Turning Around a Failing National Program

When I took over the program, it was losing money at a rate that could not be sustained.

This was a national credentialing system tied to port security, with a large distributed network of enrollment locations. The program had been stood up with a fixed-cost model—leased offices, staffed locations, and infrastructure designed for an initial surge of demand.

That surge had passed.

What remained was a steady volume of transactions that did not support the cost structure that had been put in place. Revenue was predictable. Costs were not. The result was a multi-million-dollar monthly loss.

The program could not be paused or reset. It was active, visible, and required to function.

The issue was not operational discipline. It was the model.

The system had been built around fixed infrastructure. The volume no longer justified it.

The approach we took was to change the model while the system continued to run.

Instead of owning and staffing every location, we began shifting to a partner-based network. Existing businesses with facilities and personnel would perform the work under contract, on a per-transaction basis. That aligned cost with demand and reduced the fixed burden of the system.

This was not a single transition.

It was a sequence of transitions across the network.

Each location had to be evaluated, a partner identified or developed, contracts put in place, staff trained, and the site certified. Once ready, operations would shift from the existing model to the new one. That required coordination across scheduling systems, customer communication, and field operations.

At the same time, the legacy structure had to be managed down—leases, staffing, and commitments that could not be eliminated immediately.

The system was effectively being rebuilt while it was running.

Over time, as more locations moved to the partner model, the cost structure changed. The program reached break-even within months and became profitable shortly after.

More importantly, it became stable.

The external pressure that had been building—financial, operational, and political—began to dissipate. The program was no longer at risk of failing. It operated as a normal system.

When the work came up for recompete, we were no longer defending a broken structure. We were operating a working one.