Redstone Government Consulting Blog | Redstone GCI (3)

Thanksgiving is a beautiful holiday. Thanksgiving is not a time for gifts or decoration, but rather a time to reflect on the blessings received and be thankful for those blessings, even if those blessings come in the form of challenges presented to us over the past year. We say we are thankful for the challenges, as our challenges make us stronger and ultimately better. And for that, we are thankful. As most everyone knows, Redstone GCI has faced significant losses and challenges this year with the passing of our beloved leader, mentor, friend and family member, Scott Butler. Scott was special to so many people and touched the lives of us all. He knew that the future of our firm was bigger than him and made it a priority to ensure future success even without his leadership. We often say that one of Scott’s many talents was being able to see the potential in all of us and having a true gift of making everyone around him better versions of themselves. This gift from Scott still stands true, even as we continue to mourn his passing. Leaders within our firm have emerged, teamwork has never been stronger, and a true sense of family radiates with every interaction we have with each other. Scott has and will continue to make us stronger, better versions of ourselves as the true sign of a leader is not in the present, but in what they leave for those that follow.  We are thankful for Scott Butler.

As we begin October 31^st, we’ve invested heavily in researching all sources to identify the Halloween costumes which will most likely be used by Government entities (including Congress), agencies, and employees (or wannabe employees in the context of political candidates).

It is with a heavy heart and eyes filled with tears that we write this message.  Scott Butler, our beloved friend, mentor, and the founder of Redstone Government Consulting has passed away after a strong, faithful and diligent battle with cancer.  If you knew Scott, you instantly loved and admired Scott.  He was a friend to everyone he met, and he deeply and truly cared for those around him.  Scott had an incredible faith and love of Jesus Christ and it showed in every interaction he had, whether good or bad.  Our lives will be forever changed, because we had the fortune to work with Scott daily.  In a picture hanging in Scott’s office was a quote, 

How would you feel if you had unlimited access to all the resources Redstone Government Consulting had to offer?  Relief?  Security?  Control?  Protected?  Re-focused?

Some of us have been tracking the long overdue Congressional mandate for the United States to achieve a ready-state for auditable financial statements.  Although it may come as a surprise, we’ve uncovered a somewhat reliable (thus somewhat unreliable) rumor that the next NDAA (National Defense Authorization Act) will include section 401(A.F.) which will require the Department of Defense (more specifically DCAA/Defense Contract Audit Agency) to provide technical assistance to all other agencies, inspector generals’, GAO (Government Accountability Office) and the hordes of independent private auditors who have thus-far failed in achieving that mystical milestone of fully auditable federal government financial statements.  

Nearly every blog we write here at Redstone Government Consulting is centered on some technical aspect of government contractual compliance. We write about how to survive the many DCAA or DCMA audits; we write about your estimating systems and purchasing systems, and every other system in between. That is what we do here at Redstone Government Consulting, so this type of writing makes perfect sense. And don’t get us wrong, we love writing about such topics.

December 3rd marked the end of our No Stomach for Cancer Fundraiser and we'd like to extend thanks to all our clients and our team here at Redstone GCI for their generous support.  You know us bean counters had to foot and double-foot the totals, but we're pleased to announce that the audited results are in and we've raised $5,392.46.

This year's theme is gratitude. Gratitude is defined as the quality of being thankful, readiness to show appreciation for and to return the kindness.

As we again approach Halloween and the night of tricks or treats, we’ve been able to identify and report a number of the more popular Halloween costumes (or masks) among government agencies and/or (n one case) an ex-government “CEO”.  Some of these trending costumes include: