U.S. Government’s spending on IT projects is massive. According to an estimate, in 2014 alone, the federal government spent around 75.6 billion dollars on various IT projects. However, the challenges in managing these mega-projects are increasing with every passing day, as both the requirements and the underlying technologies change sooner than the projects complete. Then, there are other evolving challenges such as data theft and information security, owing to which government agencies try to avoid moving to newer technologies such as Cloud computing and Business Analytics, and often fail to leverage social media. However, situations are changing now, as cyber security solutions are getting stronger with time, and the benefits of the newer technologies are becoming evident. Federal government contractors are the primary drivers for this change. An organization that has worked arduously to serve Federal Government on IT Systems Development Services and helped deploy innovative technologies into government projects is Miracle Systems. A leading GSA and IDIQ contracts vendor, the company works on various areas of IT support and development, Program Management Support, Financial Consulting and Engineering Services.

Over-the-years, the company has achieved phenomenal success that can be, primarily, attributed to the company’s unique approach in managing resources. Sandesh Sharda, Miracle Systems, CEO states, “Our organization has a blend of talents, from new entrants to the experienced, which adds to the overall knowledge base of the company.” Miracle Systems values resources and provides them regular training to remain abreast of the latest technologies. Sharda adds, “We select people who are good at adopting and aligning with our work culture.” In Miracle Systems, the senior VP is responsible for managing entire projects including highest decision-making. He helps resources to understand the needs of clients and streamlines the resources. The company has highest retention rate, so much so that the company has grown from a one-man company to 400 employees now.

Entrepreneurs’ Define Business Success

For any entrepreneur, sustaining success demands hard work, passion, risk mitigation plan, a prudent strategy, and knowledge gathered in similar establishments. The Founder of Miracle Systems, Sandesh Sharda, is an illustrious example. Around 1998-99, Sharda was working for Oracle Consulting, managing a Financial Implementation project for Department of Transportation (DOT). Sharda recalls, “When I was nearing the completion of the project, which lasted for four years, DOT management insisted me to continue with them. It was then that I started working on government contract jobs and Miracle Systems was born.” From humble beginnings, the company has indeed come a long way. Sharda has received many prestigious awards such as Top 50 Minority Business Leader Awards from Minority Council of America and 2009 Department of Transportation Small Business of the Year award.

Today, Miracle Systems is solely focused on Federal contracts market. From being a one-agency, one-project company, the firm now executes 95 individual projects simultaneously for 20 different Government agencies and departments. Miracle Systems supports several federal clients, which include Department of State, Department of Homeland Security, Department of Transportation, U.S Airforce, Department of Justice, Customs and Border Protection, Transportation Security Administration, and many others.

Miracle Systems has achieved success in small business space and clocked a growth of 35 percent for last several year’s unique feet for small business in this competitive field

The company started its journey in 2003, with support services using Oracle portfolio and data base support services. During those days, Sharda designed and monitored client’s internal processes such as invoicing and financial systems. The company has built data warehousing systems for Department of Transportation, and U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. All the data are integrated into data warehousing. With company’s Business Intelligent Tools that extracts information from multiple databases, the users of the database get all the report.

Business intelligence solutions generate reports on business plans, key performance indicators, project plans, dataflow diagrams, and flowcharts. Miracle Systems uses market leading business intelligence tools such as OBIEE (Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition) and Cognos. The company leverages these tools to build advanced data warehousing and business intelligence solutions or, in some cases, contacts its experts in building those systems. Miracle Systems has developed a highly customized data warehousing solution for several agencies such as Federal Motor carrier & Safety Administration and Securities and Exchange Commission.

Simple, flexible and straightforward IT solutions delivered by the company ensured that Miracle Systems achieve extraordinary growth year-after-year. Today, only a few competitors can match the company’s custom services. For instance, a specially designed ‘Contact Vehicle’ allows government agencies to source experts from Miracle Systems in various IT related services. ‘Contact Vehicle’ is available through General Services Administration (GSA) Federal Supply Service (FSS), IDIQ contacts and SBA 8(a) small business programs. The company maintains an active registration in the Central Contractor Registration (CCR) database for contractors working with the Federal Agency. In the last few years, Miracle Systems has bagged many prestigious government contracts under FC1 Prime EAGLE II contract, GSA OASIS contract, and multiple GSA schedules and contracts. What’s more, Miracle System has been included as a GSA small business Alliant Prime Vendor and awarded DOE NNSA five year MOA BPA contract.

