Our Customers

Putting Customers First

Since 1996, Ascellon has provided IT services, consulting and program management services to a wide range of clients in the public and private sectors. Though the deliverables and business environments have varied, what has never changed is Ascellon’s commitment to assuring quality, building truly collaborative relationships, and transferring the knowledge of our senior-level experts to our customers’ organizations. This is why we have consistently received a rating of 9 or higher (out of 10) on the D&B Open Ratings report of customer satisfaction.

How do we achieve such high customer satisfaction?

Through experience, expertise and becoming both an advocate and a trusted advisor. For example, because Ascellon is used to working fast and meeting even “impossible” deadlines, our customers don’t have to deal directly with time pressures — they know they can count on us to meet their mandates and deadlines.

Government Contracts

We have over two decades of experience working side by side with our public-sector customers to devise solutions that are unique to government organizations. We bring highly qualified resources that focus on the customer’s mission. Whether the project is large or small, local or national, we are in the trenches with our customers and share their vision and passion because we are invested in the customer’s mission success.

We bring cross-functional expertise to apply to Information Technology, Healthcare and Program Management projects for local, State and Federal entities.

GSA Schedules are the premier vehicle for government procurement. Ascellon makes it easy for our customers to purchase services and products from us through GSA government-wide acquisition vehicles. To reduce customers’ bid/contracting cycle, Ascellon offers GSA Schedules for every category of service the company provides. Streamlined ordering procedures are a key feature of GSA Schedules. They also facilitate Blanket Purchase Agreements (BPAs), Contractor Team Arrangements (CTAs), and the ability to easily connect with other businesses to offer robust solutions to our government customers.

Market Segments

Local

District of Columbia Department of Health

The Client: The DOH Medical Assistance Administration (MAA) administers health care financing initiatives of the District of Columbia.
The Challenge: The DOH faced the challenge of a new Decision Support System (DSS) development in need of software development standards.
The Solution: Ascellon performed three software development tasks as a subcontractor to CTA: designed end-user requirements specifications, developed software to support institutional cost data, and developed the required queries and reports for the Medicaid Data Warehouse/DSS.
The Benefits: The DOH DSS was developed in accordance with CMM Level 2 software development practices.

District of Columbia Department of Motor Vehicle

The Client: The DMV develops, administers, and enforces the vehicular laws of the District of Columbia, emphasizing driver education and customer service.
The Challenge: The DMV needed the Year 2000 “fixes” implemented with no downtime for processing drivers licenses and motor vehicle registrations during the cutover to the new millennium.
The Solution: As a subcontractor to GMSI, Ascellon maintained and upgraded the interfaces to the courts, police departments, and insurance information clearing houses for traffic, permit and registration data.
The Benefits: Ascellon made the fixes and provided ongoing support of software applications for the registration and permit functions of the DMV.

District of Columbia Department of Public Works

The Client: The Department of Public Works (DPW) provides environmental services, including trash, recycling, and street and alley cleaning to residents/visitors and businesses in the District of Columbia.
The Challenge: The challenge was working with disparate systems with no standard definitions. We migrated databases to a consistent enterprise platform (Oracle DBMS).
The Solution: In a stable, functional environment, Ascellon personnel provided requirements analysis, software and database design, and software engineering of the SNOW Operations Management and Service Delivery (SERVES) systems, as well as numerous subsystems.
The Benefits: We used the Systems Development Lifecycle methodology in accordance with SEI CMM practices documented in our Software Development Practice Guide.

District of Columbia Department of Transportation

The Client: The District of Columbia Department of Transportation (DDOT) manages and maintains transportation infrastructure.
The Challenge: DDOT needed an application to collect data and rate performance of contractors and consultants performing on Federally funded transportation projects for the city. A second application was needed to collect service request data electronically for street repairs, snow removal, and other city services.
The Solution: Ascellon completed both web applications for DDOT. The system to rate contractors and consultants uses data entry and electronic interfaces to collect performance data and rate performance based on established criteria. Data is collected and merged with geographic positioning databases to provide sophisticated management reports and to assist city management in assigning work crews to perform services throughout the city.
The Benefits: Both projects provide management reports and flexible data extraction capabilities.

District of Columbia Office of Personnel

The Client: The DC Office of Personnel (DCOP) provides human resource management services to strengthen individual and organizational performance and enable the District government to attract, develop, and retain a well-qualified, diverse workforce.
The Challenge: The DCOP had been under Congressional scrutiny to give an accounting of the number of employees employed by the city and their employment status. The city used three different personnel systems that in total appeared to have more employee records than were actually employed by the city.
The Solution: Ascellon reviewed each employee folder for every city employee. More than 45,000 individual personnel folders were manually reviewed and processed by a given deadline. Employee folders were validated against each personnel record.
The Benefits: Ascellon designed Windows-oriented Graphical User Interface (GUI) data entry systems that were easy to use and minimized data input errors to key data into relational databases for transmission to the customer.

