Pyramid News

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (May 22, 2009)

Pyramid Named by USDA Food and Nutrition Service as Small Business Contractor of the Year

Fairfax, VA, May 22, 2009 – Pyramid Systems, Inc. (Pyramid) is pleased to announce that it has been selected by USDA Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) as their small business contractor of the year.

Pyramid is currently working with FNS to design, build, and deploy applications supporting the management and administration of the WIC program.

WIC is a federal grant program targeting low-income, nutritionally at risk pregnant women, new mothers, infants, and children. WIC is administered at the federal level by FNS and by 90 WIC state agencies, and operates through 2,000 local agencies and 10,000 clinic sites.

Two applications are being developed under Pyramid’s engagement with FNS: a Management Evaluation Tool enabling WIC HQs personnel to more effectively and efficiently monitor and evaluate the overall efficacy of the program, and a State Plan Tool to be used at the State level by WIC agencies to build and submit their grantee packages. Currently, work related to the conduct of Management Evaluations and submission of State Plans is manual.

Pyramid is developing the new WIC-related systems for FNS using its iterative solutions development methodology, CMMI Level 3 procedures, and Pyramid Process Asset Library. The Management Evaluation Tool currently under development is a Java-based web-enabled system.

In the nomination form, Pyramid was cited for the creative and innovative use of tools for requirements gathering and documentation, collaboration with WIC personnel and other stakeholders, and its iterative engineering approach which allows FNS to participate more efficiency in the design and development of the Tools. Because program stakeholders are spread throughout the county, the engagement is a virtual project and Pyramid has made extensive use of SharePoint and Live Meeting to ensure the effective collaboration of all parties and the centralized management of engagement artifacts.

The nomination form also cited Pyramid for its focus on customer satisfaction: “The customer service provided by Pyramid has been nothing short of stellar.”

Pyramid President and Co-Founder Sherry Hwang made the following comment upon receipt of the award announcement:

“It is wonderful to be recognized for our performance by one of our customers, especially when innovation and customer service are cited as two of the main factors for the award. I am very proud of our Federal Programs Team led by Trish Ibanez, and the USDA Project Team led by Nickie Chen. A real working partnership has been established between FNS and Pyramid, and the project has become a model for how we engage with our customers. The value our iterative solutions development approach and our CMMI Level 3 methodology has really shown through in this engagement. The entire software engineering lifecycle has been accelerated and FNS has more visibility into our work and more control over outcomes. This is a very significant event for Pyramid, given that this is our first engagement with USDA and the project start date was only September of 2008.”

Pyramid and other USDA small business award winners will be honored in a ceremony on June 18, 2009.

About Pyramid Systems, Inc.

Pyramid Systems, Inc. (Pyramid) is a woman-owned small business providing full-service IT consulting and software engineering solutions to government and commercial clients. The company is a SEI CMMI Maturity Level 3-rated organization, and adheres to documented processes and best practices in delivering and maintaining solutions for clients.  Pyramid differentiates itself based on IT thought leadership, responsiveness to the needs and expectations of our clients, and project delivery methods based on best practices. We deliver solutions on-time that meet or exceed client expectations.  The company has three office locations in the greater Washington, DC metropolitan area. Pyramid maintains the following practice areas: software solutions, CAFM, consulting and advisory services, and business support services.

Point of Contact:
Cristalle Lopez
Business Development Manager
clopez@psi-it.com
703-553-0800 x141