…

The basics (and some not so basics) for proposal production teams to show proposal authors on how Word works, and what we can do to get proposal authors to be a help, not a hindrance, to proposal development. Dick Eassom, CF APMP Fellow, SMA Vice President of Corporate Support (aka Wordman) presented at the Association of Proposal Management Professionals (APMP) California Chapter 14th Annual Training Day in Anaheim, on Friday, 3 November 2017.

Implementing the structure and discipline of the government proposal process can improve on-time submittal and win rates of commercial proposals. Liz Chamberlain, SMA Proposal Manager, presented at the Association of Proposal Management Professionals (APMP) California Chapter 14th Annual Training Day in Anaheim, on Friday, 3 November 2017.

Can we counter other nations’ abilities to use cyber attacks to find and release discrediting information, and use social media for propaganda campaigns to influence future US elections? Greg Treverton, SMA Executive Adviser, assisted by Alicia Chen, show how the Russians interfered with the 2016 US election, and provide their thoughts on how we can prevent this in the future.

What are the future challenges facing national intelligence? What will be the effect of the Trump administration? Greg Treverton, SMA Executive Advisor, provides his opinion.

SMA and Parker teamed over the past six years to mature the capabilities of the Parker PMO. Today, Parker has an organic world-class capability. In 2016, Parker received the nomination from the Project Management Institute (PMI) for PMO of the Year.

Presented by Dick Eassom, CF APMP Fellow, SMA VP Corporate Support, at the Association of Proposal Management Professionals (APMP) Bid & Proposal Con 2016 in Boston, Massachusetts

Presented by Dick Eassom, CF APMP Fellow, SMA VP Corporate Support, at the Association of Proposal Management Professionals (APMP) Bid & Proposal Con 2016 in Boston, Massachusetts

A comparison by Jacque Keats, Chief Operations Officer, of two similar projects at one of our clients: one using traditional waterfall development, and the second using Agile. Despite the team’s initial unfamiliarity with Agile, only the Agile project was delivered early, under budget, and pleased the customer.

Jacque Keats, Chief Operations Officer, explains how EVMS implemented with an Agile methodology can provide performance management, metrics, and reporting for small support contracts and IDIQ task orders that trip the EVMS threshold.

Russia is a failing petro-autocracy. Virtually everything Vladimir Putin has done temporarily extends Russia’s corrupt government but hastens its inevitable decline. Yet on the world stage, he has played a weak hand exceeding well. And he has done so increasing brazenly. The question is not what Russia is doing but what to do about it.

As healthcare costs continue to rise across the country, players across the commercial healthcare system are continually exploring new and innovative concepts that can bring cost savings to providers, insurance companies and beneficiaries. Due to its critical mission, beneficiary population that mirrors the US population, and desire to cut costs, DHA has the ability to become a leader in the federal health sector and the broader US healthcare industry.

Based on current trends, what does the future have in store for us five years from now, and 20 years from now, and how might this affect US global policy, especially with respect to poorer countries? Greg Treverton, SMA Executive Adviser, gives his predictions.

Will the Trump administration be a boom for the defense industry? Greg Treverton, SMA Executive Adviser, Dave Patterson, SMA SVP Strategic Sales, and Ajay Patel, SMA President & CEO, revisit their earlier analysis.