BLOG
Predictive Software May Forecast Crimes
Last week, I attended the NIJ Conference 2010 and sat in on a fascinating session: “How Predictive Policing is Changing the Law Enforcement Landscape.” Predictive Policing has interested us at Evans & Chambers for some time. We do a lot of work with law enforcement agencies, and Predictive Policing is the newest movement in policing and is the marriage of law enforcement and technology.Think for a moment of old police shows and movies in which police officers use pushpins and a big wall map to visualize the locations of previous crimes. This is the traditional method of policing: manually analyzing past events and looking for patterns to emerge. The new methods use the past events, too, but new software and technologies can be used to predict areas where future events might occur. This allows officers to focus attention in those “hot spot” areas, with the goal of focusing police efforts in the hot spot area and perhaps catching the criminal in the act.
War on Terrorism: Losing Battles
Last month, Dennis Blair announced his intention to step down as Director of National Intelligence. As a government vendor providing information sharing solutions to the intelligence community, this announcement prompted us to wonder whether the announcement was related to the intelligence lapses that occurred on Mr. Blair’s watch. Due to the detrimental results of these and other systematic failures, we believe there is no room for error in agencies’ ability to proactively share relevant information with others.
First up on our radar: the Fort Hood shooting on November 5th, 2009, in which a U.S. Army major is accused of killing 13 people and wounding 30 others. After the incident, investigators found e-mails between the shooter and Anwar al-Awlaki, an Islamic lecturer who purportedly inspires terrorists. On Christmas Day, December 25, 2009, the “underwear bomber,” a member of al-Qaeda tried to set off a plastic explosive that had been sewn into his underwear. Later, it was revealed that information about the suspect had failed to cross agency lines. In fact, an investigation into the lapses revealed a total of 14 failures. The next incident occurred just five days later, in the Afghan city of Khost, at the Forward Operating Base Chapman. A Jordanian doctor and double agent loyal to Islamist Extremists was on a suicide mission that ended in the deaths of seven CIA operatives and the wounding of six others. Despite his history of contributing to online extremist forums and a prior arrest by Jordanian intelligence, he was invited to the CIA base to brief operatives on some information. Inexplicably, he was not subjected to the usual security measures upon entering the base. Fast forward to May 1, 2010, when Faisal Shahzad attempted to detonate a car bomb in busy Times Square. Fortunately, the bomb was “amateurish,” and did not go off. Despite the fact that his name was added to the no-fly list, he was able to purchase airline tickets, pass through security, and board a plane bound for Pakistan before officials arrested him just before take-off.
While there has been substantial improvement since September 11, 2001, it is our hope that the new leadership will continue to improve upon the information software, systems, and processes that contribute to Homeland security.
Cloud Computing 101
So, you’ve heard or read about cloud computing, but exactly what does this term mean? Here, we’ll explain the concept, and compare it to a process you may already be familiar with. We’ll also discuss some pros and cons to cloud computing.
“Cloud computing” refers to the way data, software, and applications are managed, organized, and accessed. It is a mechanism for the delivery of services. Cloud computing service providers provide space for customers, including individuals, businesses, and governments, to store information, software, and applications off-site. No standard definition exists, but The National Institute of Standards and Technology lists the characteristics of cloud computing as “on-demand self-service, broad network access (internet standards based), location independent resource pooling, rapid elasticity, and measured service.” As an illustration of the concept of cloud computing, think of how your home computer houses your software and data including important documents and family photos. When thinking about backing up your data, you might consider a virtual backup service such as Mozy or Carbonite. These services maintain your data on their servers, which you can access over the Internet, from any computer. The virtual backup service might represent the experience you have when accessing data on a cloud: your data is stored on another server, and you are able access and retrieve your data at any time through an Internet site. You may have already worked off a cloud before without realizing it. Google Docs, Facebook, and Skype, are examples of applications that are hosted using cloud technology. As the technology advances, it’s possible that cloud computing may even eliminate your need for a hard drive in the future.
Cloud computing may prove most valuable for companies and governments. Currently, companies purchase huge amounts of hard drive space and servers to store volumes of data. In addition, companies must have enough computing power to host public websites and private intranets. Because of the size of space needed to accommodate additional users or an increase in users at a particular time, companies must invest in additional space than that which is actually used at any one point in time. Organizations, including government agencies like GSA, NASA and Navy, are working to evaluate the cloud’s usefulness for decreasing costs by reducing the need for hardware, software, IT personnel, physical space, and maintenance. In cloud computing, a company can also take advantage of the processing power of the cloud for increases in website traffic or large calculations. In this way, additional resources can be purchased as needed, rather than in the traditional model where maximum space is purchased, but not necessarily consumed. As with any technology, there are possible drawbacks, and with cloud computing: it comes down to privacy and security. Once data storage and management is transferred to an outside party, the owner loses a certain amount of control over that data. In addition, the owner can no longer take full responsibility for the security of the data and may experience increased opportunities for a security breach. To state it simply, since the owner can access it’s data from any location, it’s possible that others can, too.
