Greetings NCMA Woodlawn,

 Please join us for our February 8th Lunch 'n Learn event where we will have a panel of speakers to discuss a key part of the acquisition phase: Debriefs.

Our panel of experts for this meeting will be:

• Melissa Starinsky, Director, CMS/OAGM

Melissa Starinsky is the Director and Head of the Contracting Activity for the Office of Acquisition & Grants Management within the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. She is responsible for overseeing the execution of more than $9 billion annually in discretionary contract, grant, and interagency spend.  She began her career as an acquisition intern in 1989 with the U.S. Department of the Navy and has since held various acquisition, policy, and programmatic leadership positions with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, the U.S. General Services Administration, and the private sector. Ms. Starinsky has an extensive background in contracting operations, having previously served as a Contracting Officer on billion dollar programs—including the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Strategic Information Systems Technology Integration Resources, which was the agency’s then largest and first multiple award indefinite delivery indefinite quantity type contract, and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ Medicare Administrative Contractor contracts.  She also was the Contracting Officer for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ first seat management contract in 1999 and was the Office of Acquisition & Grants Management’s Deputy Director from 2011 to 2013.

 Ms. Starinsky has significant experience in advancing the capabilities of the acquisition workforce through her prior roles as the Director of the Federal Acquisition Institute at the U.S. General Services Administration and the Chancellor for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Acquisition Academy; both are award-winning organizations where she was responsible for developing and executing human capital and career development strategies for hundreds of thousands of civilian agency acquisition workforce members.

 Ms. Starinsky holds a Bachelor’s degree in Business Management from the University of Maryland.  She also is a graduate of the Federal Executive Institute and serves on the Board of Directors for the National Contract Management Association.

• Colonel Scott Svabek (Ret), President & CEO of Svabek Consulting. 

Col Svabek  is the former acting Director of Procurement for the Defense Health Agency, Procurement Directorate where he  served as the Agency’s senior contracting official delegated with authority to serve as the Head of Contracting Activity (HCA) and consultant to the Director (Three Star General) and the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs regarding multiple strategic complex acquisitions for the Military Health System with an annual contracting obligation value of over $13.5 Billion in FY 14. Managed an operating budget of over $13.0 million dollars and 200 government and contractors staff.

Prior to that he served for five years as the US Army Medical Command, CDR PARC HCCA where he was the Principle Assistant responsible for contracting for the CDR and Health Care Acquisition Activity.

His firm Svabek Consulting LLC  offers expert procurement assistance in the areas of Information Technology, Information Management, Health Care Services, Program Management, Professional Services (both Personal and Non-Personal), Logistical and Facility Services. Additionally, Svabek Consulting has extensive knowledge working with Non-Profits participating within the Ability One ® Program. With the focus remaining on delivering positive outcomes to both large and small businesses in an attempt to provide solutions to the federal government by ensuring the client best answers the basic 2 questions asked by the Government during an actual Source Selection process:

a. Is this the best value for the government?
And/ Or
b. Is this the Lowest Price Technically acceptable for the Government?

Svabek Consulting LLC has over 17 years of personal experience in the federal procurement processes. Svabek Consulting LLC and its tag line of “We Exist so Others May be Successful”, is not just a slogan but a way of life within Svabek Consulting LLC. Our goal is to ensure our clients deliver effective solutions to the various types of requirements asked from the Federal Government. We help train, coach, analyze, interpret and translate the Federal Procurement language into terms commonly used within commercial and private sectors.

• Terrance M. O'Connor PA, Co-Director of Government Contracts

  Breenzweig Leonard.

 Terry O’Connor has been involved in Government contract law for more than 40 years, litigating, teaching, writing, and advising government procurement professionals in both the public and private sectors. Working for years with those on both sides of a government contract has provided him with a unique perspective that helps him successfully solve government contract problems.

He began as a federal government attorney and, for more than a decade, wrote government contracts and advised government employees on a wide range of procurement issues.

After leaving government service, he began advising government contractors on procurement issues. Over his lengthy career, Terry has practiced before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, and the various Boards of Contract Appeals. He has also prosecuted government contract protests before the Government Accountability Office (GAO) and the U.S. Court of Federal Claims (CFC).

While in private practice, he also continued to work with contracting officers and government procurement professionals as a government contracts instructor for Management Concepts, Inc. Since 1984, Terry has been regularly teaching government contracts law to contracting officers, contract specialists and other government procurement professionals. These courses include the FAR, Construction Contracting, Construction Claims, Contract Claims, Federal Contract Law, Federal Leasing Law, Advanced Federal Contract Law, Negotiation Techniques, and Procurement Ethics.

Clients benefit from this combination of teaching, writing, litigating, and working with procurement professionals from both government and industry. Terry has a comprehensive working knowledge and understanding of federal regulations, particularly the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR), and how these regulations can be used to creatively solve procurement problems.