Manish Bhatia, an innovator the in Karsun Solutions Cloud Practice, recently attended Igniting Innovation, the American Council for Technology and Industry Advisory Council’s (ACT-IAC’s) celebration of innovation in government modernization. Below he reflects on his experience at the event and as a member of the evaluation committee. This post first appeared on LinkedIn.

One cold winter day in 2016 as I was preparing to join the GovCon industry, my mind was clouded with certain doubts – I was wondering whether the government was ready ‘Enough’ to imbibe the latest and greatest in technologies for efficient and effective solutions for the citizens. What better use of the hard earned taxpayer’s money? Hailing from the commercial sector where cutting-edge is the norm, the Government industry is thought by many to be ‘jaded’ or slow in adopting the latest and greatest in technology.

My doubts quickly died when I first joined Karsun Solutions LLC, where innovation was weaved into the very fabric of the company. The entire focus was to achieve the extraordinary while defying the status quo for its customers utilizing nothing but the most advanced technologies and processes. Additionally, my selection as an evaluator on the ACT-IAC Igniting Innovation panel convinced me to change my own ‘jaded’ belief! I am honored to be on the panel to assess and evaluate the multitude of innovations across various walks of the Government industry. Applicants here are solving an array of ultra-complex problems with use cases ranging from utilizing Augmented Reality to save lives of Air Force Pilots to sophisticated Blockchain and Machine Learning solutions for the age-old problem of government acquisition systems to everything in between.

I was stunned! A few of the use cases strongly caught my attention:

• Commercial Solutions Opening (CSO) – GSA FEDSIM
• HHS ACCELERATE – U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
• Pilot Training Next – SAIC

Process Improvement — In the world of Government business, it is a known fact that obtaining efficient service from the GovCon community is difficult, whether by vendors or by the government agency. One has to comply with FAR rules and often times it’s difficult for both the government and the startups to do business due to these regulations. GSA FEDSIM’s Commercial Solutions Opening – (CSO) initiative is an answer to this problem. It offers a platform for the government to buy innovative solutions from organizations without complying with the FAR rule book. GSA and DHS can procure innovative services easily through the reduction of barriers, contract clauses and paperwork, in turn freeing the government to obtain top-notch services from innovative companies. The CSO solution is a win-win for both the sectors, bringing in high-quality innovation to agencies at a break-neck speed which took months in the previous procurement process.

Innovative use of Technology — HHS ACCELERATE (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services) could very well become the future of Procurement not only within the US government but also for governments across the world. It’s a one stop shop for Procurement with APIs to Sam.gov and has dramatically improved user experience between the contracting officer and vendors by pre-populating templates. Vendors can enhance their profile by adding capabilities that could be easily searched by contracting officers. They can quickly upload their catalogs on the platform while contracting officers can easily create documents like RFI with a click of a button.The key is the trust and transparency that is shared across the system using a decentralized database incorporated using Blockchain technologies. This enables an agency for ‘Smart Contracts’ that could be executed by various parts of the agency rather than relying on one particular department. ACCELERATE is also powered by AI and machine learning which reviews content within the agency acquisition plan and selects applicable clauses for preview along with the populated form and solicitation at any point.

Disruptive Innovation to save lives –  Pilot Training NEXT (PTN) is an experiential approach designed to maximize pilot trainees’ capacity for learning. The US Air Force Air Education Training Command is using this approach to accelerate students through the undergraduate pilot training course that teaches them basic airmanship and aircraft control. PTN utilizes Augmented Reality to generate a sophisticated simulation environment in which a trainee student can operate a variety of aircraft seamlessly. This allows them to develop critical thinking skills to fly safely and think quickly when operating an aircraft beyond the memory associated with flying a single type of aircraft. It uses biometrics, advanced analytics, human performance and advanced learning strategies to achieve and provide indicators of practical learning and student improvement. Students who use PTN can quickly learn from mistakes made during simulation allowing them to train in different situations thus saving lives in the future. PTN is the future of Air Force.

My thoughts are certainly changing as the season is changing from winter to summer and I envision that the government along with GovCon community will continue to make big strides in making the lives of citizens better through innovation and events of the likes — ACT-IAC Igniting Innovation is encouraging to solve problems like never before! We all have a responsibility to keep igniting the innovations as this is what humans have done from the beginning of evolution and this is what have to do for a better future for generations to come.

Manish Bhatia represents Karsun’s collaborative spirit within the IT contracting industry. Check out the Karsun Innovation Center for the latest on IT modernization innovation at Karsun.

