February 2017 Newsletter

We hope you enjoy this month's NCMA Denver Newsletter. Thank you for your interest in NCMA and the Denver Chapter.
In This Issue
 




 
President's Corner with Stephanie Amend
Stephanie Amend
NCMA Denver President
This program year, NCMA HQ has made efforts to share "what works" between chapters. I have participated in national calls with other chapter presidents to share ideas, recommendations and news. We had one such call last week and included in that call were NCMA's National Board of Directors President, Terry Raney and Chapter Relations Manager, Tanya Russick, who provided information on the success of December's GCMS, new initiatives and future events. A question was posed to Terry and Tanya regarding events on the west coast which was followed up by an invitation to our Chapter to provide thoughts to HQ on what HQ can do to support the west. This is our opportunity to let HQ know what events we would like back out west (in Denver in particular) and what may prevent our members from going east for events.  So, with that, please email me your comments and thoughts on this topic and I will pass them on.
 
Speaking of events, our Winter Seminar is February 21st from 1:30-5pm at Ball Aerospace in Broomfield.  We're hoping for good weather!  The subject matter is very important as December 2017 is a date to watch out for in terms of compliance with cyber-security rules. We have fantastic and knowledgeable speakers and will be conducting a panel that will allow for valuable discussion. If you remember, in years past, we've had the FAR seminar in the winter. The Focus on the FAR will be held again, but in April.  Also, at that seminar we hold our Chapter elections for our Board's Officers. If you have an Board member you'd like to nominate for an Officer position, or you are interested in potentially joining the Denver Chapter's Board of Directors, please email me.  Looking forward to hopefully seeing you on the 21st!

Details on Upcoming Cybersecurity Winter Seminar!
Please join us for our upcoming Cybersecurity seminar on February 21, 2017 from 1:30 PM to 5:00 PM MST. 
 
The seminar will include presentations from Mike McGuinn, Counsel with Dentons US LLP, and Mike Semmens, President of Imprimis, Inc., who will be joined by Dan Domagala, Technology Strategist from EKS&H, for a panel discussion. CPE credits are available. 
 
Michael McGuinn, Counsel with Dentons US LLP, will discuss what contractors need to know about the rapidly evolving cyber security landscape and new FAR Safeguarding Rule.  Mike represents clients in a broad range of government contracts matters including contract claims, internal investigations and regulatory compliance issues.  Mike concentrates his practice in the areas of contractor business systems, cybersecurity requirements, contract changes and commercial item acquisitions.  Mike frequently writes and lectures regarding cybersecurity requirements, business systems, cost accounting issues and other topics.
 
Our second presenter is Michael G. Semmens, the President of Imprimis, Inc.  In this session, the nature of the cybersecurity threat will be discussed in detail, including the actors, techniques and tactics employed, and the impact of threats, including a discussion of long-term economic damages caused by bad actors in the cyber domain.  The cybersecurity requirements presented will include Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI), Defense Covered Information (DCI), and other requirements being defined by the federal government in the DFARS and other programs.  Imprimis, Inc. is an organization dedicated to supporting government and private businesses with cybersecurity compliance tools, cybersecurity technology, and space based technology, advanced engineering, structured training, and advanced training techniques and tools.
 
The seminar will conclude with a panel discussion with Mike McGuinn, Mike Semmens, and Dan Domagala, Technology Strategist from EKS&H. Dan Domagala leads the technology advisory practice at EKS&H, advising clients on actionable steps and strategies to minimize cyber security risk. He has presented on issues of data privacy and information security to the National Conference of State Legislatures, the U.S. Department of Education, the Financial Executives International association, and various local organizations and industry groups. Dan started his technology career 30 years ago as an intern for Hewlett-Packard. He's been a programmer, database administrator, systems architect, IT Director, and CIO.  He's worked in energy, travel, and public education, and now consults across a wide array of industries and non-profit entities. EKS&H offers technology consulting services, including assessments of organizational data and systems security, assisting clients to comply with increasingly complex state and federal government regulations concerning data security.
 
The panel discussion will be moderated by NCMA Denver Chapter President Stephanie Amend, Founder/Executive Consultant at Arrowhead Solutions, LLC. 

Register Now!

We hope you can join us!
Getting your CFCM or CPCM Certification? Come study with NCMA!
Are you interested in participating in a study group for the NCMA Certified Federal Contracts Manager (CFCM) or Certified Professional Contracts Manager (CPCM) certification? 

Join other NCMA members for a weekly study group! We'll meet weekly on Tuesday evenings from 5:30-7:30 PM. There will be a call-in number for each meeting.

The tentative group study dates are: 
March 14 - Competency 1 (Pre-Award)
March 21 - Competency 2 (Acquisition Planning and Strategy)
March 28 - Competency 3 (Post-Award)
April 4 - Competency 4 (Specialized Knowledge Areas)
April 11 - Competency 5 (General Business)

For more information and to register please contact the Denver Chapter's Education/Certification Chairperson Matthew Gomer at matthew.gomer@gsa.gov.

Upcoming Online Course: NIGP's Legal Aspects of Public Procurement
Start Date: 3/21/2017
End Date: 5/17/2017

This 8-week course on the Legal Aspects of Public Procurement has been accredited by the Colorado Board of Continuing Legal and Judicial Education for 24 hours of credit (including 1.2 Hours of ethics). 

