August 2022 Newsletter

The
Post

August 2022

Table of Contents

Intro & Word From The President ............ 1

Events & Fun ........... 2

Anniversaries & Birthdays
Events & Important Dates

Business Updates ........... 5

SGIS & NIS Business Development
Finance Updates
Security Updates & SF312
COVID-19 Updates
HR Updates
Social Media & Marketing Updates

Recruiting & Employment ........... 10

Hot Jobs/Careers
New Hires
Annual Reviews
Referral Program
Contract Spotlight
FCG Recognition

Community Involvement ........... 14

National Wellness Month Info & Benefits
SAFE Project
Food & Sports Equipment Drive

1

Welcome, August! The summer is flying by and we are excited for what August brings us
here at FCG. From fun company events to business development success, August has it
all! This newsletter looks a bit different from the others we have sent. Let us know what

you think of our new format, and enjoy the waves of excitement August has in store!

A Note From The President

Hello, fellow FCG-ers! I trust everyone is enjoying the summer and taking time to do some
fun things, without melting in the 90+ degree temperatures we’ve had lately!
In the last newsletter I mentioned we were having an executive offsite for strategic
planning. The offsite went well and we came away with a list of items to tackle in the
coming months. Among those are prime contract opportunity identification, increasing
employee retention, improving customer satisfaction, and improving management and
communication at all levels. In the coming months you are likely to see some of the fruits of
our continued engagement on these and other topics. Any thoughts or ideas you may have
in any of these areas are welcome!
You’ll notice in recent communications that we continue to look for ways to support our
community. In addition to our continued support of the Howard County Food Bank, we’ve
also teamed with Leveling the Playing Field to provide sports and playground equipment to
schools, youth groups and other local organizations. As any parent who has had a child
involved in sports knows, participation in organized sports can be very expensive, resulting
in some children being left out. We hope everyone will support one or both of these
charitable efforts as we try to make a positive difference in our community.
Thanks, stay cool, and don’t forget the sunscreen!



Norm

2

Anniversaries & Birthdays 3

Thomas Nicole Regina
Beall Patierno Thyberg
Melody Kenneth
Glass Boyd

Cheri Hodges Anthony
Williams

Grady George Brian
Lincalis Olivetti Babineau

Kelly Gregory Kyle
Hutchinson Smith Kamidoi
William
Eric King Julie Ploss Nordmann
Aldo
D'Alencar Christine
Urbanowicz
Steven
Thomas

Amazon Birthday
Gift Cards!

Be on the lookout for your birthday Amazon gift
card! HR will be resending gift cards to those who
have not redeemed them from previous birthday
months. Please check your inbox for your birthday
treat from #TeamFreedom!

Mark Your Calendars

SGIS Summer Event - Saturday, August 13th:
NIS Summer Event - Saturday, August 27th:
September 2022: TBD - Video Game Night, Stand up to Cancer Cookout
October 2022: TBD - Chili Cook-Off with Awards, Quarterly All, Hands/Happy Hour,
Pumpkin Patch Family Event, Costume/ Dress Up Day/Themed Lunch
November 2022: TBD - Bakeoff, Board Game Night, Family Game Night, Friendsgiving
December 2022: TBD - Ugly Sweater Party, Holiday Party for SGIS/NIS

4

Willie Nordmann, with SGIS, “Thanks for the Cold Stone Ice Cream. I
shared they used their took the family tonight and we enjoyed it
Freedom gift card to enjoy (even if Eric won't smile for the picture).“
some ice cream!

5

Business
Development

Updates

SGIS

SGIS business development efforts continue to grow. Currently, we are working on several proposals at once
with various partners. These include but are not limited to GEM Cutter which will provide next-generation NGA
analysis capabilities inclusive of AI/ML integration and Vertex (formerly called MOJAVE) which will provide
direct staffing support to various offices and organizations throughout NGA. Beyond these efforts, SGIS is about
to prepare and submit a prime proposal for NGA Hydra which will modernize significant NGA Maritime systems
that provide Intelligence production and dissemination as well as move the capabilities into the cloud.