Karsun Solutions proudly announces the graduation of Sudhir Duggineni from the American Council for Technology and Industry Advisory Council’s (ACT-IAC) Voyagers Program. This program is one of the top two professional development programs offered yearly by ACT-IAC.  In this competitive program, industry leaders are partnered with counterparts from the federal government.  Only 32 participants were accepted this year.

Program graduates hosted a half-day event, “EPIC: Exploration, People, Inspiration, Collaboration – The Future of Information Technology”. The Voyagers class held interactive panels focused on the characteristics needed for IT leadership. At the conclusion of the event the graduates, including Mr. Duggineni, were recognized and welcomed as newly minted ACT-IAC Fellows.

Karsun Solutions is highly engaged with the fellowship programs from ACT-IAC. Terry Miller, Chief Operating Officer at Karsun Solutions, is the Industry Chair for the Partners Program. Shaunak Ashtaputre, the Director of the Data Analytics Practice at Karsun Solutions, is a member of the current Partners class. Mr. Duggineni is the eighth member of Karsun leadership to now join a prestigious group of ACT-IAC Fellows.

About Sudhir Duggineni

Sudhir Duggineni is a highly motivated, goal-oriented Project Manager at Karsun Solutions. He successfully delivered a $10 million modernization project for the General Services Administration Federal Acquisition Service (FAS). He is currently leading a Federal Aviation Administration initiative. A recognized leader, he has 15 years of experience in supporting and managing a number of IT solutions and services to clients across the acquisition, financial, and public sector industries.  He has actively pursued industry standard certifications including Project Management Professional, ITIL, Scrum Master, Product Owner (CSPO) and Process Manager (CSPM) and engaged in groups like ACT-IAC for continuous learning opportunities.

About Karsun Solutions

Karsun Solutions is a premier IT modernization firm delivering a portfolio of services to its federal and commercial customers. Its core competencies include Modern Software Development, Cloud Solutions, and Advanced Analytics. The organization’s quality, development, and information security practices include CMMI Level 5 DEV, ISO 9001:2015, ISO 20000:2011 and ISO 27001:2013 certifications.

George Mason University students partnered with the Karsun Innovation Center to develop a rapid prototyping tool for microservices. Joseph Oliver, Artin Malekian and Habib Khalid worked directly with the innovation team on the rapid scaffolding tool. The seniors completed the work as part of their Industry-Sponsored Senior Design Project. Now in its second year, the senior capstone project integrates students’ computer science coursework with hands-on work with their capstone sponsor. The course is a unique opportunity to connect students of the Virginia-based university with the local IT industry. Including Karsun Solutions, eight companies sponsored the work of 28 students as part of the project.

The rapid scaffolding tool developed by the students aids in rapid prototyping for both monolith and microservices applications. Rapid prototyping is of utmost importance to enable human-centered design of software-intensive systems. As organizations build Lean teams, they seek opportunities to build minimum viable products (MVPs) faster with reduced initial cost. Quick set-up, using a rapid prototyping tool, gives teams this power. As an IT modernization firm specializing in modern software development, cloud solutions and advanced analytics, this project supports teams across Karsun

JHipster (https://www.jhipster.tech/) lets development teams generate application code for a variety of frameworks and languages. With this project, the intention was to extend JHipster to include support for additional languages and frameworks, so that the development teams get additional choices for building faster prototypes including polyglot microservices. In particular, the team focused their efforts on enhancing GoLang support for backend services.

The project was mentored by Badri Sriraman and Shanmuga Palanivelu. Badri is Vice President, Karsun Innovation Center (KIC) and the Chief Innovator at GoLean.io.  He is an accomplished Senior IT Architect, with over 22 years in developing solutions to modernize enterprise IT systems. Shanmuga has over 14 years of experience in software development doing software design, architecture and full-stack development. He is currently focused on both developing and deploying microservices at scale and implementing DevOps at scale.

Microservices innovation is one of several areas researched within our Karsun Innovation Center. This research and development unit consists of several prototyping teams and Centers of Excellence. These teams also act as subject matter experts, form vendor partnerships, arrange training and host a yearly internship. The innovation center is part of Karsun’s larger mentorship framework which includes industry associations, academic outreach and the Karsun Academy professional development program. We connect with both students and academics through hackathons, talks, and career fairs. The innovation center is still accepting Developer and DevOps interns into their summer program.