For more information on the course and to register, please click here.
 

NCMA - Inside the CMLDP (Part II)
Inside the CMLDP Part II: Applying for the Program
 
As a follow-up to the December 2016 newsletter article about NCMA's Contract Management Leadership Development Program (CMLDP), we're back this month to visit with Reid Hollander, a current CMLDP participant, to learn a little bit more about the application process.
 
Before we learn more about Reid's experience, NCMA has released some details about the CMLDP application process. The application and curriculum for the 2017-2018 year will be available on April 1. Applicants may submit their materials from May 1 to June 30, 2017.
 
The application is very likely to require an employer support letter, a chapter reference letter, resume, a few short answer or essay-style questions, and a brief budget to show how the applicant will fund travel to the three mandatory in-person training events. If you might apply to the CMLDP this year, start thinking about your plan for pulling these materials together.
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Now we'll turn back to Reid Hollander in order to learn about his process in preparing a successful CMLDP application. For those who don't know Reid, he works as a contracts administrator at Northrop Grumman. Reid has a JD and MBA from the University of Kansas, as well as a master's degree in financial analysis and management from UC-Denver. He also currently serves as the social media chair of the Denver chapter's board of directors. Reid lives in Loveland, Colorado with his wife, Brenda, and their two children, Ramsey (7) and Phoebe (4).
When did you begin preparing your application materials?
I believe applications are due on June 30th and, after looking through my files, it appears that I started preparing my application materials at the beginning of May. It is important to leave yourself plenty of float in your application schedule because much of the material is generated by others. Of course, before I even started preparing the materials, I was already having discussions with my manager and other mentors at my company to make sure the program was a viable option for me. I did not want to be in the position of applying for a program, gaining admission, and only then finding out that my company could not support it from a financial perspective.
What types of documents did you submit in order to apply?
The application process includes an application form which has general questions about yourself and asks that you complete several essay questions about your goals during the program, the support you expect to receive from your employer, how you will leverage your experiences to add to the group, your visions of leadership, and how you expect to contribute to the goals of NCMA in the future.
In addition, the applicant must submit at least one letter of recommendation from your manager and one from the president of your local NCMA chapter. As mentioned earlier, leave plenty of time in your application timeline for responses. In my case, getting a recommendation from my manager also included a few meetings to explain the program, how it would benefit our company, and how I would be able to balance workload and travel costs throughout the year.
Lastly, the application requires a resume, which is a great reason to do some resume maintenance if you haven't looked at it in a while.
What resources were most helpful in preparing your application?
The most important thing for me was talking to former CMLDP graduates about their experience. Contact your chapter president (which you have to do anyway to get a recommendation) and ask if anyone in the local chapter has completed the program in the past. There is also a list of graduates on the CMLDP website that proved valuable for me. I was able to find two former participants within my company and talk to them. Through these conversations, I learned that one of them had worked for my manager in the past. She was able to call my manager and be an advocate for the program, which helped justify the costs to my organization.
Can you identify the two or three factors that most likely led to your application being approved?
I think the selection committee is looking for diverse experiences to add to the group dynamic. My career has ranged from being a project engineer for a very large general contractor to being a real estate attorney and now I am in the aerospace industry. This diversity in experience is important. My advice to applicants would be to identify one or two distinguishing attributes that the selection committee will probably recognize adding value to the group and focus on those. Our CMLDP group has such a wide variety of experiences that it is clear the selection criteria focuses on bringing value to the group through unique backgrounds. Focus on what makes you unique and tell the committee why your attributes will add value to the group.
Secondly, be proud of your accomplishments. If you are taking the steps to apply to CMLDP, you have most likely already done some amazing things in your life and career, so don't be bashful about recounting them. If you have accomplished something, make sure the reviewers know about it!
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We'll catch up with Reid in later newsletters to hear more about his CMLDP experience this year, as well as from other CMLDP alumni in the Denver chapter.
If you have any interest in the CMLDP and would like more information, please feel free to contact Quincy Stott (Denton's).
  
Denver Chapter Leadership
 
Officers:
Stephanie Amend - President
Brie Staker - President-Emeritus
Angie Burke - President-Elect
Jami Eckel - Treasurer
Stacey Gustus- Secretary
 
Board of Advisors:
Blake Couture
Brad Duchein
Dolly Fernandez
Paul Fisher
Rodney Fowler
Matt Gomer
Tom Reid
Phil Seckman
Erin Stewart
Chairpersons:
Kristin Batalon - Employment Chair
Melanie Burgess - Scholarship
Blake Couture - Fellows Chair
Matt Gomer - Education/Certification Co-Chair
Nathan Gordon - Membership Co-Chair
Reid Hollander - Social Media Chair
Kristine Kalish - College Outreach Chair
Julie Kehrer - Corporate Sponsorship Chair
Julie Linton - Membership Co-Chair
Jerry McIntyre - Newsletter Co-Chair
Ashley Poli - Newsletter Co-Chair
Erin Stewart - Awards Chair
Quincy Stott - Leadership Chair
Tyler Thomas - Newsletter Co-Chair