Strategic Planning & Acquisition Support

We provide invaluable insight and guidance to achieve the most effective and successful results. Peridot Solutions is a “trusted advisor”—whether it is developing a strategy; identifying requirements and evaluating and selecting the right service providers; developing, negotiating, implementing or improving sourcing contracts; or managing and refining what is already in place. We successfully assist our clients with the following services:

• Acquisition Strategic Sourcing – We develop a comprehensive, collaborative understanding of the initial strategy and allocated budget.
• Market Research – We obtain industry information and feedback through research and RFI response analysis.
• Requirements Definition – We assist in defining requirements for the procurement and analyze alternatives (when appropriate), then develop the schedule and timeline.
• Acquisition Planning – We develop Requests for Proposal (RFP), Requests for Quote (RFQ), Performance Work Statements (PWS), Independent Government Cost Estimates (IGCE), Statements of Objectives (SOO), Statements of Work (SOW), Justification & Approval (J&A), etc.
• Conduct Procurement – We issue solicitation documents to industry, prepare for and conduct industry days, and respond to vendor questions.
• Source Selection Support – We provide technical advice and counsel to government source selection officials.
• Oversight and Management – We assist ITIO in oversight of an awarded vendor(s) throughout the life of their contract(s) by assuring adherence to the scope, schedule, budget, reporting requirements, PWS, etc.

We provide management support services in developing focused solutions to substantiate the required investments—helping them assess and evaluate their options, design the overall solution, plan implementation and mobilize for execution. We do this by:

1. Structuring IT initiatives that drive improved efficiency and effectiveness. This approach requires IT executives to engage their firms in a dialogue about how and where IT drives their business.
2. Reducing IT complexity, thereby minimizing risk and challenging IT to “flex” better with the organization rather than act as a fixed and increasing cost base.
3. Increasing the transparency into IT costs and performance. This allows the business to understand the value of what it is buying and to facilitate proper economic trade-offs between IT and non-IT spending.
4. Defining the future state roadmaps and an implementation plan to achieve those goals and objectives.

In its purest form, it includes the “legacy” as well as the “new development” environments and planned investment environments. Our consultants provide this portfolio analysis and management solution by:

1. Analyzing IT Applications details, such as technology used, alignment with the business mission and business value.
2. Comparing with industry best practices, identify gaps and recommend strategies for application consolidation, migration and integration.
3. Prioritizing investments and balance their resources.
4. Provide a roadmap for the risk mitigated implementation plan.

Maintaining the ability to plan and execute in an orderly manner, instead of reacting to every manager’s demands, requires cost and performance transparency: clearly-defined objectives and standards, widely-published reports on delivery to standard, and regular comparison with other similar entities.  All of that requires a structured set of IT business processes, formerly considered to be an IT architecture but now often called a Technology Business Model.

With ongoing engagements in several organizations, Peridot was one of the early adopters in the use of the Technology Business Model, both in the full form envisioned by the Technology Business Council www.tbmcouncil.org and in the modified versions used in OMB www.whitehouse.gov/sites/whitehouse.gov/files/omb/assets/egov_docs/fy19_it_budget_guidance.pdfand DoD IT Capital Planning processes. Our TBM staff members have even deeper experience in cost analysis and benchmarking, with backgrounds at major advisory firms and consultancies.  We can assist customers in understanding the state of their IT enterprise using their current data (such as it may be) and identifying areas for programmatic improvement or defining how better data can be obtained. We can advise on the need for toolsets, or advise customers to refrain from buying tools: we have advised one of largest customers to remain with Excel-based analysis while data sources are stabilized before making substantial product investments. We can assist with selecting the right tool when appropriate, and we can guide a solution implementation for a tool that the customer selects. To that end, while remaining tool-agnostic, we have established relationships with multiple vendors so that our staff is qualified on tools such as Apptio and ServiceNow.

Key activities in our engagements include:

1. Identifying key management decisions and processes and the data needed to support them
2. Mapping existing or future business models and investments to a Technology Business Model and/or architectural framework
3. Identifying where the customer data resides and how to accumulate it for integrated analysis
4. Analyzing internal and external data to assess the cost and effectiveness of existing services and planned future directions
5. Identifying the core needs for any automated solutions, developing business cases, and selecting an appropriate toolset
6. Implementing long-term data collection, analysis and display processes and tools
7. Integrating governance, architecture, program management, financial and acquisition processes into a seamless management framework and culture.