Happy New Year! 2023 was epic living life to the fullest and enjoying every second of the ride! It was filled with travel (35 states / 4 countries), flying, racing, adventures, serving customers and enjoying time with family and friends. Wishing you all an amazing 2024 ahead!
My tail number was registered on February 25th, 2005. I was sitting in a hospital room after a wildly exhausting day… my twin boys had just been born that day (2/25) and are named Hunter and Landon (HL).
I could have slept… I could have read a book or watched TV… but instead, I was on the FAA website reserving “N225HL”. This tail number is my way of always having my boys with me on every flight during my travels.
I took delivery of my first Cirrus shortly thereafter, with several more deliveries since then, each bearing the same N225HL tail which I’ll have forever.
We talk about “The Cirrus Life”… I’m proud to say my kids have actually lived it, they’ve just turned 18 years old… Cirrus N225HL has been a part of their lives every step of the way. ✈️
On Feb. 23, 2022, a Department of Justice press release sent shockwaves reverberating through the industry. Despite being well aware of the resolution, I sat quietly in disbelief as I thought to myself, “JUSTICE HAS BEEN SERVED!” My six-year journey to expose fraudulent government procurement activities was complete. Previously, my identity has remained anonymous, only known to the accused and to an alphabet soup of government entities—until today.
This story begins in 2016 when I began losing awards to a small entity that was somehow effectively competing with my company for small business set-aside awards. They were quoting top-tier brands at pricing levels typically held by more established companies. I was baffled at how they seemingly came out of nowhere and rapidly became a mainstream player in the small business government contracting arena. I began diving deeper and learned their size rapidly ballooned from insignificant to millions of dollars in sales. Further exploration revealed a large company was also listed as a member in their public corporate records. I speculated that I wasn’t really losing these set-aside awards to another small business; I was likely losing them to a large competitor in disguise.
In August 2016, I reached out to the Small Business Administration, becoming the very first person to share my concerns with the government. I felt there was a strong probability procurement fraud was occurring and provided my initial evidence. The SBA team was gracious, yet unable to take immediate action due to procedural rules.
I spent the next year-plus relentlessly documenting small business contracting awards and learning about various legal processes. By January 2018, I took my next shot by filing a formal size protest with the government in connection to a set-aside award for which I felt the entity was not legally eligible. Sadly, I was once again defeated as the protest was dismissed, not realizing it would later be adopted by the SBA and referenced as evidence in DOJ filings.
My determination and passion for exposing and eliminating this fraud continued for years. I had numerous phone conversations and extensive email communications with various government entities, each time providing more in-depth dialogue with recent findings. One notable event involved a mutual customer being confused as to why their large entity representative responded to a request they made to the smaller entity. All three of us were bidding the project, yet in reality, it was really just me and (both of ) them. It became clear the U.S. government and taxpayers weren’t being afforded the proper opportunity of receiving three truly independent bids. This event led me to conduct additional research, including assembling an electronic version of an old-fashioned police string chart—analyzing public profiles of employees from both entities to find matches with those simultaneously working for both companies.
In 2019, I received a call from the DOJ regarding all the information I’d spent years collecting and presenting to government authorities. Another complaint had been filed by a service-disabled veteran business and during the due diligence process, the DOJ recognized there was validity in the enormous amount of evidence I’d already provided.
Six years after my initial alert and three years after DOJ involvement, the wheels of justice have finally succeeded. My North Star has always been to do the right thing even when no one is watching. I hope my story inspires others to act if you witness wrongdoing. Our voices may be small, but we each have the ability to make a positive impact in the world when we stand up for what is right. My identity as the original complainant and government witness has finally been revealed, and now you know the rest of the story.
I’m the proud owner of the 8,000th Cirrus Aircraft produced! This Limited Edition SR22T features a bold Volt 8K color scheme inspired by the runway with a plush two-tone custom stitched leather interior. The incredible performance and smooth handling makes it an absolute joy to fly.
The safety features are unparalleled, including the Cirrus Airframe Parachute System (CAPS). This is the perfect airplane for my business critical operations to serve my customers quickly and efficiently. I’m absolutely thrilled to own and operate this beautiful aircraft!
