News

BlackFish Federal, Inc. (BlackFish), a McLean, Virginia-based IT and Professional Support Services provider to government is making a big splash in Orlando, Florida, with its recent acquisition of AMTIS, Inc. (AMTIS). BlackFish has been on a growth trajectory since 2015 with specialized services in 4 key US government sectors: Defense, Health, National Security, and Law Enforcement.

AMTIS has long proven itself a company built on a foundation of excellence and integrity. Since 2007, AMTIS and its leadership have won a myriad of awards for excellence. For the last 6 years it has ranked in Inc. Magazine’s 5,000 Fastest Growing Companies, and in 2018, it was selected as one of Orlando Business Journal’s Golden 100.

With the acquisition of AMTIS, BlackFish significantly extends its technical capability, operational capacity, and geographic footprint. It is now able to offer enterprise-class solutions while maintaining the responsiveness and customer intimacy its current customers enjoy. The acquisition is part of an ongoing strategy to satisfy future client needs and in support of its mission to become the highest rated contractor serving the United States Government.

AMTIS, Inc. announces that it has been appraised at level 2 of the CMMI Institute’s Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI)®. The appraisal was performed by Northern Utah Process Improvement Technologies, Inc. CMMI is a capability improvement framework that provides organizations with the essential elements of effective processes that ultimately improve their performance. An appraisal at maturity level 2 indicates the organization is performing at a “managed” level. At this level, projects have ensured that processes are planned and executed in accordance with policy; the projects employ skilled people who have adequate resources to produce controlled outputs; involve relevant stakeholders; are monitored, controlled, and reviewed; and are evaluated for adherence to their process descriptions. Part of AMTIS’ growth strategy has been to seek and maintain certification through organizations such as CMMI in order to show potential clients the high level of quality that it will deliver through proven, repeatable, standardized processes.

AMTIS was awarded the SeaPort Next Generation (SeaPort-NxG) Multiple Award IDIQ, a new contract vehicle that is a follow-on to our existing Seaport-e IDIQ. Under this contract, managed by the Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA), the government will solicit professional engineering services task orders. The period of performance is 10 years, with a $52.5 billion ceiling.

Inc. Magazine ranked AMTIS, Inc. No. 2824 on its 37th Annual Inc. 5000 list, the most prestigious ranking of the nation’s fastest-growing private companies. With a three-year growth of 146 percent, AMTIS, a government solutions and services company that serves clients around the country, is among very few companies that have been represented on the list six times. This impressive list includes the most successful companies within the U.S. economy’s most dynamic segment— its independent small businesses. The Inc. 5000 is a list started in 1982, this prestigious list of the nation’s most successful private companies has become the hallmark of entrepreneurial success.
Out of the nearly seven million private companies moving the American economy forward every day, only a tiny fraction have demonstrated such consistent high growth as those appearing on the current Inc. 5000 list. According to Inc., only about 12 percent of American companies achieve one-year revenue growth of 25 percent or more. Within the 5,000 companies just listed only 193, which is less than four percent, have made this respected list six times. AMTIS has been included on the Inc. 5000 list in 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017
AMTIS CEO & President, Barbara Stankowski said: “For over 10 years, our team’s number one goal has been to provide consistent, affordable and high-quality services to our customers. We would never have achieved this growth and success without our passionate and committed team members who server our customers each and every day. This success represents their individual professionalism, talent and can-do spirit. I am grateful for this amazing team”

Barbara Stankowski, president and chief executive officer of AMTIS Inc. of Orlando, Fla., is the 2018 recipient of the Kathleen P. Sridhar Small Business Executive of the Year Award, the National Defense Industrial Association announced.
Stankowski was cited for her support of small-business initiatives across Florida and her individual coaching of startup businesses, particularly those owned by women and veterans. Since 2014, she has been on the advisory board for GrowFL, an organization that offers strategies, resources and support to second-stage companies for next-level growth.
Stankowski served 28 years in the Navy, seven of those in command, and worked eight years for a small business before founding AMTIS in 2007 in Orlando. It has about 170 employees, about a third of whom are veterans. AMTIS provides professional and business processing services and leader development and training to Defense Department and other federal agencies. The company is a member of NDIA and supports its affiliate, Women In Defense. It is a verified Service Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business and graduated in July from the Small Business Administration 8(a) program.
The award is named for Dr. Kathleen Sridhar, CEO of INDUS Technology, who died in March 2004. Sridhar was very active in NDIA conferences and events and was president of the San Diego Chapter. She was considered an inspiration who mentored others to successful leadership positions in small business in defense and advocated for a robust small-business sector in the defense industrial base. NDIA bestows the honor yearly upon an executive who best reflects Sridhar’s example.
Stankowski will receive the award and be recognized during NDIA’s Fall board meeting.

