Federal Market Frontlines: Why the Smartest Players Use AI Workflows in Government Contracting

In the debut edition of TechnoMile's Federal Market Frontlines with Tom Temin, hear from Ashish Khot, CEO of TechnoMile, as he discusses the company's recent merger with SIMS Software and value of an AI platform that unites growth, contracts, compliance, and security workflows.

Subscribe for more conversations with the leaders shaping federal contracting and corporate security.

Follow Federal Market Frontlines and TechnoMile: https://technomile.com | LinkedIn YouTube Facebook

Have a guest suggestion or topic idea? Please email: marketing@technomile.com.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome to the very first episode of Federal Market Frontlines brought to you by Technomile. This show will explore timely issues shaping the ever-changing federal market for technology and services. Technomile is the leading AI solution that unifies growth, contracts, compliance, and security workflows.

SPEAKER_01 0:16

Compliance and security was more or less like a table sticks. It wasn't something that was nice to have. There was a lot of siloed capability. So there was a need to have a connected enterprise where it can tell you all the way from pre-abort to post-abord. And we live in this new AI-burst world where you need to have data and you need to have applications that will make decisions for you. It would reduce risk, introduce fewer surprises, and it would provide better audit readiness.

SPEAKER_00 0:49

Companies, as you say, spend a lot on capture, but then all of a sudden the reality hits.

SPEAKER_01 0:55

Now you're moving into this agentic workflow.

SPEAKER_00 1:20

Guest is Technomile CEO, Ashish Cote. Technomile is the leading AI solution that unifies growth, contracts, compliance, and security workflows, and it recently merged with Sims Software, the premier provider of security software for the industrial market. The new company is backed by Capital Meridian Partners, a Washington, D.C. based private equity firm that grows companies at the intersection of government and commercial markets. Today we're going to learn more about this combination and what it brings to the market. Ashish, good to have you with us.

SPEAKER_01 1:51

Hello. Hi, Tom. Very nice to be here with you to share the Technomile and the Sim story. Very excited.

SPEAKER_00 1:59

All right, so when you started Technomile as a unified platform, I guess you felt that stitching together separate tools didn't quite cut it for the federal contractor. So what did you see early on and what did you find? And tell us a little bit about the genesis of this whole platform.

SPEAKER_01 2:15

When uh I started Technomile, uh, that was time, uh it's almost been a few years now, and the environment that was presented back then was very much about a lot of legacy companies that were operating in this space, and the marketplace was really looking for a new capability, and they were looking at really horizontal platforms that were valuable to these large enterprises, and therein lies an opportunity because how the government contracting, how aerospace defense companies were are really constructed, they're very different from uh a generic capability that the systems were offering. Compliance and security was more or less like a table sticks, it wasn't something that was nice to have, and and a lot of disconnected systems existed, so there was a need to have a connected enterprise where it can tell you all the way from pre-award to post-abord, and that is how the companies were thinking, that's how they were being successful. But the systems were not really there to offer that unified view. There was a lot of siloed capability, and that capability was serviced by a lot of legacy companies. So we really took upon ourselves with that mission to kind of create that connected enterprise that will address these siloed applications, connect them, and then recreate them in a brand new experience and with the technology, and that's how it started, and that's how it's kind of evolved year after year.

SPEAKER_00 3:53

And now you've added SimS software, and that's important for Technomile. Tell us how, and more importantly, what it will do for users of the Technomile platform.

SPEAKER_01 4:03

I think as uh market now, the Sims Technomile merger is uh we announced it earlier this year. So when you look back in the last eight to ten years of journey, the technology and the market has matured uh where the growth, execution, compliance, and security really has to work together. We we live in this new AI-first world where you need to have data and you need to have applications that will make decisions for you, that will give not just inform and present the data, but actually really make actionable insight and perform actions for you. So the Technomile and Sims merger, it just isn't about just is less about expansion, but it's more about completing that complete life cycle. Technomile product capabilities was more focused on how do you win an opportunity, how do you pursue a business, how do you do the business development strategy, and then really do a contract execution while Sims covers all of the security and compliance aspect of it. And we really didn't have that capability, so it really builds that connected enterprise, takes our mission even further, and really delivers value to the customer where now they have this visibility of end-to-end data of how contracts are performing, how the security data plays in a role, and then using that data to build an effective growth strategy.

SPEAKER_00 5:38

And why Sims in particular, of all the possibilities out there in cybersecurity and in cybersecurity automation, there's a lot of companies competing. What made Sims the right partner?

