Phil's Cockpit

"100/500/5”, also known as “100/500/2012"

Some of you may have heard this numbering sequence being uttered by me or the senior staff. It’s an emerging corporate goal that stands for: “ $100 million in revenues, 500 employees, in the next five years (i.e. 2012).” You’ve heard me say before that in the government contracting business, if you’re not growing, you’re probably shrinking. It’s an adage that seems to be time-proven in any business. So let me tell you more about 100/500/2012

Right now we’re at about half of those first two numbers. We’ll achieve a bit less than $50 million for 2008, and our staff is at the 250 level. So why the nifty motto “100/500”, and why five years? Well, you’ve probably heard that other adage about “planning your work and working your plan.” Some of our earliest growth simply happened via enthusiasm, zeal, good customer relations, quality control, and a bit of luck. All good indicators, but it gets harder to sustain these gains in this business as the numbers get higher. The stakes also become greater and the planning must be more detailed. Our ability to afford the planned move to our new Virginia office next year, our ability to properly fund the new ESOP and enhanced retirement plan as well the ability to put in place the required Security and IT infrastructure all depend on being able to execute our plan. Simply stated we’ll need to compete at a different level while at the same time maintaining outstanding quality and retaining our “employees first” culture. In summary, everyone must be involved and each must do their part.

100/500/2012 establishes a framework for us to do that. It is the basic roadmap upon which we can set our goals for keeping existing business, winning new business, and developing the company to operate at greater levels of sophistication and efficiency. The overall company annual plan is based on a series of individual group and functional staff plans. Each group or functional area will have ownership of their individual plan and will be working hard towards meeting their objectives. But what does this goal- 100/500/2012 - really mean to you? Well, if you’re the most junior engineer, our customers retain us based on your steadfast efforts. Keep up the good work and maintain a steady eye on quality. You are building corporate value and personal value through your efforts. If you’re a support staff member, the diligence you exhibit in getting our bills out, hiring the staff we need, supporting our numerous security requirements or any number of other support tasks is critical to the success of our operations. Stay focused and continue to do things in a timely manner. Look for new ways of supporting the operation more effectively and with greater efficiency. If you’re a project leader or Group Lead, your annual plan is your role in insuring that we stay on track. You also set the standards of excellence and insure the quality control that distinguish MTSI from other firms and makes both existing customers and emerging customers want to do business with us.

Business development is another area you’ll be hearing a lot more about. We’ve ratcheted up our processes for attracting new business under 100/500/2012. It’s a lot of work, but it’s fundamental to allow us to maintain the momentum. Keep that in mind when you suddenly find yourself serving on a Red Team proposal review or are asked to write a section of a proposal, all this on top of your normal duties. This teamwork is important and it’s already starting to pay big dividends for us as we pursue more work and put together world-class proposals.

So there you have it: 100/500/2012. It’s more than just a catchy phrase. It’s our compass for the next few years.