Now that you’ve got a solid understanding of what’s at stake, what do you think? How would you feel about cloud computing solutions if you were the company or government agency? Share your thoughts or questions in the comments section below.
Where We’ve Been…and Where We’re Going
2009 was an exciting year for Evans & Chambers Technology. It was a year of continued high performance, growth, team building, giving, and positioning for the future.
Performance
This year, our core team played various roles to support the development of several secure, robust, and easy to use mission-critical web applications. Some of us wrote software code, managed teams and schedules, and conducted application testing and software deployment. We provided subject matter expertise to our customers in many areas including enterprise custom software development, web 2.0 concepts, project management, and information sharing in the Intelligence Community. Congratulations to all of the Evans & Chambers employees who received accolades from their respective customers in 2009.
This year our Recruiting team performed at its highest level yet. In a slow economy, the team added hundreds of cleared resumes to our application tracking system and interviewed a good percentage of them. We welcomed several new members to our team, and are positioned to welcome more in 2010.
Team building
At Evans & Chambers we like to have fun, which doesn’t seem too difficult for a company full of great personalities! Thanks to our CFO (Chief Fun Officer), we enjoyed several happy hours at new and exciting local area restaurants (Il Fornaio was my favorite), got a little competitive at the company picnic at Dulles Golf Park, and took an adventurous weekend retreat to Baltimore. That’s where we learned to sail in extremely low winds and watched the Orioles play at Camden yards. Then, as a way to thank our core and virtual teams, we enjoyed a night of good food and conversation at the annual holiday party at Panache Restaurant. It was a fun 2009, and we look forward to even more fun next year.
Giving
At Evans & Chambers, we strive to give back to our communities through charitable giving. This year we donated to the Liberty God Parent Home. This sponsorship enabled two young women living in Lynchburg, VA to reach their goals despite some difficult challenges life has thrown their way. The Liberty God Parent Home is an organization that provides life skills for teenage pregnancy through counseling, adoption services, and higher education opportunities.
Positioning for the future
We have put ourselves in a strong position for success in 2010. From a new business perspective, our Business Development team wrote and submitted a strong proposal for an important Government contract that will allow Evans & Chambers the opportunity to make the most of our 8(a) designation. Evans & Chambers has also joined several teams to bid on 5 large government procurement efforts in the coming year.
In addition to bidding on the competitive contracts above, we began executing plans to deliver new Information Sharing solutions for the Government that will allow local police departments to better “predict” where a criminal or terrorist event will occur. We also have plans to explore new opportunities within the commercial sector, including a project that would allow us to assist companies involved in litigation with the discovery process. At Evans & Chambers, we strive to provide above-average service and consultation and are excited to explore these and other opportunities.
As we say goodbye to 2009, we introduce a new theme for 2010: “Excellence through Execution.” That’s our reminder to be mindful that as a company or an individual contributor to a project, excellence is achieved not only through individual mastery of ones craft, sharp intelligence, or a motivated attitude. Excellence is realized when those collective strengths are put into action. Only then can we deliver results and make a positive impact.
Happy New Year!
Jamil Evans, President
Evans & Chambers Technology
Evans & Chambers is now an 8(a) company
That’s right. Evans & Chambers joined the 8(a) program in July of this year, after operating without it for over 5 years in the government contracting community. Occasionally I’m asked about the 8(a) program by prospective employees during interviews and business owners who are not in the government arena. To help better explain the 8(a) program and why you should be aware of it, I’ve written this quick primer.
From the SBA web site: “The SBA’s 8(a) BD Program, named for a section of the Small Business Act, is a business development program created to help small disadvantaged businesses compete in the American economy and access the federal procurement market.” A small disadvantaged business (SDB) is one whose revenues do not exceed $21.5 million per year(for our industry), owned by one or more socially or economically disadvantage individuals (Black, Hispanic, Native American, Asian Pacific, etc), owned by owners of good character, and able to demonstrate potential for success.
It’s not particularly easy to obtain. The applicant firm must have been operational for at least two full years, and show increasing operating revenues each year in the primary industry in which the applicant firm is seeking 8(a) program certification. The owners can also not be worth too much money. It makes sense: the SBA wants to know that the SDB has the ability to make use of the assistance they’ll provide, yet not owned by principles who can finance the business using their personal fortunes.
Even though we have successfully won contracts and built exemplary past performance based on our own merits, Evans & Chambers sees the 8(a) status as a means to solidify our position as a leader in the government contracting landscape. We can achieve this by utilizing these key benefits available solely to the 8(a) participants:
- Participants can receive sole-source contracts, up to a ceiling of $3 million for goods and services.
- Participants can bid on competitive acquisitions that are ’set-aside’ for 8(a) and SDBs. Federal acquisition policies encourage Federal agencies to award a certain percentage of their contracts to 8(a) companies.
- To speed up the award process, the SBA has signed Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs) with 25 Federal agencies allowing them to contract directly with certified 8(a) firms.