SPEAKER_01 5:49

I think uh security is such a broad term, and Sims is more on a facility security, clearances management. So it isn't necessarily into the cybersecurity aspect of it, this is more program security, and Sims does bring in deep expertise. This is a company that has 40 plus years of experience, they are trusted by hundreds of large defense manufacturers as well as government agencies, and sims as an organization really is a trusted partner currently today, and they are it's considered as a compliance expert team, and so merging with them really connects that story and removes the friction. Uh, where you can now win the work as well as execute the work. Uh, the contract lifecycle execution, right? Where the industry security agencies, the government agencies are really looking for both the contract delivery, contract execution tied up with that security element of it. So we are very excited to work with the Sims legacy. It's a it's a very established brand, it's been delivering value to customers year after year after year. I mean, 40 plus years talk about really being showing like endurance in being in a marketplace. So that's the reason we got gravitated towards Sims, how the customers have trusted them, and even when my conversations with them in last uh 45 days with their team as well as the customers we have met really reinforce the need and really the value and why the Technomile Sims merger would truly be a unique combination to the customers.

SPEAKER_00 7:38

And what are some of the problems that this unified platform now with the inculcation of Sims can bring? Because your customers, contractors, have to run their own businesses and they have to be compliant, especially in the age of programs like the you know CMMC program, but also they have to deliver for the customer on the customer agency mission. So kind of two halves here. How does this help them solve those problems on looking both ways?

SPEAKER_01 8:05

Yeah, so the combined connected ecosystem and the platform would reduce risk, it would be introduce fewer surprises, and it would provide better audit readiness for all of our customers. So, how does it like reduce as few surprises, right? Like uh companies they go after opportunities, but they really have to rely on this separate system to track what type of clearances that they have, what type of uh compliance that exists related to facility clearances, people clearances. We will be able to kind of unlock that information and present it to the customers right at the evaluation of these, either the opportunities, or really if a company wants to go into a new agency and then they now have to evaluate okay, how is our preparedness as an organization in order to win that agency's mission? Now you can connect all this data, and really that's the fewer surprises, it reduces the risk, it sets the baseline expectation. Are we ready? Is an organization ready to pursue that program, pursue those opportunities? The security posture becomes visible, it becomes clearer. Contract obligations, compliance where you have to generate several forms. That currently this becomes like a swivel chair mechanism. Contracts person sends the email to facility or security officer, the compliance requires like uh visitor data, foreign visits of your cleared employees, contacts with foreign nationals, all that information every company has to deliver as a part of contract compliance. Connected ecosystem of products will now even predict risk with introduction of AI and all the new capability. So, overall, no more handoffs between multiple teams, reduce large number of spreadsheets and collaboration and the whole agentic workflow, it increases a lot more efficiency into all of these workflows and our customers.

SPEAKER_00 10:20

And does this work intuitively for the customer? And I guess that brings up the question of artificial intelligence. Sounds like it's embedded in a lot of this. And so maybe talk about the AI role here, especially as it helps automate some of these compliance and contract winning processes that are have been done by hand, and as you say, the handoff from person to person over all these years.

SPEAKER_01 10:44

The mission and the approach that Technomai is taking is AI should support judgment, it should support governance, and it should scale an organization. It isn't necessarily going to replace the human expertise. I mean, we are talking about a very highly regulated, very complex industries where the human expertise plays a pivotal role, right? This is the approach of you can just do something in a generic sales process or marketing technology, that same approach would work in this complex workflow, isn't necessarily going to be true. So we are going to be using AI to really enable human judgment, empower them to really provide information that will make actions for them. So it's really emphasis on transparency, auditability, trust, security. We have to rely on this very strict boundaries. So really introducing this AI which will reduce risk, not introduce new risk by like where is my information moving, what context window is going to be using, does my information get commingled with data? Because we're talking very high level of sensitive information, and you would need like a trusted partner in order to believe in their ability, and that's what we want to provide. And AI is very much a centerpiece for every organization's innovation, and with the access to data and our expertise, we'll be delivering a lot of new capabilities. The Sims uh software has a we have identified a whole large backlog of what we can deliver to our customers and connected as the teams are getting together. We are now developing a roadmap and we're very excited to truly deliver AI capabilities to the Sims customers in the security side, as well as once we introduce this combination of Sims plus Technomile product capability, it will have this contract compliance and risk embedded within these applications, and AI will really help us deliver that.

SPEAKER_00 13:03

And compliance is important, contract compliance is important, and regulatory compliance. But what about growth and security? I mean, these are really the issues that also affect contractors. Do you see AI helping in the business growth area also?

