When ICM supplies contract consultants for Staff Augmentation or Training work on a short- or long-term contract, the preferred method is Corp. to Corp. (C2C). That is the way that makes our accounting easiest. We are willing to discuss a W2 contract or a 1099 Contract that has an end date and is renewable. What does not work for ICM is a permanent hire of a single resource.

ICM would consider a larger contract for multiple candidates to become W2 resources for permanent hire. This type contract usually requires an ICM training program and ICM management oversight. Cost of that would have to be built in the contract, but ICM is willing to negotiate such a contract on a case-by-case basis.

1. ICM can help you get the process started. The first step to get a secret clearance, top secret clearance or one of the others is to fill out Standard form 86. (https://www.opm.gov/forms/pdf_fill/sf86.pdf) This form is 136 pages of a fillable pdf file. We have seen estimates of 6 to 7 hours to fill it out manually. ICM has build Standard form 86 into an application one can access on this website. Our tests have shown that our application will fill out Form 86 for you in about a third of that time. ICM does not charge for using our application, but we do ask you to send us your resume and let us market you on our website.
2. Once this form is complete an enterprise with a US government contract will still have to sponsor you for work and try to get you cleared as one of their contractors. Once cleared the status lasts for 10 years for secret and 5 years for top secret clearances and is usable on other contracts. ICM is continually looking to partner with companies that will provide clearances for our contractors, but we make no guarantees you will get one.

1. ICM has a training division that has done Information Technology, (IT), training since 1981. ICM still has multiple training contracts with some of the largest IT training companies in the world. Our trainers teach Cisco, Fortinet, Palo Alto, AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, Microsoft, SQL, Power BI, Linux, Ansible, Network Appliance, A+, N+, Security+, Gigamon and more.
2. The ICM staff augmentation division benefits from that training capability to increase the skills of our bench. ICM consultants receive our expert training before they take a contract and even after they are placed on a contract for free at no cost to the contract provider. We are not aware of any other company that does that or prepares our candidates better than we do.

No, but we will be happy to be a subcontractor for another company that bids on large development project work. Management at ICM does not have a long history on bidding for projects. At this point we to not want to bid too low on a project and then have to deliver the project at the low rate. ICM would be happy to discuss a project with any company that needs our staff as sub-contractors.

1. ICM provides both.
2. Network Security is protecting the perimeter of an enterprise’s network, its servers and applications from outside threats. It’s about stopping the bad guys from getting in. Tools used for that are Firewalls, Intrusion prevention Services (IPS), Antivirus, Data Loss Prevention (DLP), VPNs and more.
3. Cyber Security is detecting if the bad guys already got in and trying to mitigate the damage they do as quickly and thoroughly as possible. This is usually done by analyzing logs to figure out where the virus or malware first came in, where it spread to, and what is the best tool to eradicate it. The process is all about reducing the time to detect the malware, (TTD), and reducing the time to mitigation of the malware, (TTM). The main tool used for CyberSecurity and log analyzing is the Security Information & Event Manager, (SIEM).

ICM provides Senior Data Architect & Data Warehousing services. We are also Power BI Subject Matter Experts. Our skills are SME level in enterprise-wide data governance, utilization of information as an asset, data processing, data analysis, business analysis, data mining, and information trading. ICM is happy to demonstrate vast experience with the MS Business Intelligence Stack (SSIS, SSRS, SSAS, and Power BI). Also, happy to demonstrate knowledge of cloud technologies such as Azure SQL Databases including Synapse, Data Lakes, Business Analytics, Snowflake, Data Pipelines, Oracle Databases/PL-SQL, Autonomous, and Oracle Fusion Cloud.

Yes, if the project concerns training for multiple classes on a technology. ICM has a long history on bidding for training projects. We can build the curriculum, design the hands-on labs, and provide the instructors. ICM would be happy to discuss a project with any company that needs our staff as instructors or course developers.

ICM will generally invoice for work that is done and payment terms are typically net-30 days if ICM has a business relationship with the customer. Some projects would require a portion of the payment up front.

Staff augmentation is designed to offer cost-effective solutions for businesses by providing access to skilled professionals on a temporary basis, thus reducing the overhead costs associated with traditional hiring. While there may be upfront expenses associated with engaging augmented staff, such as service fees or hourly rates, these costs are typically outweighed by the long-term savings achieved through improved efficiency, reduced recruitment expenses, and enhanced flexibility in resource management. Additionally, staff augmentation allows businesses to scale their teams up or down as needed, minimizing the risk of overstaffing or underutilization of resources, which can further contribute to cost optimization.