QuesTek Cuts Costs, Increases Integration with Costpoint

Creating Smarter Project Lifecycles

QuesTek® Innovations LLC empowers innovators by resolving their materials challenges through a proven technology that bridges the gap between materials science and parts design.

Founded in 1997, QuesTek is a small business of about 50 employees and a market leader in Integrated Computational Materials Engineering (ICME). This technology allows QuesTek to design and optimize materials for manufacturers more efficiently than through traditional trial-and-error methods. ICME significantly reduces materials development time and costs, providing QuesTek with a competitive edge in the materials science industry.

QuesTek played a vital role in SpaceX’s latest projects, assisting in developing several new, bespoke materials for SpaceX’s Raptor engine. QuesTek collaborated with the SpaceX design team to produce economical, sustainable and reusable materials.

Along with commercial clients, QuesTek also works with many government agencies, including NASA, the U.S. Navy, the U.S. Army, the Air Force, the Department of Defense, DARPA and the Department of Energy.

“If there's a material challenge in any industry or sector—public or private—QuesTek can help that company find a solution,” says Brian Registe, CFO. According to Brian, that’s in large part due to the dedication of QuesTek employees.

Entering The SaaS Space

In 2023, QuesTek launched one of its most significant projects: an Integrated Computational Materials Design (ICMD®) digital platform to power materials engineering and develop novel materials based on the company’s ICME technology. ICMD® enables digital transformation of the materials design and optimization process through a SaaS version of its offering, that customers deploy in private corporate clouds.

“Physics-based models and datasets optimize the platform, and now clients such as Apple, GM, Boeing and Audi can have ICMD® toolkits in their own hands, with onboarding consultation help always available from QuesTek, of course,” continues Brian.

Compliance, Bi & Cybersecurity Challenges

QuesTek’s former Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solution—Microsoft® Dynamics®— lacked government compliance safeguards. This posed a problem, as Defense Contract Audit Administration (DCAA) compliance is of primary importance in fulfilling federal Department of Defense (DoD) proposals—one of QuesTek’s primary business streams. “We have many indirect rules and rates that we have to submit annually as a contractor,” recalls Brian, “so we decided we needed to work with a leader in that space.”

He continues: “Also, the business intelligence (BI) piece was not there for us—we experienced challenges viewing project intelligence from an operational perspective with Dynamics. Another issue was timekeeping and expense reporting, which are especially important for recertification in federal contracting. And lastly, cybersecurity throughout our ERP is a huge need for both our commercial and government contracting work; Dynamics fell short here, too.”

Turning to Deltek Costpoint for Project Oversight

Switching to Deltek Costpoint’s planning and project management capabilities, QuesTek streamlined project planning, compliance and BI for the ICMD ® project and hundreds of others in the firm’s portfolio. “I love the compliance part of Costpoint. I don't know what we would have done without it,” Brian realizes.

Regarding cybersecurity, Costpoint has recently enabled QuesTek to shift to a higher cybersecurity status. Now within Deltek’s GovCon Cloud Moderate (GCCM) environment, QuesTek is making big security strides. “Costpoint has allowed us to make our entire project lifecycle smarter and safer, driving significant cost savings and boosting revenue opportunities,” continues Brian. “We are also currently working through the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) 2.0 requirements. Right now, we're probably 80 or 90 percent there. Deltek’s new GCCM FedRamp moderate-ready status helps us support CMMC 2.0 compliance.”

As for Costpoint overall? “Costpoint is now our sole ERP. It is used across the company, with more than 45 employees engaging with the software in some capacity throughout their day.”

Just a few ICMD® project ROI metrics as a result of Costpoint:

• Reduced accounting time by 12%.
• Streamlined business development hours by 9%.
• Reduced administrative costs by 8%.

“Deltek Costpoint is tried and true,” says Brian. “It's a great platform—many systems and processes are in place out of the box, including compliance. If you're working for the federal government and having to comply with DCAA, then it's a no-brainer to choose Costpoint, both from a project management and cost management perspective. Plus, Deltek has recently modernized the solution’s interface.”

Boosting Business Development with Govwin IQ

QuesTek’s strategic intent is to grow its SaaS commercial and contract business while developing other revenue opportunities with the federal government.

Recently added to QuesTek’s lineup, Deltek’s GovWin IQ platform combines upcoming contracting opportunities and government agency information into a single source of truth for proposals. GovWin IQ’s analyst-backed and built-in market intelligence provides the firm with early awareness of new opportunities and strategic insight into federal government contracts.

Before GovWin IQ, QuesTek’s sales team chased multiple avenues for government revenue. Now, GovWin IQ enables the firm to source and study that pipeline from a holistic perspective. It’s a much more systematic and structured approach to generating federal revenue.

“Instead of searching 10 different sites, we can focus on GovWin IQ and look at all federal opportunities,” says Brian. “Then, during a contract process, we click a button in GovWin IQ, and proposal data downloads to Costpoint. Instead of using several ways to integrate contract information with our ERP, GovWin IQ gets us to Costpoint immediately.”

Finding and winning an opportunity is just the beginning. Costpoint helps users set up projects, plan and manage resources and track related costs for contract deliverables through contract closeout and recompete. By integrating GovWin IQ and Costpoint, QuesTek can seamlessly import and manage opportunity data to gain a single-source view of pipeline and awarded projects, delivering a holistic perspective on the business's health while meeting compliance and security regulation requirements.

Partnering with Premier Consulting and Integration

Like many firms that straddle commercial and contracting work, QuesTek decided to strategically partner with Premier Consulting and Integration (PCI), a long-term Deltek partner, for solution implementation.

“We've used PCI for a very long time,” says Brian. “We're a small shop, and I don't know if we had detailed knowledge of Costpoint. Having a Deltek partner who knows the software inside out and can give us frequent advice is very important. It’s a great pleasure working with the team at PCI. We’re in frequent discussion.”

What a Deltek + QuesTek Future May Look Like

On the commercial side of the house, QuesTek is intent on growing its SaaS business line. The firm is on a mission to democratize the use of ICMD®, and the software offering allows it to broaden the science and accessibility behind materials and their design. Strategically, the software will be the company’s growth focus from a product perspective.

Additionally, QuesTek will continue to take a two-pronged approach to revenue in its service work: it will continue to grow its materials science opportunities for the defense industry and also generate materials science service projects in the private sector.

What does a future with Deltek hold? “As we evolve into becoming a more commercial business from a SaaS perspective, I think we need to look at opportunities to expand our Deltek platform,” suggests Registe. “I'm curious how we could use other Deltek products to grow the company further by extending our software offering to different industries.”