While the 8(a) designation is a big help, simply attaining our 8(a) status will not bring business like that movie Field of Dreams. Evans & Chambers must continue to emphasize what makes us unique, network constantly, and put in the hard work to market directly to the government in order to achieve that next level of success.
Hope that helps. If you have more questions, contact me or check out the 8(a) FAQ page on the SBA site.
A Bailout Plan for your Career
Gas prices, home foreclosures, bank failures, 700M bailout plan, what’s next? In uncertain times like these our emotions tell us to get out of the game. Buy high, sell low? On the contrary, finance expert Suze Orman is urging us to contribute more to our retirement plans and 401k’s (provided you’re not within a few years of retirement) because lower stock prices mean we can buy stock for less. Real estate mogul Donald Trump is emploring us to invest in real estate for the first time in 10 years! Buy low, sell high.
So, how does this relate to your career?
A recent blog by Seth Godin suggests that these uncertain times make for less competition for jobs and business opportunities. I agree. This is an opportunity to take your career to the next level. If you’ve been contemplating a jump from programmer to project manager, now might be a good time. You’ll probably face less competition. Why not help out with proposal and marketing efforts? Your efforts will be appreciated now more than ever because your company’s chances of winning the work is higher.
Join an exciting small business where you can capitalize on this rare opportunity to catapult your career.
Business Matchmaking and The Law of Attraction
If you’ve heard of the OSDBU Office of Small Disadvantaged Business Utilization) Procurement Conference, you won’t be surprised that my mind has been on the conference quite frequently. I’m confident of the positive impact the matchmaking events will have on our company. During these 15 minute sessions, we’ll sit face-to-face with reps of 3 different large government prime contractors. The purpose of the meetings is… well… to make a business match.
As Judy, our executive coach would say, my RAS (reticular activating system) has been set. The “Law of Attraction” went out and brought back two perfectly relevant magazine articles for me. My RAS tapped me on the shoulder and made sure I read them… figuratively speaking.
The first article was “Match Game”, by Mark Henricks. This article was published in the magazine “Winning Bids”, which I picked up at the local SBDC. The article gives a great overview of the OSDBU and other similar conferences with matchmaking events.
The second article, “The 10/20/30 Rule of PowerPoint,” I ran across today in Entrepreneur magazine. Guy Kawasaki gives his rules for creating and delivering an effective Powerpoint presentation. For me, this article’s point of view is nothing revolutionary, but its reinforcement of timeless presentation do’s and don’ts. These articles couldn’t have found me at a better time. If you’re thinking of attending this conference, be sure to take a look at these articles.
What’s so Web 2.0 about this site?
The term Web 2.0 describes new trends in the design and development that started appearing across an increasing number of web successful web sites several years ago. Although some believe the term is simply a marketing buzzword wrapped around existing technologies, the reality is that Web 2.0 can solve some of the gigantic problems that our Government customers face. Tim O’Reilly, who originated the term in 2003, asserts in his article ‘What Is Web 2.0′ that Web 2.0 marks a turning point in the web just after the dot-com collapse. The companies that survived the collapse seemed to have some things in common. An analysis of those commonalities brings us to a better understanding of what Web 2.0 really means.
While I would not consider it strictly Web 2.0, lets analyze the Web 2.0 qualities of this web site:
- Usage of contemporary graphic design techniques. Effects such as gradients, soft shadows, rounded corners, and simplified layouts. A clean interface removes the fluff and places more importance on the data within the site, which is important since the data in a true Web 2.0 site is constantly and unpredictably changing.
- Big fonts in headers. This is a return to HTML’s origins when the size of the text indicated it’s relative importance on the page.
- Use of Open Source software. The new web is all about sharing, and so is Open Source. We utilize PHP, MySQL, Wordpress, and Eclipse in the development of this site.
- A blog. Any true blog brings other associated Web 2.0 ideals including an RSS feed, usage of tagging (”folksonomy”), a tagcloud, widgets, and user comments.
- CSS layouts instead of HTML table-based where possible. Saves on bandwidth, maintainability of the site, and cross-platform accessibility (laptop, iPhone, high-tech refridgerator).
- XHTML and CSS passes validation. This improves likelyhood that the site will work across browser versions and platforms. The (X) in XHTML stands for “extensible”. By using XHTML strict, you are ensuring your pages will display correctly in a broad variety of devices for years to come … a very important concept for large, portable and long-sustaining web projects.
- Web accessibility. The entire site provides for screen readers for the vision impaired, high contrast for the color blind, and doesn’t require specific knowledge or abilities to utilize.
Other aspects of a Web 2.0 site that are not incorporated into this site (yet):
- Use of Ajax. This is an integral part of anything Web 2.0. It allows for page updates without needed to refresh the screen, which makes for a user experience previously uknown on the web, see Meebo.com or Netflix for examples.
- The Wiki. The ultimate manifestation of user generated content, the wiki enables collaboration, which is another hallmark of Web 2.o.
- Web services. These allow for the newly popular mashups and REST/XML/JSON based APIs allowing interaction between sites and more ways for the user to take control.
