Kathryn Wilson

In 2009, when Nicole Wilson was a communications student at George Mason University, she found her way into a contractor position at the Army’s Program Executive Office for Enterprise Information Systems. Once there, her supervisor and mentor, Victoria Johnson, nudged her into the (now defunct) Federal Career Intern Program.

When talk turns to federal acquisition and the need to be more collaborative and results-driven, it’s tempting to overlook the obvious: Transforming most government programs — with their myriad stakeholders, pre-existing contracts, shared infrastructure realities and ever-evolving operations — is tough. Real progress requires the ingenuity and persistence of people like Kathryn Wilson.

Wilson, a onetime intern at the U.S. Forest Service, is Jefferson Solutions’ point person for a number of IT acquisition and program management projects. But the re-compete of the agency’s Fire and Aviation Management Web (FAMWeb) contract is the clearest example of her contributions.

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FAMWeb is a suite of applications that federal, state and local governments use to model, plan for and respond to wildland fires. Wilson brought a new level of agency/industry dialogue to the acquisition, going so far as to convene a presolicitation conference in Boise, Idaho, that produced feedback from roughly 100 in-person and virtual attendees.

A highly collaborative approach to the request for information and draft performance work statement ensured that expectations were realistic and paved the way for a successful contract award.

The Forest Service has since tasked Wilson with projects to encourage agile development and support the design and development of a new grants system. As one agency program manager noted, Wilson has “an uncanny ability to understand the program needs.”