AMTIS Inc. is honored to be on the list of the Central Florida Fast 50: Top Fastest-Growing Companies for the fourth year in a row! The list recognizes the 50 fastest-growing private companies headquartered in Central Florida's four-county region: Orange, Seminole, Lake and Osceola. The rankings are based on the companies' percentage of revenue growth from 2014-2016. Our continued success is the result of the passion, talent and commitment that our amazing team provides to our customers every day. The rankings were revealed and the honorees were recognized at the Fast 50 event, which was held on June 9.

The chiefs, presidents and founders of some of Central Florida’s most successful companies were recognized at Orlando Business Journal’s 2018 CEOs of the Year awards luncheon on May 11 at Hilton Orlando. AMTIS, Inc. CEO, Barbara Stankowski was one of 18 CEOs honored at the luncheon for her leadership and continued growth of AMTIS.

AMTIS, Inc. pleased to announce the company successfully completed a transition audit to move from the ISO 9001:2008 standard to the ISO 9001:2015 standard. The ISO 9001:2015 standard certification is the most up to date standard and shows that AMTIS, Inc. has consistent, documented, and measurable management processes throughout the company. The transition audit was conducted in mid-December and the results were provided at the beginning of the new year.

AMTIS Inc. has been named to this year's 2017 Inc. 5000 list, Inc. magazine's annual ranking of the fastest-growing private companies in the U.S. for the 5th year in a row. The list represents a unique look at the most successful companies within the American economy’s most dynamic segment— independent small and midsized businesses. AMTIS earned the position of number 1,569 of the 5000 companies, making the list this year based on a 3 year growth rate of 251.7%. This is the 5th consecutive time AMTIS has made the Inc. 5000 list. Inc. 5000’s letter emphasized making the list is “a truly extraordinary accomplishment” with only a fraction of the companies ever making the list more than once. AMTIS is recognized as a 5-Time Inc. 5000 Honoree. The AMTIS President/CEO said “ this is a wonderful honor that once again recognizes the amazing talent and drive of our incredible team that has contributed to this consistent growth over the last 5 years. I am grateful to our entire team who have made this success possible.”

8(a) STARS II GWAC Award

The AMTIS-HeiTech (AH) Joint Venture (JV) announced today that it was awarded a Governmentwide Acquisition Contract (GWAC) from the General Services Administration (GSA) for SBA Certified 8(a) businesses. AH received the award in four areas in both Constellation I and Constellation II including North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) functional areas: 541511 – Custom Computer Programming Services, 541512 – Computer Systems Design Services, 541513 – Computer Facilities Management Services, and 541519 – Other Computer Related Services. The 8(a) STARS II GWAC program has a five-year base with one five-year option. It has a $10 billion program ceiling and facilitates sole-source, also known as directed award, task orders up to $4 million each.

The 8(a) STARS II GWAC is designed to promote small business utilization when purchasing information technology (IT) services or IT services-based solutions for the federal government. This program is reserved exclusively for 8(a) small business concerns. Federal agencies can issue task orders under the $4 Million competitive threshold on a sole-source basis.
Benefits of using the GSA 8(a) STARS II GWAC include:
• 8(a) socioeconomic credit transferrable to the agency
• Access to prequalified 8(a) small, disadvantaged businesses
• Shortened procurement lead time
• A low contract access fee (0.75 percent) built into the ceiling prices

The AMTIS-HeiTech JV is an SBA approved JV under the 8(a) Mentor-Protégé program. The JV team includes AMTIS, Inc (protégé) located in Orlando FL (www.amtisinc.com) and HeiTech Services, Inc. (mentor). located in Landover MD (heitechservices.com). HeiTech Services, Inc. is a federal programs and technology solutions provider specializing in delivering Business Processing and Information Technology Services. AMTIS, Inc. provides professional and business processing services, leader development and training services leveraging technology-based solutions through a highly talented, knowledgeable, flexible, and credentialed workforce.

This award provides our JV an opportunity to rapidly support our Federal clients with a simpler method for procuring IT services through this efficient, flexible contracting vehicle.

