consulting presentation will give a whole new perspective on this. it is for beginner's and college students can learn from this

1. MANAGEMENT CONSULTING FOR THE
FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
Kristin (McCallum) Reisinger ’03 Reisinger_Kristin@bah.com
Katie (Saver) Farr ’04 Farr_Kathryn@bah.com

2. AGENDA
 Introduction
 Management Consulting for the Federal Government
 Industry Overview
 Federal Proposal Process
 Our Experience and Perspectives Transitioning from Academia
 Human Capital Expertise
 Example Projects
 The Way We Work
 Required Skills
 Q&A

3. INTRODUCTION

4. KRISTIN’S PATH
Loyola
College
BA 2001
Manchester,
Inc.
2002- 2003
Consulting
Intern
University of
Baltimore
MS 2003
Grad
Assistantship-
Dean’s Office
Human
Performance
Systems, Inc.
2003 – 2004
Intern,
Research
Assistant
Booz Allen Hamilton
2004-Present
Lead Associate
•McLean, VA 2004- 2006
•Philadelphia, 2006-2010
•Aberdeen /Telecommute
2010-present

5. KATIE’S PATH
Universit
y of
Central
Florida
BS 2002
University
Physicians,
Inc.
2003–2005
HR Intern
HR
Generalist
University of
Baltimore
MS 2004
Right
Management
2005–2007
Organization
al Consultant
Booz Allen
Hamilton
2009–Present
Associate
Constellation
Energy
2007–2008
Sr. HR
Consultant

6. MANAGEMENT CONSULTING FOR THE
FEDERAL GOVERNMENT

7. WHAT IS MANAGEMENT CONSULTING?
 Consulting: Work done by a consulting firm, which focuses on advising
organizations on the best ways to manage and operate their business
 Management Consulting: The practice of creating value for organizations through
improved performance, achieved by providing objective advice and implementing
business solutions
 Booz Allen Hamilton is a leading provider of strategy, technology, and
engineering services to the US Government in defense, intelligence, and civil
markets
 Trusted long-term partner to our clients
 Seek our expertise and objective advice to address their most important and complex
problems

8. COMMERCIAL VS. GOVERNMENT CONSULTING
Commercial Consulting Federal Consulting
Example
Organizations
“Big 4” Consulting Firms
Ernst & Young
Deloitte
Price Waterhouse Coopers
KPMG
McKinsey
Bain
Boston Consulting Group
“Beltway Bandits”
Booz Allen Hamilton
Accenture
Deloitte
Lockheed Martin
SAIC International
CSC
Lots of small boutique businesses
(KnowledgeBank, IDSI, Atlas, ERPI)
Employee
Stereotypes
Top-tier MBA Graduates
Focus on doing cutting edge, interesting work
Ex-military and/or smart/driven functional
experts
Focus on serving important government
missions, providing excellent client service
Relationship to
Clients
Trusted advisors Staff Augmentation (“Butts in Seats”)
Strategy and implementation work done in direct
collaboration with clients
Assignment
Length
Short-term (3-6 months) Multi-year, long-term strategic partnerships
Culture “Up or Out,” “Road Warriors” Common to stop at “Associate” level
Long-term onsite work, risk of “Going Native”
Environmental
Impacts
Economy Elections

9. FEDERAL CONTRACTING
 The Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) guides how we work with our government
clients
 Complex set of rules governing the federal government’s purchasing process
 Ensures consistency and fairness of purchasing procedures
 www.acquisition.gov/far
 Booz Allen solicits work from the federal government through a structured
procurement process

10. EXAMPLE WORK
 Every agency in the government hires contractors/consultants to help solve their problems
 Sometimes as staff augmentation (supplemental headcount)
 Sometimes as specialized experts (supplemental capability)
 Examples of human capital work might include:
 Strategic
 Developing a human capital strategic plan that is linked to organizational strategy and prioritizes
actions/programs for the next three years, including outlining how the organization might measure success
 Define the skills required for success in a role, conduct an assessment against those skills, and make
recommendations for addressing gaps
 Evaluate workforce supply against demand in light of some organizational change, and make recommendations
for optimizing the workforce
 Operational
 Provide staff augmentation to speed up recruiting processes (e.g., help conduct job analysis, write PDs, review
applications, etc.)
 Develop and facilitate training

11. PROPOSALS
 Everything federal management consultants do to WIN work requires a written proposal
 A response to a client’s Request for Proposal (RFP)
 A sales document that is intended to convince the client of our ability to successfully perform the work at
the lowest risk
 If awarded, our proposal is a binding agreement to perform
 Most government proposals include:
 Technical/Management Volume
 Approach
 Staffing
 Assumptions
 Cost Volume
 Past Performance Volume

