CSSS.NET has many years of experience managing subcontractors and employees while ensuring clients receive the quality services they deserve.

CSSS.NET retains full accountability for task order performance, ensuring that the client’s goals are met and that there is a single point of contact with which to interface. We manage teammates, subcontractors, and vendors in accordance with the Federal Acquisition Regulations (FARs) through corporate policies and procedures. We will conduct teleconferences with our entire team on each task order set aside for small business within the Functional Areas we are bidding in order to determine if we have the right capabilities and strengths to offer on a particular effort.

We act as one integrated team, where our teammates fill both leadership and staff positions. Teammate input to the monthly Cost Performance Reports (CPR), TO reports, and deliverables are submitted in accordance with requirements.

The CSSS.NET Team will apply proven management techniques to ensure task order completion and best value to the Government. Our management processes include collaborative planning, scheduling, tracking, monitoring, contracting, purchasing and analysis tools. We recognize the nature of this contract can result in tasking which poses a potential for organizational conflict of interest (OCI). Our collaborative management process facilitates early identification of these OCI issues. When a potential for OCI is identified for a task order, we will determine if there is an acceptable mitigation strategy. If not, we will notify the Government. If so, we will document our OCI mitigation plan, seek Government approval of the plan, and upon approval, implement the mitigation strategy.

To manage task order execution, performance monitoring, and reporting, we will use a Task Assignment Plan. Our process for providing responsive TAPs, is modeled after our mentor Northrop Grumman’s TAP and has proven successful on numerous BPAs.

A primary means CSSS.NET uses to manage change starts in the beginning where we strive to hire individuals who are considered by their peers as the best of breed in their fields within the local area. These are people who have demonstrated a capacity to actively embrace changes within the IT field. They have demonstrated this by continually refreshing their skill set to keep abreast of technology. We have enjoyed success in hiring these people partially because we take a very proactive stance of encouraging our employees to seek out training they (or their managers) feel would be valuable to the client. IT personnel understand that training is a form of job insurance. The more technically current their skills are the more opportunities they will have. CSSS.NET understands the more skilled our personnel are, the more sought after our firm is in the federal marketplace. Therefore, it is incumbent upon us as a firm to foster an attitude of continual learning. This is how we deliver a best value service to our client.

We believe a majority of the stress experienced is fostered by a sense of minimal meaningful support from management. We encourage our employees to attend training seminars, college classes, and technology symposiums, in their respective fields of expertise. CSSS.NET demonstrates our deep commitment to our training policy by allowing time to attend events and training during business hours if the client mission allows for it. We have an educational assistance program which reimburses employees for training received which supports the goal of either furthering degrees within their field, or certifications to enhance their ability to meet the needs of a client in the most optimal manner. This fosters an environment where our employee’s want to keep their skills current as well as enhancing their technical expertise in their given arena.

We are also able to reach back to our Mentor, Northrop Grumman, for their training opportunities. When there is a new technology application or device deployed we send our employees to the applicable training course to ensure they are formally trained. A case in point would be the recent increased use of Blackberry devices used by many senior leaders in the DoD. We have sent employees who are responsible for ensuring these devices are up and on-line to vendor supplied training. We also utilize a Train the Trainer concept when the situation warrants. By using this system we are able to maximize our workforce training for the new technologies while keeping costs and absences to a minimum. CSSS.NET also is known for “brown-bag” seminars. Periodically, during lunch, a guest speaker comes and presents some current topic appropriate to the needs of our USSTRATCOM personnel. These include new software products or processes on the horizon, or perhaps a new process which enhances a customer’s current processes.

Our position on training is one of the factors that allows CSSS.NET to be very successful in maintaining a stable workforce over the ten years since being formed.