State

Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission (WSSC)

The Client: The Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission (Commission) is a bi-county agency in the State of Maryland established to provide water supply and wastewater treatment services for approximately 1.7 million people in Montgomery and Prince George’s Counties.
The Challenge: The Commission wanted to address three strategic initiative concerns using the input and opinions of its customers, elected officials, regulating agencies, and other stakeholders. The strategic concerns were: staying attuned to desired services and service levels; providing world-class service; and improving relations.
The Solution: Working closely with WSSC, Ascellon designed and implemented satisfaction surveys targeted to each segment of interest to WSSC. The data collected from the surveys were analyzed, interpreted and summarized into findings for WSSC. Our team also provided recommendations to WSSC based on our analysis of the quantitative and qualitative data collected during the survey.
The Benefits: Using the results of the surveys, WSSC obtained valuable information on what customers, regulators and others value most, their expectations and their perceptions of WSSC. Using the information gathered, WSSC designed programs to highlight the organization’s strengths, which were many, and to focus on improving areas where improvements were needed.

Maryland Business Development Agency

The Client: The Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development (DBED) develops policies and implements programs to strengthen Maryland’s economy by attracting new business, stimulating private investment and creating jobs, encouraging the expansion and retention of existing companies, and providing businesses in Maryland with workforce training and financial assistance.
The Challenge: DBED needed to redesign its grants management program process for the Partnership for Workplace Quality (PWQ) and Maryland Industrial Training Program (MITP).
The Solution: Ascellon participated as a subcontractor to LMI to streamline and automate the intake and processing of training grant applications. The project included working with regional offices and headquarters staff to define new processes and to document the requirements for a new integrated system.
The Benefits: The implementation of integrated systems and applications has improved the State’s ability to improve processing of grants and to efficiently perform the application and disbursement processes while improving the ability to audit the entire function.

Maryland Retirement Agency

The Client: The Maryland State Retirement Agency collects contributions, supervises management of the investment portfolio, counsels members, and administers death, disability, and retirement benefits for the retirement plans.
The Challenge: The Maryland State Retirement Agency needed software and hardware upgrades, documentation of system resources, technical expertise, software/system documentation, and IT training.
The Solution: Under a subcontract with Bell Atlantic Network Integration, Inc. (BANI), Ascellon participated in the initial definition of modifications through analysis of current LAN/WAN and applications environments, and system engineers maintained the agency’s computer systems.
The Benefits: Our onsite staff also scheduled and performed optional system upgrades and enhancements, as elected by the agency, which often resulted in our training or re-training client personnel.

Maryland Department of Human Resources

The Client: The Maryland Department of Human Resources (DHR) mission and duty is to provide social services for approximately 5.6 million residents within the state. DHR programs include Foster Care/ Adoption, Child Protective Services, Food Assistance, Child Support, Health Coverage/ Medical Assistance, Purchase of Care, and Energy Assistance.
The Challenge: Due to the economic downturn, the number of unemployed individuals has increased tremendously over the last few years. In turn, this has made a significant impact on non-custodial parents (NCPs) who are required to pay child support.
The Solution: Ascellon developed and designed a web-based IT solution as well as installed a local information kiosk in Prince George’s County to provide government staff, partners and NCPs with valuable information on select child support cases; relevant one-stop career centers data; unemployment insurance benefits status; mediation options; and links to other related human services assistance agencies.
The Benefits: The implementation of this user friendly kiosk provides NCPs with the necessary resources to find and obtain gainful employment to fulfill their court ordered child support obligations.

Federal

Health Resources & Services Administration

The Client: The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, is the primary Federal agency for improving access to health care services for people who are uninsured, isolated or medically vulnerable.
The Challenge: Each of the Bureau and Office service programs within HRSA has established program specific performance measures. However, there has not been a cross cutting view of the “quality of care” performance measures reported by grantees across all programs. Some of these programmatic performance measures have been in existence long enough so that targets and outcomes have been established. These performance measures have not been compiled across HRSA’s programs and portrayed in a meaningful way.
The Solution: Ascellon compiled data from existing programmatic databases, GPRA measures, program documents and reports, government reports and other HRSA documents. We identified, developed and presented a cross cutting view of the “quality of care” performance measures and/or outcomes reported by HRSA grantees. The cross cutting perspective was presented in several ways, including: prevention, population based, chronic diseases, oral health, mental health, HIV AIDS, age (elderly/children) racial and ethnic minorities and access such as rural. Information gathered was presented in a way that portrays efforts across programs.
The Benefits: Through this project HRSA’s Center for Quality was able to make significant progress towards working across the Agency to meet HRSA Strategic Planning Goal 3— Improve the Quality of Care.

