By Nancy Patel, General Manager of Commercial at Unison
The hard-earned expertise of GovCon contract professionals has long been the backbone of successful execution, growth and profitability. These subject matter experts possess deep, expansive and irreplaceable knowledge that guides critical decisions and strategies. But what happens when they retire, move on, or are simply unavailable? The consequences can ripple through an organization, leading to inefficiencies, increased risks and compliance nightmares.
GovCons are beginning to rethink how they handle individual, subjective knowledge to address these challenges. The key lies in capturing, organizing and integrating the expertise of these professionals into a robust data system that preserves their insights and enhances organizational capabilities through advanced analytics and AI.
The Risk of Knowledge Dependency
A GovCon’s successful execution of an award hinges on compliance, efficiency and meticulous contract management. Traditionally, these tasks are heavily reliant on a few seasoned professionals. These experts have honed their skills over decades and are often considered indispensable. They’ve established the organization’s processes and intuitively understand how external forces, like the FAR or department and agency guidelines, interact with the organization. On the surface, this seems like a powerful differentiator. Conversely, this dependency on individual expertise poses a significant risk.
The contract manager who has mastered the nuances of FAR compliance may hold critical knowledge that isn’t documented elsewhere. If this individual leaves, the organization could struggle to remain compliant, resulting in delays or legal challenges. For example, this contract manager might have developed a unique process for navigating complex contract modifications and resolving disputes in a way that satisfies both regulatory requirements and client expectations. If this knowledge isn’t captured, the organization may face increased risks when dealing with contract changes or interpreting ambiguous clauses, potentially leading to costly disputes or penalties.
This scenario isn’t just a hypothetical concern; it’s a real issue that GovCons face as the workforce enters the next retirement cycle. According to Aviation Week’s Work Force Study, 41 percent of employees in the A&D industry are at or approaching retirement age, representing a significant upcoming shift in workforce demographics. The loss of expert knowledge can disrupt projects, lead to financial losses and erode client trust. The solution is to transition from reliance on individual expertise to a system where knowledge is captured, integrated and enhanced through data analysis.
Capturing Individual Expertise to Create Intellectual Property
The first step in mitigating the risk of knowledge loss is to capture the tribal knowledge systematically. This goes beyond simply documenting processes and entails creating a dynamic repository of knowledge that includes the rationale behind decisions, lessons learned and context-specific insights.
For instance, it’s not enough to just maintain the final outputs. Organizations should capture the underlying assumptions, the reasoning behind choosing specific paths over others and any potential risks. In contract management, capturing the thought process behind ensuring compliance with the FAR and managing contract modifications or disputes can be invaluable, especially when dealing with complex, long-term agreements. The recording of intent and reasoning during contract negotiation, both within the government and with subcontractors and vendors, is critical, too. In doing so, GovCons can ensure tactics and methods are preserved and repeatable.
This codified knowledge becomes an organizational asset accessible to current and future employees. It ensures that when a key individual is no longer available, their insights remain within the company, reducing the risk of knowledge gaps and enabling a smoother transition for new personnel.
According to research, effective knowledge capture involves documenting explicit knowledge—such as processes and methodologies—and finding ways to capture tacit knowledge, which is often more challenging because it includes the intuitive and experience-based insights of experts. One effective strategy is to use systems that are integrated into everyday workflows. These systems can automatically collect data during routine processes like contract management, making this information available for future projects.
Furthermore, it’s crucial to ensure that the captured knowledge is not static but is continually updated and refined as new insights are gained. This dynamic approach turns individual expertise into a living, evolving organizational asset that can adapt to changing conditions and emerging challenges.
Democratizing Tribal Knowledge
Once knowledge is captured, the next challenge is organizing and integrating it in a way that is both accessible and useful across the organization. In many GovCons, knowledge tends to be siloed within specific departments or teams. Contract data might only be accessible and understood by the contracts team, making it impossible for others to take advantage of it. This siloed approach limits the potential of the information, creates inefficiencies and reduces transparency.
To overcome this, organizations need to create an integrated system where data can be readily accessible across the organization. For example, organizations can build and share analytics dashboards for collaboration on financial, contracts and business development data. This holistic view allows teams to take advantage of the information and, in many cases, contribute additional information to enrich and leverage the dataset.
Organizing knowledge in a centralized system allows for easier access by all levels of the organization, from junior staff to senior leadership. This democratization of information ensures that valuable insights are not locked away but are available to anyone who needs them.
Transforming Knowledge into a Strategic Asset
The expertise held by GovCon professionals is vital but also at risk of being lost. The challenge for organizations is to retain and transform this knowledge into a living asset that can drive future decisions. Capturing knowledge effectively requires creating systems that document the explicit processes and the tacit insights professionals use to make decisions.
Organizations can preserve and scale this expertise across teams by documenting the strategies and thought processes used to interpret complex contract clauses or manage contract modifications. This turns individual knowledge into a resource that others can access and build upon, reducing the risks associated with personnel changes.
Integrating Knowledge with AI
Once knowledge is captured and organized, the next step is integrating it into a system that leverages AI and advanced data analytics. AI thrives on large, integrated datasets and can transform raw data into strategic insights by identifying patterns and predicting outcomes. For example, AI can analyze historical contract data to predict potential compliance issues or foresee future program contract-related issues.
Integrating AI into systems allows for continuous learning and improvement. As more data is fed into the system, AI can refine its predictions and recommendations, making the organization more innovative and resilient. This strategic use of data and technology positions organizations to thrive in a competitive, high-risk market—all while turning individual expertise into enduring organizational strength.