The AFCEA classified intelligence symposium for the first time since the COVID 19 pandemic began. It was held
July 20 and 21 at NGA New Campus East (NCE) in Springfield, VA. It brought together government, industry, and
academia that are focused on activities within the Intelligence Community, Department of Defense (DOD), and
National Defense sector. For more information about the symposium please visit the following link Welcome |
AFCEA Events

If any of you have information you come across related to these or any opportunity at NGA please contact
Steven Thomas at [email protected].

You might be especially interested to know that our most recent accomplishment is the imminent
transformation of more than 40,000 sq. ft. of The Globe into state-of-the-art SCIF space. Working with the
Westway Group, the Q1 2021 build-out will combine their unparalleled ability to build and manage SCIF space to
the highest community standards, and The Globe’s unique technology infrastructure. We couldn’t be more
excited about our partnership. Learn More

NIS

NIS is full of potential for new opportunities and growth! This is only made possible by the outstanding
performance and commitment to our customers’ missions that all of you demonstrate on a daily basis, despite


the frustrations and challenges this industry too often brings. DRAGONCONFETTI has received information

about its 25th TTO which is expected to start in November. GTC is preparing for a major cloud migration effort
and to advertise its capabilities to a larger user base. Geo Center II is developing key strategies that apply to the
entire USAID enterprise. And across our other programs and subcontracts, our personnel are continuing to
impress the government as well as our industry partners and enhance Freedom’s already stellar reputation
around the DMV.

The latest MPO forecast was released in mid-July and provided an updated list of current and upcoming
acquisitions. We are continuing to qualify new prime and sub bids that will expand our presence across the
Agency and provide a more diverse set of career growth opportunities for our Freedom family.

Next month, we will be focusing on getting the most out of our strategic vendor partnerships. Both AWS and
Esri will be working with the leadership team to coordinate new training events and to support our growth
initiatives. AWS will be helping our teams prepare for migration to their new classified region while Esri will be
by our side at several customer meetings to discuss the strength of the Esri-Freedom collaboration and how it
can further benefit the government.

If you have any questions or would like to discuss our NIS BD efforts in detail (or if you’d just like to set up a time

6 to chat and meet each other!), please contact Kathy Daumer at [email protected].

Finance Updates 7

SF312 – Classified Information Non- We want to take the time to
Disclosure Agreement emphasize the importance of
timesheets being updated daily and
Reading and signing a Classified signed weekly by COB each Friday.
Information Non-Disclosure Agreement (SF Equally important for managers to
312) is a mandatory requirement of all approve all subordinate timesheets by
employees who need access to classified Noon each Monday for the preceding
information. It is extremely important that week.
an SF 312 is signed before the employee is
granted access to any classified information. Additionally, please make sure to verify
your 401k beneficiaries for John
The non-disclosure agreement is a Handcock.
contractual agreement between the
employee and the government that informs Security Updates
the employee of the special trust placed on
them when being provided access to Make sure to check BambooHR for
classified information. The SF 312 further your Security Training due dates. Feel
outlines that an employee agrees to never free to email
disclose classified information to an [email protected] with
unauthorized person, their responsibilities any comments, questions, or concerns.
in protecting classified, and the
consequences of failing to meet the Reminder: We are still following
requirements. the CDC guidelines. Please note,
the CDC guidelines recommend
If the employee refuses to execute the reaching out to close contacts,
Classified Information Non-Disclosure however that is for any close
Agreement, this must be reported to the contacts, outside of work. Please
Cognizant Security Agency (CSA). In do not contact any close contacts
addition, any employee who refuses to sign at work. HR will ask you to provide
the SF 312 will not be allowed to access the names of those individuals and
classified information and will be they will be contacted accordingly.
immediately debriefed. Adhering to this standard will
protect employees and FCG.
If an employee should have any questions or
concerns regarding the SF 312, Classified
Information Non-Disclosure Agreement, he
or she should contact security at
[email protected].

8

Freedom Furry Friends!

In preparation for this month's social posts, we wanted to highlight our Freedom Furry
Friends!