SPEAKER_01 13:18

Absolutely. Before, as I was mentioning, like there has to be an organizational readiness before you can take on a new agency's mission. And that front and center as a growth executive, you're looking at is my organization ready to support this agency's mission? And that information is truly starts with like what are the requirements? I mean, you obviously have technical capabilities, do I have the resources, do I have the past performance? But then there is another element of like, do I have the uh right skilled resources that have clearances, do I have the right facility of uh that can support this? All of that has to be realized very early into the process, otherwise, uh you can spend a lot of capture dollars and then realize and recognize that you don't have the necessary compliance apparatus to really deliver this value. And then at a large organ, that's predominantly going to be true for mid-to-small organizations, and now when you look at like larger organizations, they need to be able to operate it at scale, and that's where all this information, if we can present it to the executives, now they can make these decisions of what is the total risk on this program, what do we need to mitigate that risk, what are the obligations management as required for this growth uh opportunity, and as we'll introduce AI into all of these practical use cases, that's going to deliver our customers this unique value proposition that no one's doing this today from this end-to-end story and Technomile plus Sims merger. We're going to unlock a lot of this value to the customers, and we are very excited.

SPEAKER_00 15:07

That's really a good point because companies, as you say, spend a lot on capture, but then all of a sudden the reality hits if they win, then they have to have all that compliance capability and simple delivery capability on a technical front. So it sounds like the AI component early on can help them be ready should they get that capture, should they get that contract, they won't have any nasty surprises in fulfilling it in a compliant way.

SPEAKER_01 15:34

Yeah, absolutely. And uh it you need to have the information available and with the AI's capability, it's really giving you insights into what could happen and what is happening and what actions you should take in order to mitigate that risk. Because that's the direction where the you started AI with co-pilots that were more assisting, and now you're moving into this agentic workflow, and there is a right balance required between how do you inform an end user and how do you now execute those steps in a responsible way where the human in the loop can play a role and you're not just sleeping on the wheels.

SPEAKER_00 16:21

Right, and as you mentioned, all of this activity can happen now within the Technomile platform. But you also mentioned that Sims had a 40-year history of success and a lot of customers, a big customer base. So, what are you preserving and what's important to preserve, I guess you could say, from a cultural standpoint, such that you get all of the value from the acquired Sims.

SPEAKER_01 16:44

As I mentioned, the trust and credibility that the Sims has established into the marketplace, that is going to be one of the top parts in order for us to preserve. Uh, SimS has many years of working with these customers, they trust them, they're considered very credible, and that comes from their deep respect for the domain expertise. When we have talked to the Sims team, uh, we have recognized that there are several individuals who are ex-facility security officers who have worked in large government agencies as well as government contractors. So they have actually a better understanding of how do you build the realities of what the customers face in a day-to-day uh changing environment. So keeping that trust and expertise along with that domain knowledge that's going to be very important along with really understanding of the customers. Like we have a lot of collect uh technomile and sims together support uh a very large section of similar customers, defense organizations are using technomile capabilities as well as Sims capability, but it's a different user personas uh within those organizations. So marrying the knowledge we have domain experts on contracts and growth, how do they now tie up and match them up with security knowledge, and then build that new capability? That's something that is going to be very critical, and that's front and center. How can these we can mix the knowledge of our customers and deliver the trusted capability?

SPEAKER_00 18:34

Alright, so then to summarize, speaking to the GovCon community, the government contracting civilian side, plus you've got extensive clients in aerospace and defense. What's the main takeaway you'd like to leave everyone with this morning?

SPEAKER_01 18:48

So it's about continuity and it's about trust across this lifecycle, right? The future that we are building is an integrated stack, it's compliant and secure by design, and uh really excited to build this new platform that goes all the way from pre-award. We had this pre-aw to post-award, and now that post-award journey is not just staying in compliance, but actually how do you deliver on this year after year on this large multi-year contract? So, really excited. We get a lot of now. We were very technomile. Pre-SIMS merger was only focused on uh aerospace defense government contracting. While there are many government agencies that trust Sims for the security portion of it, so we're going to also get an exposure into beyond your traditional government contracting customers to government agencies, education, research institute. So we are confident that the platform that we will build is how this market is evolving. We want to learn from them. We are going to be doing a lot of events where we'll bring in not just Technomile customers but Technomile and Sims customer together under one umbrella so that we can build a cross-knowledge domain, gather and listen to our customers, and really execute this new capability with AI first in mind.

SPEAKER_00 20:19

Alright, Ashish Coat is the CEO of Technomile. Good to have you with us today.

SPEAKER_01 20:25

Thank you, Tom. Thank you very much.

SPEAKER_00 20:27

And that's it for this edition of Federal Market Frontlines. In our next episode, we'll speak with security expert Charles Phelan, former director of the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency. Until then, I'm Tom Temin.