HERNDON, VA- Karsun Solutions, a provider of IT modernization services to the United States government, announced it will open a new headquarters in Herndon, Virginia. Karsun Solutions will occupy multiple floors in Worldgate Metro Plaza, a Moore & Associates property. This more than 50,000 square foot office space will serve as the new headquarters for the growing government contracting firm.

In addition to the current employee base of nearly 350, Karsun Solutions intends to hire an additional 100+ people. Current openings include technical roles such as Project Manager, Technical Architect, DevOps Engineer, Security Engineer, Solutions Architect, Delivery Manager, Full Stack Developer, Test Automation Engineer and Data Engineer. Applicants may visit www.karsun-llc.com/careers  for detailed information on open positions.

This hiring surge coincides with rapid growth across the organization. From 2015 to 2018 Karsun Solutions was recognized among the Inc. 5000. Recently the Virginia Chamber of Commerce named Karsun Solutions to their Fantastic 50 list, a ranking of the fastest growing firms in Virginia. Nationwide the firm employs teams primarily located in the Oklahoma City and Washington, DC metro areas.

Karsun Solutions is a government modernization firm specializing in modern software development, cloud solutions, and advanced analytics. Their customers include the Department of Homeland Security, Federal Aviation Administration and General Services Administration. In April, the company announced DHS awarded the $80 million FEMA Grants Management Modernization (GMM) BPA to Karsun Solutions. The GMM Program seeks to streamline grants management across the agency’s 40+ grant programs. Previously, Karsun Solutions was awarded the FAA Software Solution Delivery (SSD) five-year Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract with a $145 million ceiling value. Under this contract, Karsun Solutions teams provide technical services in support of the Federal Aviation Administration’s Office of Information Technology (FAA AIT). These support services assist in the implementation and continuing support of enterprise-wide software application and database development.

“Our team is proud of our sustainable growth record,” said Karsun Solutions Chief Executive Officer Sundar Vaidyanathan. “Karsun continued expansion is due to our high-performing teams’ pursuit of excellence at every turn. With the opening of our new Herndon Headquarters, we offer the opportunity to join a team that supports your growth as we grow.”

The new facility will include a training auditorium, extending the resources available as part of the organization’s Karsun Academy professional development program. It will also house the Karsun Innovation Center. One of the company’s earliest teams, this research and development unit houses Centers of Excellence, prototypes customer solutions, hosts an internship program, and cultivates subject matter experts across the organization.

Worldgate Metro Plaza is a Moore & Associates property. Moore recently completed a $10 million renovation of the 4 building, 354,000 sf property. It is conveniently located ¼ mile from the new Herndon Metro Station. In addition to the Metro, Karsun Solutions employees may access other public transit options and an onsite bike sharing program. Additional amenities include an onsite gym, WiFi lounge and conference center.

About Karsun Solutions

Karsun Solutions is a premier IT modernization firm delivering a portfolio of services to its federal and commercial customers. Its core competencies include Modern Software Development, Cloud Solutions, and Advanced Analytics. The organization’s quality, development, and information security practices include CMMI Level 5 DEV, ISO 9001:2015, ISO 20000:2011 and ISO 27001:2013 certifications.

About Moore & Associates

Since its founding in 1979, the Moore team has enhanced the value of its commercial real estate investments through proactive management, leasing, and tenant interior construction, strengthening the decades long belief that platform execution drives down risk while increasing overall return. Moore’s portfolio currently includes $510 million in assets under management, consisting of 1.9 million square feet of commercial real estate. Furthermore, Moore has developed numerous low- and high-rise office buildings.

HERNDON, VA- Karsun Solutions, an IT modernization company, announced it was named among the Fantastic 50, a yearly ranking of the fastest growing firms in Virginia. Held in Chantilly, Virginia, the award program is a signature event of the Virginia Chamber of Commerce. Now in its 24th year, the Fantastic 50 program is the only annual statewide award recognizing Virginia’s fastest growing businesses. Nominations for the 2019 Fantastic 50 were sought last fall from local chambers of commerce, economic development organizations, and through the sponsors’ networks; companies may also nominate themselves.

“It is our honor to recognize the entrepreneurial spirit of the fifty fastest growing businesses within the Commonwealth,” said Barry DuVal, president and CEO of the Virginia Chamber of Commerce. “We know that the success stories shared tonight will only grow more prevailing as the Chamber continues to implement the strategies outlined in Blueprint Virginia 2025, making Virginia the best place for businesses to start and grow. We are glad to toast the Virginia business leaders and the dedicated employees who have brought these companies continued success.”

