Employee-Owned Contractors Roundtable

Organization

The Employee-Owned Contractors Roundtable (ECR) describes itself as "a coalition of federal government contractors that are organized as private subchapter S corporations wholly-owned through an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP)." Its website says members "provide products and services for the U.S. Government, ranging from manufacturing engines and timing belts to developing some of the most advanced combat simulators and sonar detection technologies," and lists as values giving "100% ESOPs a pathway to growth." The core team named on the About Us page is Erik Olson, president ("a principal at ECR"; "14 years serving as Chief of Staff and in a variety of policy and campaign roles for Representative Ron Kind (D-WI)"), Matt Scott, senior vice president (previously "senior legislative aide to Representative Lee Zeldin (R-NY)"), and Garrett Lukken, assistant vice president (previously "a long stint on Congressman Ed Purlmutter's (D-CO) staff"). The site's footer reads "@2022 Employee-Owned Contractors Roundtable". The Members page is password protected.¹

Lobbying Disclosure Act filings give the Roundtable's address as 1341 G Street N.W., Washington, D.C. (the affiliated-organization field of the Halcrow Group registration).²

2026 membership list

The About Us page carries a "2026 Membership List" of logos, linked to the websites of: EA Engineering, i3, Jasper Holdings, LCE, Modern Technology Solutions (MTSI), CSS, Decibel Research, Thompson Gray, Patch Plus Consulting, Torch Technologies, Sonalysts, TSC (Technology Service Corporation), Willburt, DSA, American Systems, Avion Solutions, PeopleTec, REI Systems, Ventus Solutions, Metron, SSI, Stratos Solutions, Weston Solutions, Aero Simulation, Indus Technology, Simventions and Trideum.¹ The list carries 27 logos; the Roundtable's July 24, 2024 comment on the Department of Defense's proposed rule refers to "the logos of the 23 ECR member companies."³⁴

On federal award records at USAspending, Torch Technologies, PeopleTec, Decibel Research, Avion Solutions and Trideum Corporation are each listed as recipients with a Huntsville, Alabama address, as is Radiance Technologies, which does not appear on the list; Aero Simulation is listed at Tampa, Florida, Indus Technology at San Diego, California, Simventions at Fredericksburg, Virginia, Technology Service Corporation at Silver Spring, Maryland and American Systems Corporation at McLean, Virginia.⁵

Lobbying registrations

Venn Strategies registered for the Roundtable in the fourth quarter of 2017. The registration lists the issue "Exploring SBA and DOD preference program changes for ESOP government contractors" and the lobbyists Olson, John Hebert and Matt Pearce; the first quarterly report (fourth quarter 2017, $50,000) gives the issue "Federal contractor preference policies," prints the lobbyists' prior positions as Olson ("Chief of Staff for Rep. Ron Kind"), Hebert ("Staff Assistant for Rep. Cheri Bustos (D-IL)") and Pearce ("Legislative Aide to Congressman Earl Pomeroy (D-ND)"), and lists the House of Representatives, the Senate, the Office of Management and Budget and the Small Business Administration as bodies contacted.⁶ Reports from 2018 through the third quarter of 2020 carry the same issue text; the report for the fourth quarter of 2020 ($40,000) reads "Federal contractor preference policies, including S.4049/H.R.6395 the FY21 National Defense Authorization Act, which included Other Transaction Authority legislative language that directly impacted 100% ESOP companies."⁶ A lobbyist added in the second quarter of 2019, Matthew Scott, is listed with prior positions including senior legislative aide to Representative Lee Zeldin.⁶

The 2021 reports (quarterly amounts as printed: $70,000, $50,000, $30,000 and $50,000) read "Promoting ESOP related small business procurement policies as part of the FY2022 National Defense Authorization Act to provide incentives for 100% employee-owned businesses in federal contracting, and generally, provisions that promote such businesses in small business set-asides," with the lobbyists Olson, Pearce, Scott, Kali Fields (first and second quarters) and Gabriel Pimsler (second through fourth quarters).⁷ The pilot enacted in December 2021 as section 874 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2022 is described on DoD ESOP Pilot Program.

Quarterly amounts reported by Venn Strategies for the Roundtable from 2022 onward are:

• 2022: $330,000, $90,000, $50,000, $30,000. Text through the third quarter repeats the 2021 wording; the fourth-quarter report reads "Implementation of ESOP related small business procurement policies that were included in the FY2022 National Defense Authorization Act."
• 2023: $170,000, $110,000, $20,000, $30,000. The third-quarter report reads "Improvement of ESOP related sole source procurement policies that were originally passed in the FY2022 National Defense Authorization Act. Provision for sole source procurement for follow on contracts through Department of Defense for businesses wholly owned through an employee stock ownership plan. Language was included in the House NDAA H.R.2670 and Senate NDAA S.2226."
• 2024: $330,000, $60,000, no amount printed, $10,000.
• 2025: $370,000, $50,000, $30,000, $50,000.
• 2026 (first and second quarters): $290,000, $10,000; the text adds "to all federal agencies."