If you are comfortable having your pet's image posted on all Freedom social media
accounts, please send a picture of your furry friend to [email protected]

with the subject line Freedom Furry Friend (Cat or Dog).

Deadlines for Submissions
Social Media Release Dates
Friday, August 5th: Images of cats Monday, August 8th (World Cat Day)
Friday, August 19th: Images of dogs Friday, August 26th (National Dog Day)

Marketing & Social Media

Our social growth is better than ever! We are so excited about the upcoming posts in
August! If you have not already make sure you are following all FCG social accounts to
support our company as we grow on social. If you'd like to share anything on our social
pages or have your own ideas for posts feel free to reach out to
[email protected].

If you're active on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, or Instagram, send
[email protected] your social links so we can tag you in posts that you are
featured in! You can also update your social media links via BambooHR.

July Featured Posts

9

HR
Updates

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LEARN MORE

10

Hot Jobs! 11

Mid Level Software System Engineer 2, Senior Software
Engineer (Remote), Annapolis Junction, MD Developer, Suitland, MD


Chantilly, VA

The DRAGONCONFETTI team is FCG seeks qualified candidates for

The technology stack will include C++,

C#, Java, Python, Javascript, HTML and actively looking for a hands-on support of the Maritime Domain

CSS, PCF, GitLab, Jenkins, Nexus, AWS, Systems Engineer/Integrator that Awareness (MDA) capabilities of the

Sonar, and Threadfix. Experience using can help us take advantage of our Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI)

JIRA for tracking is highly desired. This current and future technology Nimitz Operational Intelligence

Software Developer should have platforms. This person will be Command (OIC). Agile Defense

experience working with agile managing, maintaining, and provides IT support services to ONI

methodologies in a web software deploying applications across OIC to include tier 1 through 3 on-call

services environment on the cloud, as various platforms. This person support, user support, systems

well as comfortable with automated would be responsible for leading a engineering and technical

testing. small to medium sized team. assessments, and more.

LEARN MORE LEARN MORE LEARN MORE

For a full listing of current openings CLICK HERE
please visit our careers page:

Welcome New Hires!

Reagan Roberts,
Associate Software Engineer

Annual Reviews

Employees were emailed July 8th official increase letters. We
appreciate everyone's patience with the process. Congrats on a
successful review year!

12

Do you love maps and spatial data? We do! 13

Freedom's Geographic Technlolgies Center FCG
(GTC) Program has been supporting the MPO Recognition
customer for multiple years providing
enterprise wide GIS support, outreach, “I would like to recognize Joseph Lee for his
commercial product support and superior performance and substantial
development using the ArcGIS platform, contributions to our continued successful
geospatial software development and DevOps program execution. His work ethic is second
support. Over the past 17 years, Freedom has to none. His technical abilities are limitless.
supported this customer on 3 seperate His willingness to pitch in and help ensure
contracts. The first, ONWARDISLAND was mission success everywhere and anywhere
actually one of Freedom's first prime contracts he can is absolutely inspirational. His
and it's where Dana Gift and Scott Beall met contributions are key enablers to the recent
the current program manager, Wendy Turner, letters of commendation (attached) that we
and started Freedoms' path towards being the have received from the community. I look
leader in providing geospatial services and forward to another year of greatness with
support to the MPO customer. GTC's systems Joe and I’m confident that he will once
have also been recoginzed in multiple again help Lockheed Martin and Freedom
publications within the Agency as they play a Consulting Group to exceed customer
critical role in the geospatial analysis, expectations. You have a shining star and
visuzliation and reporting used throught the Joe should be the standard to which
DoD. everyone else is measured.”
– LMCO PM and Chief Engineer for the USAF
Under the current contract, the GTC performs Joint Application Support Contract
software development for 8 mission critical
systems within the Geospatial Services and “No other platform would have permitted
Analysis organization. These systems are built near real-time innovation across time zones
with a variety of technologies including the to deliver what our partners needed in such
ArcGIS Entprise suite, open source geospatial extraordinary times.”
libraries, Java microservices and deployed – GTC products highlighted on the NSA
wihtin the GTC hosted scalable Kubernetes homepage for their support to the Ukraine
cluster. The large initiiave for the GTC in FY23 mission
will be rearchitecting and deploying all
systems to the new highside AWS “Thank you both for working so hard on all
infrastructure. of the CMIS legacy issues! CE is running
much faster today, there are no duplicating
DOs, all of the Ukraine fund codes and
funding summaries all look great, and there
are no server issues. I know you’ve been
putting in a lot of hours lately, but we are
sincerely grateful.”
– B5’s Technical Director on David Jann and
Will McHarg’s support on
DRAGONCONFETTI