In addition to the Fantastic 50, the Chamber announced four Virginia Vanguard winners, recognized for the highest growth in the categories of service, technology, retail/wholesale, and recognizing the company with the highest overall growth in Virginia. Kartik Mecheri, Co-Founder and Chief Architect at Karsun Solutions, accepted the award on the organization’s behalf.

“Karsun’s growth, celebrated tonight, is a reflection of our dedication to delivering high-quality modernization solutions to the Federal Government,” said Mecheri.

Located in Herndon, Virginia, Karsun Solutions specializes in government modernization. Karsun offers modern software development, cloud, and advanced analytics solutions to customers at agencies including the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), and General Services Administration (GSA). Founded in 2009, the firm experienced early growth by merging innovation with data-driven outcomes.

Karsun celebrated the first year of its FAA SSD contract in 2018. In August of that year, the $145 million program increased headcount by more than 150 people. This expansion also included the addition of new teams in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. In October, Alliant Solutions Partner, with Karsun Solutions as the managing partner, was awarded the GSA Database and Middleware Systems (DMS) Task Order. That year, the growing company ranked among the Inc. 5000 for the fourth year in a row.

The company expects to sustain this growth beyond 2019. Karsun was recently awarded its first full and open contract, the $80 million FEMA Grants Management Modernization BPA. Earlier this year the firm announced KHS Solutions, a mentor-protégé joint venture between Karsun Solutions and MindCubed. The joint venture was awarded a spot on the SEC One IT contract vehicle. This new vehicle broadened the organization’s reach into the Securities and Exchange Commission. Karsun is expanding and currently is hiring over 100 new technical positions to support its increasing customer base.

About the Virginia Chamber of Commerce

The Virginia Chamber of Commerce is the largest business organization in the Commonwealth, with more than 26,000 members. The Chamber is a non-partisan, business advocacy organization that works in the legislative, regulatory, civic and judicial arenas to act as the catalyst for positive change in all areas of economic development and competitiveness for Virginia. In December 2017, the Chamber released an update to its long-term strategic economic development plan, Blueprint Virginia 2025, which engaged over 6,000 business and community leaders to lay out a plan to getting Virginia back to the top of national business climate rankings. Learn more at www.vachamber.com.

HERNDON, Va.- Karsun Solutions, an IT modernization firm serving the U.S. government, named Ben Marglin as Vice President of Client Solutions. Marglin has over 20 years of professional experience. He will be responsible for building trusted long-term relationships with senior Federal clients and leading Karsun delivery teams to achieve high-quality results.

“Ben’s deep knowledge and connection to the federal IT sector is invaluable,” said Karsun Solutions Co-Founder and Chief Architect Kartik Mecheri.  “His presence on our executive team ensures the needs of our customers continues to guide Karsun decision making.”

Marglin previously worked as a Principal/Director at Booz Allen Hamilton for over 17 years, serving in leadership roles for the Digital team within the Strategic Innovation Group (SIG) as well as in the Civil/FED market, leading teams of 200 plus staff and agency portfolios with approximately $100M in annual revenue for clients such as General Services Administration (GSA) and National Science Foundation (NSF.) He served as Booz Allen’s corporate representative to ACT-IAC and also led collaborative projects with the Partnership for Public Service. Prior to his career with Booz Allen, he worked for American Management Systems (AMS) providing IT management and consulting services to state and local governments.

“Our high performance teams already deliver exceptional outcomes to our clients.” said Marglin. “I look forward to fortifying Karsun’s delivery framework as awareness of our innovative approach to IT modernization permeates the public sector.”

Marglin joins as the organization adds leadership infrastructure to support their rapid growth. In early April they announced the award of the $80 million FEMA Grants Management Modernization BPA to Karsun Solutions. In March KHS, a Karsun Solutions/Mindcubed Mentor Protégé, announced they were selected for the SEC One IT contract vehicle. In addition to their recent contract wins, their fast expansion earned them a spot on Inc. 5000 four years in a row. The firm currently has over 100 open positions ranging from Project Management to DevOps, Data and Security Engineers.

“Ben’s presence comes at a critical time for Karsun,” said Chief Executive Office Sundar Vaidyanathan. “He joins as we meld innovation, customer experience, and employee growth into our expansion strategy.”