The Virginia based firm is 9001-2008 Certified, ITIL compliant, and CMMI-III appraised. Miracle Systems’ partnership with IT industry leaders such as Microsoft, Oracle, RedHat, and VMware helped the company build a strong foothold in the space it operates. Rigorous training and on-job learning make technical resources at Miracle Systems one of the most competent in the industry. When not into active project, technical resources are placed in Miracle Headquarters, where they are trained in new tools and technologies. They also work on presentations, business development plans and new proposals. Resources are readily deployable, and as soon as government agencies contract them for support and IT system development, they can join the projects in no time.

Delivering Unmatched IT Services

Miracle Systems started out with Oracle consulting practices but as the demand in other areas grew, the company branched out to provide Full-Scale Support in areas such as IT system planning and design, software development, infrastructure planning, integration and implementation. Of late, the company has forayed into cloud computing.

For large projects, such as the one from U.S. Airforce, the company also offers Engineering Support Services. In some of the large government projects, the company has also assumed program management role to ensure that the contactors that government agencies have hired deliver to specified standards and within predefined cost and timeline. Thus, the company offers Program Management Support. For some of Miracle Systems’ clients, the company has provided various other IT services, including Facility Operation and Maintenance, Systems Development Services, Systems Design and Integration, Backup and Security Services, and Network Management Services. Lastly, Miracle Systems provides Financial Consulting Services that include financial analysis, monitoring account balances and identifying systemic issues that could affect financial accuracy and organization’s reputation.

Miracle's long-term approach includes a move towards cloud-based services, a growing market. “We adapt to industry standards that are prevalent in Silicon Valley and are proven over couple of years. This helps us bring those standards to federal government projects and add value,” adds Sharda.
Projects from federal agencies demand utmost deliberation and systematic approach. As soon as the agencies publish their procurement related requirements on public forums, the company starts working on them, trying to understand project requirements and deciding on the company’s roles. This process usually goes on from six months to two years. Time and again, Miracle System has proven that it can take on high risk projects because of the company’s capability to build an extremely talented team of experts. The company is flexible to changes that federal agencies demand during execution of the projects. Efficient use of resources allows the company to cut down on deployment cost and other overheads. Sharda explains, “We are able to convert our bets into opportunities only because we have been successful in staffing some of the best IT resources in the industry.”

Miracle Systems believes in open technologies, which can be extended on need basis. In one case, before working with Miracle Systems, Federal Motor carrier and Safety Administration—an Office with Department of Transportation— engaged a vendor that built a proprietary tool for the department. Any changes in software required that the same vendor is called in for support. In order to replace proprietary software, Miracle built a system that could take feeds from different government agencies and extended whenever requirements change. Miracle Systems also built a data warehousing system incorporating traffic regulations and built an accompanying front end mobile application. Today, the application is used by 2000 law enforcement officers to check records of drivers for any previous violations. The company also ensured that the agency doesn’t have to pay the same vendor at an exorbitant rate.

Miracle works on myriad projects. When federal permitting process takes longer than expected, the company deployed high-end resources to streamline their processes. Investment in infrastructure related project is yet another area, which is also a focus of president’s infrastructure program. The company also offers cyber penetration and PHISMA compliance testing services.

Investing on Future

So far, Miracle Systems has achieved success in small business space and clocked a growth of 35 percent last years. In next two to three years, the company intends to grow 35 percent more. As government sector is looking at IoT solutions in new projects, Miracle is investing heavily in this space. Predictive analytics is yet another area. The company is currently involved in few high-end projects for TSA pre-check and secure flight, where it is using predictive analytics extensively. Efficient resources and knowledge gathered over the years is Miracle’s biggest USP, which government agencies are keen to leverage in their high stake projects.