Significant Career Lesson From a Co-Founder and CEO at Ascender Systems
Early in Jorge's defense contracting career, a lack of understanding regarding "contract line item numbers" (CLINs) led to an embarrassing audit situation requiring a complete reallocation of hours and purchases. This experience instilled in them a deep sense of responsibility for proper financial expenditure, transforming them into a "staunch advocate of good expenditure," especially when working with federal government funds.
Defense Contracting, Financial Stewardship, Government Regulations, Auditing, Leadership
Advizer Information
Name
Job Title
Company
Undergrad
Grad Programs
Majors
Industries
Job Functions
Traits
Jorge Muniz
Co-Founder & CEO
Ascender Systems
United States Naval Academy United States Naval Academy
University of San Diego - Knauss School of Business University of San Diego - Knauss School of Business Master of Business Administration - MBAMaster of Business Administration - MBA
Engineering, IT, Math & Data
Technology
Strategic Management and Executive
Veteran
Video Highlights
1. Importance of understanding contract line item numbers (CLINs) in defense contracting: Early in his career, Jorge faced challenges due to a lack of clarity regarding CLINs and their specific allocations of funds. This led to issues during an audit, highlighting the need to understand and properly allocate funds according to contract requirements.
2. Being a steward of good financial expenditure, especially when working with government funds: Jorge emphasizes the importance of responsible financial management when working as a government contractor. He advocates for using funds in the best interest of the nation, highlighting the ethical responsibility that comes with handling taxpayer money.
3. Turning a mistake into advocacy: The embarrassing experience during the audit motivated Jorge to become a driver and advocate for proper financial allocation. This demonstrates the value of learning from mistakes and using them to improve practices and promote better standards.
Transcript
What is one lesson that you have learned that is proof significant in your career?
So early on when I got into defense contracting, one thing that was unfamiliar to me is that within the defense contract fields, there are things called CLINs. Those are contract line item numbers.
Those are specific allocations of funds for a particular task. You do task A, you cannot do task B. If there is a commingling of money, there's a problem. When I first got into this role, that was not very clear to me.
It wasn't clear where the source document was that guided what drove each of those respective CLINs. You can imagine that when it came time for an audit, I was on the other end of that spectrum.
Thankfully, everything we did was in line with the overall statement of work. It just wasn't allocated within the proper codes. We had to go all the way back to the beginning.
We had to reapportion and reallocate hours and purchases to ensure they were in the proper line. It was embarrassing. But since then, it led me to become a driver and advocate because it's important that we are stewards of good financial expenditure.
This is especially important when you essentially work for the federal government. We are a private contractor, I get it, but ultimately the federal government is paying us money. We have to be responsible for using that in the best interest of our nation.
Because of that lesson I learned early on in my career, I think now I'm a staunch advocate of good expenditure.