CSSS.NET employs quality processes across all facets of our business. We have developed extensive procedures for the tracking of processes to ensure we are minimizing the need to rework solutions. CSSS.NET has demonstrated a commitment to improved quality processes and change management by sending our employees to Six Sigma Training and by leveraging our Mentor Protégé relationship with Northrop Grumman, a company who is a leader in the implementation of quality principles. With the assistance of Northrop Grumman, CSSS.NET is in the process of securing both our CMMI level 2 and ISO certifications. CSSS.NET has furthered it’s commitment to quality practices by strategically teaming with firms known for their outstanding quality standards. This means we will be well suited for ensuring all TO’s are implemented as dictated by CMMI, ISO, and PMBOK. We understand it will be through the use of these standards that we will be able to provide the Government the savings desired over the life of the contract.

Direct, effective communication between respective management levels of the Government management and the CSSS.NET team is critical to successful performance of a task. CSSS.NET will establish positive relationships between our employees and the designated T.O. interfaces. At every level, CSSS.NET personnel will facilitate an open flow of information vital for successful execution of this contract. CSSS.NET personnel use Change Management and Microsoft Project to enable our Task and Project Managers to quantify and predict the potential outcome of any proposed task. This information will be provided by our QA Manager to the CSO on a regular basis so the course of action taken is validated as the one which best addresses the Government's goals and objectives.

The QA Manager will work closely with the Government management team implementing CSSS.NET’s Quality Assurance Program Plan (QAPP). This will serve as a roadmap and yardstick for process excellence.

The CSSS.NET QA Manager verifies program processes are documented and used, and personnel are adequately trained in our policies and procedures. To facilitate our program we conduct scheduled, as well as unscheduled, quality audits to determine our performance against program quality objectives. Positive and negative results are analyzed, and recommendations for improvement actions, corrective and preventive, are reported to the Program Manager. Training, quality control, audits, timely corrective action, and continual process management improvement are the essential elements of CSSS.NET’s approach to QA.

In addition to status reporting, our CSSS.NET Program Managers will collect and distribute project performance results to appropriate project stakeholders. Project performance (earned value) will be reported regularly displaying variances and forecasts (minimum on a monthly basis) on schedule, cost, and quality. For each reporting period, variances will be reported on project milestones, tasks expected to start but have not started, tasks scheduled to complete but not completed, and resource utilization showing how much time project team members have contributed to the project. Through the course of the project, our CSSS.NET project management will continue to review and respond to changes in risk.

CSSS.NET‘s leadership buy-in and commitment to quality principles provides the underpinnings necessary for contract success.

CSSS.NET as a company has spent many years working with and for many of the IT industry’s leading companies. We have enjoyed great relationships with our partners and have learned from them. We know from first-hand experience the value of being responsive and cooperative with customers. As a small business we believe our customers include not just the direct client but our subcontractors, employees and the ultimate end user of the product or service provided. We work hard to ensure that each receives the quality and level of support they need and deserve. It is because of this attitude that we are a highly sought after small business within the IT industry. For our clients, we believe a customer focus means not just meeting requirements but the inclusion of the customer in the processes as a team member. We want our customers to know we expect them to actively participate throughout the program. By fostering an environment where the combined members of the CSSS.NET team and the Government are working together we feel we can guarantee both responsiveness and cooperation. This teamwork is facilitated by a combination of formal Integrated Process Teams (IPTs), and informal open forums where team members can discuss issues. This close working relationship of the CSSS.NET teammates and the Government further strengthens the spirit of cooperation.

CSSS.NET understands there are always going to be situations where problems may arise. We choose to use a Direct Dialogue Program where employees are encouraged to bring their work-related question, problem, suggestion or complaint to their immediate supervisor, who will respond as thoroughly and promptly as possible. If an employee feels the need, they may discuss their concern with their supervisor's superior or with the Human Resources Department in an environment free of retribution. CSSS.NET emphasizes two-way communication and early attention to issues to allow those concerned time to explore alternatives, and decide on the best solution. The intent is to affirm our commitment to our employees to provide a quality environment for their work experience. When our employees know, through experience, that they are valued, then the company will be able to provide the highest quality services to our customers.