Former USAF and USSOCOM Contracting Officer

Kevin Jans started Skyway Acquisition after 16 years as a Department of Defense contracting officer. He founded the company with the vision of sharing his experience from the Government side to help people thrive in GovCon.

Starting with his experience as an Air Force and SOCOM Contracting Officer, since 2011 he continues to build a diverse team of Contracting Officers to expand that vision. He now leads a team that provides a robust combination of pre-award, post award and strategic consulting as well as training from the Contracting Officers perspective. In his free time he also hosts the Contracting Officer Podcast with Paul Schauer.

Former USAF Contracting Officer

I have the greatest job in the world! I get to help clients decode the mystery of Government contracting every day. I work with all size business to help them thrive in the government market. I retired with over 32 years of government contracting experience. For most of that time I held an unlimited contracting officer’s warrant.

I’ve pretty much done it all in contracting – small purchases to large dollar, technically complex acquisitions; supplies and services; commercial and non-commercial; systems and operational; and foreign military sales.

Skyway really does help you understand all the things you need to know to win government contracts. My superpower is post-award consulting. My specialty is challenging CPARS ratings!

Former USMC and JCC-I/A Contracting Officer

Troy Small is a retired United States Marine who served fifteen of his 20 years of active-duty service as a Contingency Contracting Officer. Troy has 28 years’ experience in the Acquisition Career Field and served in several roles during his tenure with the Department of Defense to include Purchasing Agent, Contract Specialist, Contracting Officer, Simplified Acquisition Branch Supervisor, Procurement Chief, Chief of Contracting for Regional Contracting Center- Fallujah, and Assistant Program Manager for Contracting-Program Executive Office-C4I.

Troy holds an MBA from National University and is DAWIA Level-III certified in Contracting and Level-II certified in Program Management. Troy’s passion is using his military mindset, contracting expertise, and business acumen to help businesses execute and move their needle.

Former US Marine Corps Director of Contracts & Contracting Officer

Cesar is a seasoned leader with 24 years of diverse leadership experience. He spent the last 10 years in Government acquisitions and contracting. His experience spans the entire spectrum of the acquisition world, which includes simplified acquisition threshold life-support planning and contracting, multi-million-dollar design, development, testing, and lifecycle sustainment execution of material solutions, and detailed operational planning and recovery operations with commercial solutions. With previous roles in Transportation, Logistics, and Program Management, Cesar’s experience provides a wide-angle view to assess and mitigate risks while maximizing the value proposition for each organization.

Cesar’s proven ability to design solutions to complex problems in chaotic environments, matched with his candid leadership style, will create and foster team growth and cohesion while enhancing excellence and passion towards a shared goal.

Former US Army and USSOCOM Contracting Officer

Vicky has nearly 20 years of experience as a former Contracting Officer, Technical Industrial Liaison Officer, and Procurement Analyst for the US Army and US Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) for the Department of Defense (DOD). She led the solicitation, evaluation, award, and administration of a $1 billion contract for the Special Operations Forces Support Activity (SOFSA). In support of the USSOCOM Small Business Specialist, Vicky evaluated, awarded, and managed the agency’s SBIR Phase I and II contracts for two years.

After leaving the DOD, Vicky managed the Procurement Technical Assistance Center (PTAC) in Tampa, Florida, for three years. She provided support to small businesses through one-on-one consulting, developing and conducting seminars and performing outreach to small businesses interested in getting into and growing in federal, state and local government contracting. She managed the Tampa PTAC Annual Small Business Procurement Conference, connecting small businesses with large prime contractors and government agencies at all levels.

Since then, Vicky has worked as a proposal manager/writer in the federal, state, and local government market. She has developed winning proposals worth billions in government contracts. Vicky has 25 years of experience in helping small and large businesses managing and writing successful proposals, including SBIR Phase I and Phase II proposals for variety of DoD and civilian federal agencies, such as US Army, Navy, and USSOCOM; and Civilian agencies such as VA, NASA, GSA, DHS, FEMA, EPA, and USAID.

Former USAF Contracting Officer

Paul Schauer is the co-founder and co-host of the Contracting Officer Podcast. The Contracting Officer Podcast was created to help both government and industry acquisition professionals understand how the other side thinks and operates by providing context on the similarities and differences between the roles.

Paul’s 25 years of federal acquisition experience include service as a civilian contracting officer supporting the United States Air Force (USAF), director of contracts and business operations for a small-to-mid size defense contractor, and vice president for a major defense contractor in both contracts and operations (P&L responsible) roles.

He is well versed in all facets of the government acquisition process from both a government and contractor perspective; including acquisition strategy, source selection, bid strategy, proposal pricing, acquisition policy, negotiation, and cradle-to-grave management of complex contracts.

Former DoD and US Navy Contracting Officer

Steve worked for DoD for 32 years as a contracting officer. Steve started out buying the nuts and bolts for DoD systems and at the end of his career was buying the whole system. He retired in 2014 after serving as the Procuring Contracting Officer at Naval Air System Command for major weapon systems procured by Naval aviation for 7 years.

His brings experience in R&D, service, performance-based logistics, and hardware acquisitions.

Former US Marine Corps Director of Contracts & Contracting Officer

Industry and Business Development Consultant

An accomplished sales and marketing leader, program builder, and serial entrepreneur, Raymond Kahre is passionate about helping his clients and partners create value. With over a decade of experience helping clients navigate the complexities of federal procurement through finance and go-to-market strategy to capture, proposal and program management, Raymond has led business development and capture programs to over $1B in federal sales. Raymond holds a BA in Economic Geography from the University of Tennessee and an MBA with concentrations in finance and marketing from the Debusk School of Business at Lincoln Memorial University.

Former USAF Contracting Officer

*Due to a potential conflict of interest, Joe cannot consult on any projects with the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA)

Former USAF Contracting Officer