Karsun Solutions is a premier IT modernization firm delivering a portfolio of services to its federal and commercial customers. Its core competencies include Modern Software Development, Cloud Solutions, and Advanced Analytics. The organization’s quality, development, and information security practices include CMMI Level 5 DEV, ISO 9001:2015, ISO 20000:2011 and ISO 27001:2013 certifications.

Karsun Solutions partners with Virginia Tech this April to host an online webinar for their Master of Information Technology students. Students of that program are invited to join Karsun Solutions leadership for a lunchtime webinar on Tuesday, April 30^th at 12:00 pm Eastern to learn more about the Karsun journey and the exciting IT career opportunities.

Virginia Tech’s Master of Information Technology (MIT) program is a collaboration between the university’s College of Engineering and Pamplin College of Business. Coursework includes Health Information Systems, Software Development, Information Security, Business Information Systems, Decision Support Systems, Networking, and Telecommunications. The 17-year-old program is considered among the best online graduate IT programs. US News and World report rank it the number three online graduate IT program and number two online IT program for veterans.

Karsun Solutions is committed to bridging the gap between technology students and the IT industry. Last fall, Jason Marceau shared his tips for graduate students crafting their work experience story. In addition to virtual events, other academic partnerships include hackathons, senior capstone programs, internships, and traditional job fairs. Their 2019 Innovation Center Internship program is currently accepting applications. A rapidly growing firm, Karsun Solutions has over 100 open positions including Project Managers, Delivery Managers, DevOps Engineers, Security Engineers, Data Engineers, Solutions Architects, Technical Architects, Full Stack Developers, and Business Analysts. They are seeking innovative professionals for their teams in Virginia and Oklahoma.

Team Karsun supports customers in the US government including the Department of Homeland Security, Federal Aviation Administration, and General Services Administration. The innovation and performance-driven culture provide employees the autonomy to innovate, the accountability to take ownership, and advancement opportunities for personal growth. Join the team and “Do Extraordinary” while delivering high-quality software development, cloud, and advanced analytics solutions to Karsun’s customers. Enjoy easy access to decision-makers, with the stability, experience, and scalability of a large firm.

Subscribe to Karsun’s monthly Extraordinary Life newsletter for the latest on career events, openings, internships, and talent news.

HERNDON, VA – The United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) awarded Karsun Solutions, LLC the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Grants Management Modernization (GMM) Program Agile development contract. This is a five-year single award Blanket Purchase Agreement (BPA) with a ceiling value of $80 million and was awarded under Full and Open Competition to Karsun Solutions, a growing enterprise modernization firm headquartered in Herndon, Virginia.

FEMA has begun a multi-year effort to transform the way the Agency manages grants.  The GMM Program seeks to streamline grants management across the agency’s 40+ grant programs through a user-centered, business-driven approach. GMM will consolidate FEMA’s ten legacy IT systems into a single grants management IT platform. The program will also consolidate FEMA’s grants operations, establishing a common grants management lifecycle and unifying business processes across grant programs where possible. These changes will improve the efficiency and effectiveness of FEMA’s grant operations, thereby strengthening the Agency’s ability to carry out its mission.

“FEMA GMM represents a multi-year effort for IT Modernization and transformation that will better enable citizens and first responders to apply for and be awarded federal disaster and non-disaster grants.  We are honored to support DHS and FEMA in this effort,” said Sundar Vaidyanathan, Karsun Solutions co-founder and Chief Executive Officer.

“We are excited to partner with FEMA to deliver the innovation and citizen impact that our federal customers are accustomed to receiving.  We look forward to bringing our expertise in modern software development, cloud solutions, and advanced analytics solutions to the Grants Modernization program,” added Kartik Mecheri, Karsun Solutions co-founder and Chief Architect.

Founded in 2009, the IT modernization firm experienced steady growth. In addition to the FEMA GMM award, the organization currently supports multiple large scale modernization efforts focused on modern software development, advanced analytics, and cloud solutions. Karsun Solutions recently announced it ranked among the Inc. 5000 Fastest Growing Private Companies four years in a row.

About Karsun Solutions

Karsun Solutions is a fast-growing, innovative enterprise modernization firm. Recently awarded Best Company Culture by Comparably.com, its teams deliver modern software development, cloud, and data solutions to customers at government agencies including the Department of Homeland Security, Federal Aviation Administration and General Services Administration. Leveraging GoLean, Karsun teams drive digital transformation and help its government customers Do Extraordinary. Learn more at Karsun-LLC.com.