Department of Treasury

The Client: The Department of the Treasury’s Office of Financial Education, with the endorsement of the President’s Advisory Council on Financial Literacy is responsible for implementing the Community Financial Access Pilot (CFAP) project. Under this program the Treasury Department collects information on a voluntary basis each quarter from financial institutions and financial education providers working with the Department of the Treasury on the CFAP. This information is necessary to assess the effectiveness of the CFAP strategies to expand access to financial services and financial education for low- and moderate-income individuals.
The Challenge: Developing effective tools and techniques to enhance the ability of communities across the country to provide access to financial services and financial education for low- and moderate-income individuals by sharing lessons learned from the CFAP communities.
The Solution: Ascellon developed and implemented data collection and customer service tools for collecting data and providing customer service to submitters to answer technical questions regarding the submissions. Ascellon designed and implemented data quality protocols and data analysis processes that enabled Treasury to measure the effectiveness of the CFAP strategies within communities and across the country.
The Benefits: The data collection and analysis project provided Treasury and the participating communities with information on best approaches, trends, and areas where additional financial education can be beneficial to certain communities.

Department of Veterans Affairs

The Client: The Department of Veterans Affairs has as its one of its strategic missions, ensuring access to quality health care. The VA restores the capability of veterans with disabilities to the greatest extent possible, and improves the quality of their lives and that of their families.
The Challenge: Meeting the VA’s priorities to maximize physical, mental and social functioning of veterans with disability and be a leader in providing specialized health care services.
The Solution: Ascellon supports the VA on projects to strengthen the quality of care provided to veterans in nursing homes, adult day care and domiciliary facilities nationwide. We also assist the VA’s team of experts on the Mental Health Residential Rehabilitation Treatment Programs focused on treatment and rehabilitation to special populations of homeless, substance use disorder, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and Serious Mental Illness.
The Benefits: Ascellon’s teams of interdisciplinary clinical experts and analysts have assisted the VA to extend its capability and capacity to address important healthcare priorities.

Military

U.S. Navy

The Client: The Naval Inventory Control Point (NAVICP) provides program and supply support for weapons systems to keep Naval forces mission ready. This mission is carried out by a single command organization operating as a tenant activity of the Naval Support Activities in Mechanicsburg and Philadelphia.
The Challenge: NAVICP needed to upgrade the ANSRS Aviation Module, a mission-critical application and to automate requisitions for naval aircraft parts.
The Solution: Ascellon performed all aspects of the design and implementation of a new client-server system, including: requirements analysis, design of the program code and database tables, the planning and conducting of end-user training, successful extension and deployment of the application to the Internet, and preparation of briefing materials for senior management.
The Benefits: Ascellon received a letter of commendation from Rear Admiral K.W. Lippert, Commander, Supply Corps, U.S. Navy, on our effort for the successful testing and migration of an allotment accrual accounting and expenditure processing system.

Army National Guard

The Client: One component of the Army (which consists of the Active Army, the Army National Guard, and the Army Reserves), the Army National Guard is composed primarily of traditional Guardsmen—civilians who serve their country, state and community on a part-time basis.
The Challenge: The Advanced Information Technology Services (AITS) project needed user support for customer-specific applications.
The Solution: Ascellon has complete responsibility for providing Tier 3 help desk services for the AITS project.
The Benefits: Ascellon’s help desk provides support for customer-specific applications, in addition to supporting other applications and network components. We also maintain lessons learned of reusable and repeatable corrective procedures from working with software developers and engineers.

Healthcare

Centers For Medicare and Medicaid Services

The Client: The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), operates Medicare, the nation’s largest health insurance program. In addition to Medicare, CMS also has responsibility for Federal oversight of Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program, enforcing healthcare regulations, providing research, statistics and data, and providing education and outreach on healthcare issues.
The Challenge: CMS strives to maintain a high quality of care while eliminating waste and abuse within Medicare and Medicaid in addition to managing several other programs to enable independence and employment for the disabled and elderly.
The Solution: Ascellon supports several initiatives at CMS ranging from ensuring quality of care in nursing homes and psychiatric hospitals, to analysis of medical records for prospective payments, and providing technical assistance to CMS grantees on various grants programs.
The Benefits: Ascellon’s teams of interdisciplinary clinical experts and analysts have assisted the CMS to extend its capability and capacity to address important healthcare priorities.