12. CONSULTING VS. INTERNAL HR ROLES

13. OUR EXPERIENCES AND PERSPECTIVES
TRANSITIONING FROM ACADEMIA

14. TYPICAL HUMAN CAPITAL EXPERTISE ON OUR
TEAMS
 Booz Allen’s human capital and learning professionals collectively have advanced
degrees and certifications in:
 Professional in Human Resources (PHR)
 Human Capital Strategist (HCS)
 Change Management Advanced Practitioner
 Professionals with functional expertise in:
 Workforce planning and assessments
 Competency development
 Organizational development and transformation
 Performance management
 Human Resource (HR) process redesign
 HR program support
 Breadth allows us to staff projects with specialized experts and rapidly surge to meet
client needs

15. CASE STUDY: COMPETENCY MODEL
DEVELOPMENT
 Challenge Faced:
 Need for data-driven process for identifying
training needs
 Need for common language for newly centralized
IT staff performing similar roles in different ways
 Actions Taken:
 Identified workforce competencies for all IT and IT
support occupations, with behavioral indicators
for five levels of proficiency
 Aligned 8000 staff against appropriate profile
 Assessed individual gaps for custom training
plans
 Assessed aggregate gaps to drive training
development and acquisition
 Results Achieved:
 Competency models for 27 occupations
 4000 learning events mapped to the models in a
Talent Management System
 96% assessment completion
Lessons Learned
Best Practices
Active SME Working Groups
Used one occupation as an initial pilot to
agree on definitions/outcomes and
improve the process
Implemented competency-based
learning
Pitfalls
Lack of senior stakeholder engagement
from the outset initially caused
leadership commitment to wane in some
organizations
Competency models are large and
needed to be streamlined

16. CASE STUDY: TWO YEAR LEARNING PROGRAM
 Challenge Faced:
 Rapid growth of information security workforce
 Dispersed workforce with limited on-site peer
support
 Integrate new employees into the larger team and
organization
 Actions Taken:
 Designed a two year learning plan to help new
employees become familiar with the organization
and their job responsibilities
 Assigned new employees a mentor to help guide
their development in their first two years
 Developed additional training specific to fill gaps
 Offered quarterly forums to encourage interaction
and sharing lessons learned among participants
 Results Achieved:
 Close to 300 new employees participated in the
program since 2011
Lessons Learned
Best Practices
Engaged and active leadership
Aligned to critical competencies for the
role
Gather program feedback and
continuously enhance program to meet
participant needs
Pitfalls
Mentors are assigned by supervisors and
may not always be the best fit
Even with tools provided, limited face-to-
face opportunities are still a challenge for
some new employees and their mentors

17. THE WAY WE WORK
 Virtual work is accepted
 Many staff on client site
 Move to ‘hoteling’/staff alignment to closest office
 Matrixed teams
 Virtual Collaboration is expected
 Many meetings include Lync screen sharing
 Outlook invites include iPhone direct access
 Work/Life balance is encouraged
 40-50 hour work week
 Travel throughout DC Metro Area is common
 Flex hours are common

18. EXAMPLE CONSULTING REALITIES
Where you work is
dependent on where
your clients and
project team need
you.
• Some government
consulting projects place
consultants on client site
100% of the time
• When not on client site,
consultants may work at
an office where spaces
Project assignment is
sometimes
unpredictable.
• Projects can last
anywhere from a few
weeks to 3-6 months to
1-2 years.
• Sometimes the
parameters for a task are
unclear, and sometimes
Solid writing skills are
crucial for success in
consulting.
• Everything we do to win
work is based on a
written narrative;
everything we do to get
paid is based on a
written deliverable
• Management consultants
Diversity of
experience makes us
stronger.
• As a multicultural
community of problem
solvers, we recognize
that bringing together
many perspectives
makes us more robust.
• Staff are encouraged to

19. EXAMPLE CONSULTING REALITIES
We value connections
with other people.
• Networking is an
essential work activity—
it’s how many
employees find billable
work, opportunities to
engage in business
development, and new
areas of functional and
market interest.
• Employees don’t just
engage with their
administrative and
project teams, but with
functional communities,
communities of practice,
and communities of
shared interests and
hobbies.
We tailor approaches
to client needs
•We match our approaches
to client appetite and the
client’s end goal.
•We recognize that the
approach that serves the
client best may be different
than a rigorous
methodology that lends
itself to publication in a
scientific journal, as might
be appropriate in academia.
We participate in
procuring our work
• Most consulting staff
participate in the
process to procure new
work because every
project has a finite
period of performance.
We embrace a
demanding schedule
• Work/life balance
changes from project to
project, and even week
to week.
• Consultants are
expected to be engaged
and delivering top
quality work, whatever it
takes.
• We recognize that there
are surges and slower
times that are driven by
client deadlines and
needs.

20. REQUIRED SKILLS
 Consulting
 Listening actively and asking pertinent and relevant questions
 Thinking critically to properly evaluate information
 Focus group facilitation
 Analysis
 Project management
 Communicating solutions effectively (e.g., PowerPoint, Executive writing)
 Human Capital
 Job Analysis
 “Best practice” frameworks, theories, and approaches as a starting point
 Credible sources to cite
 Detailed federal HR knowledge is a plus

21. QUESTIONS?