AMTIS Inc. is honored to be on the list of the Central Florida Fast 50: Top Fastest-Growing Companies for the third year in a row! The list recognizes the 50 fastest-growing private companies headquartered in Central Florida's four-county region: Orange, Seminole, Lake and Osceola. The rankings are based on the companies' percentage of revenue growth from 2014-2016. Our continued success is the result of the passion, talent and commitment that our amazing team provides to our customers every day. The rankings will be revealed and the honorees will be recognized at the upcoming Fast 50 event, which will be held on June 9.

Barbara Stankowski and Vanessa Mazurek had the privilege of spending time with and learning from Ken Blanchard. Barbara and Vanessa represented AMTIS at the Ken Blanchard Companies Channel Partner Conference held in Rancho Bernardo, CA. The AMTIS goal was to learn how to better market the Ken Blanchard Companies products to small and medium sized businesses in the Orlando area.

AMTIS once again sponsored the Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association (AFCEA), Blue Angels chapters Cyberthon 2017. Cyberthon 2017 was held at the National Flight Academy in Pensacola, FL January 20-22, 2017. Thanks to the support of sponsors like AMTIS, Cyberthon has grown to become the Florida’s largest Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) and Cybersecurity event of the year. The weekend event encourages and promotes a community culture of cyber awareness and collaboration between Government, industry and academia. This year, Cyberthon became a themed, competitive event. Teams of high school and college students earn points finding cybersecurity vulnerabilities and hardening the IT infrastructure of an online banking environment. Navy Federal Credit Union sponsored the Cyberthon 2017 Financial Model.

AMTIS CEO, Barbara Stankowski was recently interviewed by CEOCFO Magazine. The magazine is a weekly print online publication featuring in-depth Interviews with many of today's top corporate executives. To see the interview, go to the following link: http://www.ceocfointerviews.com/interviews/AMTIS17.htm

As AMTIS continues to thrive, 2016 has been a record year for recognition. On September 16, AMTIS became part of the Golden 100 list. This recognition from the Orlando Business Journal goes to the top 100 privately-held companies in Central Florida. Additionally, AMTIS’ growth was acknowledged again as a part of the Fast 100 companies in the entire state of Florida for a second year in a row. Rounding out the accolades, AMTIS also reached top levels in three additional categories as a Veteran-owned, woman-owned, and minority-owned business.

In addition to the multiple recognitions by the Orlando Business Journal, AMTIS has once again placed in the Inc. 5000 list. For a fourth consecutive year, this positions AMTIS among the top 5,000 fastest-growing, privately-held businesses in America.

A sincere thank you to our entire AMTIS Team for this record success!

Inc. 5000 released the 2016 annual ranking of the fast-growing private companies in America. AMTIS, Inc. was recognized for the fourth year in a row by Inc. 5000 and was ranked number 1331 for achieving a 290% growth over the past 3-years. AMTIS was also identified as one of the Top Orlando Florida companies ranking #17. AMTIS President/CEO Barbara Stankowski commented "Our Inc. 5000 listing is the result of the dedicated, passionate and quality work provided by our talented and passionate team. The team’s success has led to our growth, diversification of services and expansion of the government agencies we so proudly serve.”

May 17, 2016, Orlando FL.
AMTIS today announced that it has been appraised at level 2 of the CMMI Institute’s Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI)®. The appraisal was performed by the Northern Utah Process Improvement Technologies Inc. (NUPIT). CMMI is a capability improvement framework that provides organizations with the essential elements of effective processes that ultimately improve their performance.

An appraisal at maturity level 2 indicates the organization is performing at a “managed” level. At this level, projects have ensured that processes are planned and executed in accordance with policy; the projects employ skilled people who have adequate resources to produce controlled outputs; involve relevant stakeholders; are monitored, controlled, and reviewed; and are evaluated for adherence to their process descriptions.

AMTIS has joined with GBSI and many others to sponsors AFCEA Pensacola CYBERTHON 2016. CyberThon 2016 is a weekend event set for January 22-24 that encourages and promotes a community culture of cyber awareness and collaboration between Government, industry and academia and is sponsored by the Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association (AFCEA). AFCEA is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing an ethical forum for increasing knowledge and exchanging information relevant to its members in the areas of information technology, communications and cyber security. The second annual CyberThon will be held at the National Flight Academy.

AMTIS CEO, Barbara Stankowski was the featured Speaker at the Sixth Entrepreneur’s Experience sponsored by the Ohio Small Business Development Center (SBDC) at Kent State Stark held on October 6, 2015. The Entrepreneur Experience series presented by the SBDC at Kent State Stark, is designed to encourage the professional practices of entrepreneurs at all levels. The proceeds from these events benefit the SBDC Scholarship Fund. Barbara donated her speaker’s honorarium to the SBDC Scholarship Fund.