14

August is National Wellness Month! Low-Cost 15
We are committed to helping each
employee achieve their health and Ideas for
wellness goals! Worksite
Check out some of the partnerships and Wellness
resources we have available.
There never seems to be enough
hours in a day! Fitting in a little
exercise during your workday can
help ease the stress of trying to fit
in a whole exercise routine before
or after work. Check out some of
these useful tips!

Physical Activity - Take a 30-
minute walk during lunch with
coworkers or take the stairs instead
of the elevator!

Nutrition - Keep healthy snacks
and water readily available at your
desk.

Stress Management - Take stress
relief breasks!

Gain access to any of the 3 fitness centers in Columbia that All employees have access to the
include pools, over 300 fitness classes, KidsSpace, and access Employee Assistance Program
to the ice rink, skate park, and tennis courts. (EAP) through Cigna. Log into
FCG employees are eligible for the Corporate Membership my.cigna.com and click on the
discount. wellness tab located at the top
of the navigation menu. Here
Want to check out the facilities before comitting to a you will find resources for health
membership? Print out a FREE guest pass for a coaching, mental health, diet &
complementary visit! exercise, and more!

Go to BambooHR/Files/ColumibaAssociation. Limit one pass While there also be sure to take
per. employee. the Total Wellness Assessment.
This will give you a better
understanding of your overall
health and give you some tips to
help achieve your health and
wellness goals!

SAFE PROJECT 16

Over 108,000 Americans died last year from accidental drug overdoses. The number of fatal and nonfatal
overdoses has risen steadily over the last several years and we have now seen the highest number of losses
ever recorded.

Following the loss of their son to an accidental overdose, Sandy Winnefeld, a retired Navy admiral and former
Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and his wife Mary, a member of the Board of Governors for the USO,
created SAFE Project. Sandy serves a critical role for Freedom as a key partner and advisor.

SAFE Project is now a national nonprofit bringing a unified and collaborative approach to the fight to end our
addiction fatality epidemic. SAFE Project works on the ground to bring solutions, resources, and awareness to
communities, campuses, and businesses, in addition to active duty and veteran families.

Freedom is a proud supporter of SAFE Project and their work and has designated a donation of $10,0000 to
this great cause. Freedom has agreed to match all donations made by members of our team.

Please send your receipt to [email protected] and we'll make the match accordingly.

If you would like to learn more about SAFE Project, please visit them at www.safeproject.us.

To donate, feel free to go directly to www.safeproject.us/donate.

FOOD & SPORTS
EQUIPMENT DRIVE

Freedom is partnering with LPF | Leveling The Playing Field by supporting their mission.
LPF collects new and gently-used sports and playground equipment from local youth
sports community. Volunteers then sort the donations in their warehouse so that they
could distribute the equipment to schools and organizations working to provide an
affordable and accessible option to under-resourced youth groups, community programs
and schools throughout the local area.

We are also partnering with Howard County Food Bank to donate non-perishable items.
Boxes will be available at two of our SCIF sites in Maryland, please speak to your program
managers to find out where the collection boxes are located. Your program manager
may still be working on securing a location, so please be patient with them. The location
will be finalized before Thursday, July 28th. If you’re not at a Maryland SCIF site and
would like to participate, there will also be a couple of boxes at the corporate office,
located at 7061 Columbia Gateway Dr., Suite 200, Columbia, MD. Feel free to contact
@Kelly Ume to coordinate dropping off your item/s. Attached, please find the list of
accepted donation items.

Dates for Sports Equipment Drive: Thursday, July 28th – Friday, August 19th.