From the fourth quarter of 2023 the reports read "Improvement and expansion of ESOP policies that were passed in Sec. 874 of FY2022 NDAA. Provision for sole source procurement for follow on contracts through Department of Defense for businesses wholly owned through an employee stock ownership plan." The lobbyists named in these reports are Olson, Pearce (through the second quarter of 2023), Scott, and, in various quarters, Pimsler, Kyla Taylor, Jacob Petote, Teagan Poleykett, Joseph Brady, Lukken (third quarter 2025 on) and Duncan Hughes (2026).⁷

The Halcrow Group LLC, a consulting firm, registered on March 15, 2022 for the client "Venn Strategies on behalf of Employee-Owned Contractors Roundtable"; the registration lists Stephanie Halcrow under the issue code Defense with the covered position "Professional Staff Member, House Armed Services Committee." Its reports give "National Defense Authorization Act for FY 2022, Section 874" (2022; first quarter $10,000, then $20,000 per quarter), "National Defense Authorization Act for FY2024 ... provisions related to employee-owned contractors" (2023, $20,000 per quarter), the same phrase for the fiscal year 2025 act (2024, $40,000 per quarter), the fiscal year 2026 act (2025, $30,000 per quarter) and the fiscal year 2027 act (2026, $30,000 for each of the first two quarters).²

Venn Strategies also registered for Radiance Technologies in a filing posted June 6, 2024, listing Olson, Lukken and Andrew Sigmon; the filing is described on the Radiance page.⁸

Affiliated organizations on the lobbying reports

The affiliated-organizations field of Venn Strategies' reports for the Roundtable is empty on the reports as first filed through the third quarter of 2020 and is filled on the amended reports filed on December 2 and 4, 2020 and on most reports from the fourth quarter of 2020 through the first quarter of 2023. The named organizations are, by report:

• Amended 2019 reports (filed December 4, 2020): first quarter, Torch Technologies, Jasper Engines and Transmissions, Applied Research Associates, Avion Solutions, Modern Technology Solutions, Radiance Technologies, Burns & McDonnell and Sonalysts; second quarter, the same without Burns & McDonnell and Sonalysts; third quarter, Jasper, Avion, Radiance and Burns & McDonnell; fourth quarter, Torch, Jasper, Applied Research Associates, Modern Technology Solutions and Radiance.
• Amended 2020 reports (filed December 2, 2020): first quarter, Jasper, Applied Research Associates, Avion, Modern Technology Solutions and Radiance; second quarter, Torch, Jasper, Applied Research Associates, Avion and Radiance; third quarter, those five plus Modern Technology Solutions, Burns & McDonnell, Sonalysts and Pinnacle Solutions.
• Fourth quarter 2020: Avion, Jasper, Radiance, Pinnacle Solutions, Torch and Modern Technology Solutions.
• 2021: first quarter, Applied Research Associates, Avion, Jasper, Radiance, Pinnacle Solutions, Torch, Sonalysts and Modern Technology Solutions; second quarter, the same without Sonalysts; third quarter, Jasper, Torch, Radiance, Pinnacle Solutions and Modern Technology Solutions; fourth quarter, Applied Research Associates, Avion, Integration Innovation, Radiance, Pinnacle Solutions and EA Engineering.
• 2022: first quarter, EA Engineering, Avion, Jasper, Radiance, Torch, Sonalysts, Will-Burt, Integration Innovation, Pinnacle Solutions, Life Cycle Engineering, Consolidated Safety Services and Technology Service Corporation; second quarter, Torch, Modern Technology Solutions, Life Cycle Engineering, Decibel Research, Data Systems Analysts and Pinnacle Solutions; third quarter, Avion, Burns & McDonnell and Data Systems Analysts; fourth quarter, Applied Research Associates and Avion.
• 2023: first quarter, Decibel Research, Life Cycle Engineering, Torch, Radiance, Data Systems Analysts, Integration Innovation, Applied Research Associates, Modern Technology Solutions and Jasper; second quarter, Will-Burt, Sonalysts, Burns & McDonnell, Avion and EA Engineering; third quarter, Consolidated Safety Services.
• 2024: second quarter, Consolidated Safety Services, American Systems and Thompson Gray. The other reports from the fourth quarter of 2023 on name none.

Radiance Technologies appears in 14 of these reports (the last for the first quarter of 2023) and Modern Technology Solutions in 11 (the last for the first quarter of 2023); Modern Technology Solutions is on the 2026 Membership List and Radiance is not.⁹¹

Statements and filings in the pilot program record

In the Highlight Technologies podcast of October 21, 2023, Matt Pearce of Venn Strategies said of the pilot: "ECR led the effort to establish a pilot program that allows 100 percent employee owned companies to be eligible for a sole source follow on provision with the Department of Defense," and that "we work closely with the department of defense and the office of defense pricing and contracting in 2022 to get this program, uh, up and running." The National Center for Employee Ownership wrote on January 3, 2022 that "The impetus for the bill came from the Employee-Owned Contractors Roundtable (ECR)" and gave Pearce's address for those wishing to take part.¹⁰¹¹

The Roundtable's comment on the proposed Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement rule (Docket DARS-2024-0017, comment DARS-2024-0017-0013) was received July 24, 2024 and posted July 30, 2024, with an attached letter titled "Comments on Proposed Rule from Employee-Owned Contractors Roundtable (ECR) - DFARS Case 2024-D004."³