Three Questions for Steven Myers

The Consultancy Query

CM: Consultants are some of  biggest clients. What exactly are they asking for?
 
Myers: The name of the game this year is the Department of Homeland Security. We have managed virtually every major procurement to come out of the Department of Homeland Security. For example, we did the US-VISIT program effort for Accenture. We're now working on the Secure Borders Initiative. Every agency of the federal government, state governments, local governments . . . they're putting out RFPs all the time. CM: What happens when two of your clients approach you for the same piece of business?
 
Myers: We make the deal with the first client who is prepared to engage us for a rational arrangement. We really provide a spectrum of services that cover the entire life cycle of competing and executing programs. We'll provide the core team to lead them through the process of preparing the proposal. We'll help them deal with a lot of the planning issues that are going to affect their ability to conduct the program. So much of what these proposals are about is the planning of a program. What are you going to do? Why are you going to do that? When are you going to do it? Where are you going to do it? Who's going to do it? What's it going to cost? CM: Do you put some of your fees at risk, then?
 
Myers: We're extremely anxious to discount our rates in exchange for a win incentive. It's hard to get our clients to do that. Our win rate is so high. Our win rate is 85 percent. So we're basically winning at a rate that is twice the average of our client base. Now, what's interesting is that, back in the '80s when there were many more contractors, their win rates were much lower, because there were many more of them. However, our win rates were the same. So, essentially, whatever team we were on would win, and it's the same today.