For too long, companies have created all of these descriptors for candidates – rock star, ninja, guru, etc. But unless you’re starting a band or want to be a master in martial arts, you don’t have to worry about meeting those description buckets. On the flip side, make sure you’re not filling up your resume with those terms either. No need to create the illusion of being the perfect candidate for the position. You really just need the clearance, the right skills, and an always learning attitude. So, go ahead and apply even when companies are looking for gurus and rock stars, but feel zero pressure to meet an unrealistic expectation. And if you haven’t updated your resume for the year, take a second to give it a refresh to make sure you didn’t throw one of these terms on there at any point.

Contract Opportunities to Watch

Guidehouse  Guidehouse won a new contract to provide support to an ongoing optimization project for Naval Supply Systems Command (NAVSUP) Weapon Systems Support (WSS). Building on nearly six years of work with the Naval Aviation Enterprise (NAE), Guidehouse will provide innovative consulting support across every Type, Model, and Series aircraft supported by NAVSUP WSS Philadelphia.

Under the new contract award, Guidehouse will offer insight to help the Navy better manage capital-intensive investments and examine opportunities to link operations, maintenance, and supply planning to drive a comprehensive review of the sustainment needs of supported aircraft. This effort will help promote forecast accuracy, increase material availability, and improve affordability.

“We are proud to deploy our experience and dedicated team to investigate supply and demand-based analytics to evaluate infrastructure, data availability, and demand and supply constraints facing NAVSUP WSS and other parts of the Supply System,” said Bryan Miller, Guidehouse Partner. “This win recognizes the impact Guidehouse has delivered and provides the platform to continue bringing innovative solutions that simplify the complexity to meet sustainment requirements across the NAE.”

The project will integrate the demand and supply planning processes, implement process controls and accountability standards, identify areas to apply advanced data analytics, and establish scalable machine learning data initiatives. “We look forward to continuing our partnership with NAVSUP WSS and the NAE. We are excited to continue bringing next generation solutions to support this critical program,” added Miller.

Key Employer in the Cleared Industry

Microsoft Are you ready to take on big challenges? Learn more about more about joining Microsoft’s community and explore careers with impact. If you’re a transitioning military service member, explore Microsoft Software and Systems Academy (MSSA).

Cleared Opportunities


NASA has selected 12 companies to provide launch services for the agency’s Venture-Class Acquisition of Dedicated and Rideshare (VADR) missions, providing new opportunities for science and technology payloads and fostering a growing U.S. commercial launch market.

Award selections are:

  • ABL Space Systems of El Segundo, California
  • Astra Space Inc. of Alameda, California
  • Blue Origin Florida LLC of Merritt Island, Florida
  • L2 Solutions LLC of Houston
  • Northrop Grumman Systems Corporation of Chandler, Arizona
  • Phantom Space Corporation of Tucson, Arizona
  • Relativity Space Inc. of Long Beach, California
  • Rocket Lab USA Inc. of Long Beach, California
  • Spaceflight Inc. of Seattle
  • Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) of Hawthorne, California
  • United Launch Services LLC of Centennial, Colorado
  • Virgin Orbit LLC of Long Beach, California

The fixed-price indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contracts have a five-year ordering period with a maximum total value of $300 million across all contracts. The acquisition also includes a special on-ramp provision to enable additional providers and incumbents to submit proposals introducing launch services for new capabilities not available or identified at the time of the initial contract award.

“We are incredibly excited to announce the awardees for VADR from a broad range of established and emerging launch providers and launch service aggregators and brokers,” said Bradley Smith, director of launch services at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “This speaks to our expertise in understanding the launch market as we crafted VADR to maximize our efforts in enabling a growing U.S launch industry. With this new tool in our toolbox, these tremendously flexible contracts will meet a wide variety of NASA science and technology needs, further enhancing the agency’s Launch Services Program’s reputation as Earth’s bridge to space.”

The VADR contract will provide a broad range of Federal Aviation Administration-licensed commercial launch services capable of delivering payloads ranging from CubeSats to Class D missions to a variety of orbits. These small satellites and Class D payloads tolerate relatively high risk and serve as an ideal platform for technical and architecture innovation, contributing to NASA’s science research and technology development.

The VADR acquisition builds on previous procurement efforts such as the Venture Class Launch Services (VCLS) and VCLS Demo 2 contracts, which are fostering development of new, small launch vehicles for NASA payloads.

Firm-fixed-price task orders will be issued to provide the launch services under these contracts for NASA and NASA-sponsored missions. Launches under the VADR contract will align with commercial practices, using less NASA oversight to achieve lower launch costs.

NASA’s Launch Services Program at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida will manage the VADR contracts. The agency works with private industry, mission, and international partners to launch science payloads ranging from small satellites with colleges and universities to NASA’s highest priority missions.

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Jillian Hamilton has worked in a variety of Program Management roles for multiple Federal Government contractors. She has helped manage projects in training and IT. She received her Bachelors degree in Business with an emphasis in Marketing from Penn State University and her MBA from the University of Phoenix.