ALEXANDRIA, VA – The United States Securities and Exchange Commission awarded KHS Solutions, LLC a spot on the SEC One IT contract. SEC One IT is an indefinite delivery-indefinite quantity (IDIQ) contract with a ceiling value of $2.5 billion. The seven information technology channels under the vehicle are Application Management and Development (Platform), IT Infrastructure and Operations Management (Small Business Only), Business Solutions Delivery (Non-Platform), Information Security, IT Data Management, IT Governance, and Technology Business Management.

KHS Solutions, LLC is an SBA approved 8(a) Mentor Protégé Joint Venture between Karsun Solutions (Mentor) and Mindcubed (Protégé). Karsun Solutions is a premier IT and consulting services company with a culture of innovation.  They offer a portfolio of Enterprise Modernization services to both Federal agencies and commercial clients. Mindcubed is an SBA 8(a) certified information technology software and services company headquartered in the District of Columbia.

We are excited to join together with Mindcubed for the opportunity to present solutions to the SEC’s data management and enterprise modernization challenges, noted Sundar Vaidyanathan, CEO of Karsun Solutions.

We are honored and look forward to delivering innovative solutions to fulfill SEC mission needs with our Mentor Karsun Solutions and teaming partners, noted Habib Nasibdar CEO of Mindcubed.

About Karsun Solutions

Karsun Solutions is a fast-growing, innovative enterprise modernization firm. Recently awarded Best Company Culture by Comparably.com, its teams deliver modern software development, cloud, and data solutions to customers at government agencies including the Department of Homeland Security, Federal Aviation Administration and General Services Administration. Leveraging GoLean, Karsun teams drive digital transformation and help its government customers Do Extraordinary. Learn more at Karsun-LLC.com.

About Mindcubed

Mindcubed thrives on and excels at delivering creative quality solutions quickly and cost-effectively in the areas of Big Data Analytics, Mobile Apps Development, Agile Systems Engineering, and Cybersecurity. Mindcubed’s GRID™ software offering is a cloud and mobile enabled, enterprise-scale Big Data platform. GRID provides a unique combination of agile analytics, business compliance, and statistical simulation capabilities, enabling organizations to understand trends, predict outcomes and make data-driven decisions.  Mindcubed is appraised at CMMI Level 3 DEV and its Quality Management System (QMS) MindPROVE is ISO 9001:2015 certified.

In 2018 US federal agencies spent 4.11 trillion dollars. This figure is reported by USASpending.gov, a clearinghouse for money spent by the United States Government. The data provided there represents the complex relationship between the agencies administering spending, the federal accounts that contain those funds, plus the states or other recipients receiving that money. Failure to fully understand this relationship sometimes yields unintended consequences for local policymakers and their affected communities. Where these relationships were previously obscured, data and analytics experts now have the ability to breakdown these relationships and either diagnose or predict spending outcomes.

Karsun Solutions is partnering with graduate students at the University of Southampton to analyze this big data. In our upcoming Making Sense of Government Data analytics hackathon we invite students to take two approaches to breaking down this complex data. In the visualization challenge, we ask students to take a descriptive and diagnostic approach. Alternatively, students may use the data to build useful predictive models.

Visualization Challenge: Understanding USASpending.gov Data

Students participating in our visualization competition explain complex data-intensive processes in a user friendly way. Using the USASpending.gov data students must visually portray information in a manner that’s meaningful to both a government policymaker and the average citizen. Students are challenged with thinking about the relationship between the parties involved versus new insights like highest spend, award or distribution.

Predictive Challenge: Investigating Income

In the predictive challenge we ask students not only to understand patterns and trends, but also to think about the impact of other publicly available data, such as income, on those trends. For instance, they could layer on income information provided by the Internal Revenue Service. Next, they might predict whether income is expected to rise or fall for those areas.  In this track students come away with a clearer insight into building tools for policymakers. These tools have the power to guide the way national policies impact local spending or address shifting neighborhood demographics before they impact national policy.

Clarity through Data

Participants in either track are ultimately judged on their ability to demonstrate original findings in a concise matter while demonstrating technical prowess. Top teams will also demonstrate inference with clear, well thought out claims.

Karsun Solutions is thrilled to be part of this data and analytics hackathon. We are modernization experts serving customers across the federal government. Visit our event announcement to learn more about Karsun Solutions and our partners, the University of Southampton and the Centre for Operational Research, Management Science and Information Systems (CORMSIS.) Join me, Jason Marceau, later this spring as we share our hackathon insights after the event.