Special thanks to Cirrus Aircraft for allowing me to be the 8,000th edition launch customer. A fantastic company filled with amazingly talented people whom I’m fortunate to know as lifelong friends.
Live life fullest and enjoy every second of the ride! Blue skies ahead for N225HL! ☀️✈️🎉
Additional Images:
Announcement Video:
Delivery Video:
Sizzle Reel at Cedar Key, Florida:
A few weeks ago, I presented a business analysis outlining how recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic would look based upon 20+ years of experience personally being involved in disaster relief operations. This is an follow-up analysis sharing details of real recovery happening now along with an updated outlook.
We are presently between the first and second stage, a time when folks are moving beyond the initial panic and fear as they begin to experience a cautious sense of relief. The world is starting to spin normally again which is a fantastic move in the right direction. This has taken slightly longer than originally anticipated as stay-at-home orders were issued which had not been widely implemented during historical disasters utilized as reference points.
Folks are beginning to get out and about again, traffic is increasing on the roads and parks are filled with people who are willing to risk leave their homes for the enjoyment of having interactions with friends and family members in safe social environments. There’s still a cautious feeling in the air with social distancing and wearing protective masks, but life is returning to the “new normal”.
Governments are slowly relaxing restrictive measures which are helping people get back to work, while businesses are hard at work to ensure safety guidelines are in place to operate responsibly. Everyone is keenly aware that failure to adhere to CDC guidelines (and common sense preventative measures) will result in a tragic relapse of this pandemic. The stakes are high and there’s no second chances to get it right, leaders are committed to making the right moves for the health and safety of others now more than ever.
So, what’s next? As I mentioned in my prior analysis, I provide expert consultation to some of the largest banks and private equity firms in the country. These deep connections have provided me insight into minds of those individuals who invest in a wide variety of industries. It is widely viewed that unlike the “U” shaped 2009 recession (two quarters of free-fall, four quarters of consistent trough recession and two quarters of recovery), this event will appear more “V” shaped in form.
The reason behind this “V” shaped view is two-fold. First, many folks such as myself who are in the driver’s seat during this pandemic are the same people who experienced (and successfully overcame) the 2009 recession. Collectively, we all moved too slowly in cutting and trimming operations back then, we acted much more swiftly this time around as we executed many painful decisions. Inversely, we are all experienced knowing the necessary recovery procedures and will implement many of the same actions learned from the past downturn as we begin to work our way out of this recession. Secondly, there’s massive amounts of money being distributed throughout the supply chain as well as directly to individuals in need. Politics aside, money is a proven driver of economic activity and there’s a lot of it beginning to flow with more expected to follow in the weeks and months ahead.
My current analysis is based upon facts versus pure speculative opinion, although none of us has a crystal ball so a healthy dose of thoughtful interpolation is necessary. I believe that we will see a negative 75%-85% decrease in many businesses for Q220. By Q320, this will be reduced to negative 30% as an anticipated 18%-30% of entities begin to fail, driving increased demand to those business who have survived. By Q420, we will recover to negative 15%, further accelerated by fewer having competitors in the marketplace. This is an important metric as folks will now be in the realm of a “known” recession environment, this is precisely the level we saw in 2009. Familiarity with being in a previously known economic environment will provide a feeling of, “We’ve got this, we know how to recover from this point.” This is the stage where projects will begin to be green-lighted and we will see business activity shift into full gear. That being said, projects and supply chains naturally take time to ramp up so we’re still several months away from truly seeing the effect of these initiates. By late Q121 to early Q221 these projects will get underway and we’ll return to the “zero” baseline, essentially the same place we begin prior to the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
I’ve fielded more calls and e-mails than I can even count these past weeks. Interactions are filled with people reaching out who are overwhelmed and looking for hope and assurance that brighter days are ahead. My typical days are 20+ hours long and quite frankly are exhausting, yet incredibly fulfilling to be able to help others during this time of need. I continue my resolve to stay strong and confident by recognizing this entire event is just a bookmark in time in the grand scheme of life. There’s many amazing chapters still to be written as we create meaningful business and personal experiences long into the future.
I’m so incredibly proud of the care and generosity exhibited by so many people in this world during this pandemic so will conclude this update simply by saying thank you. I warms my heart and renews my faith in the goodness of the human spirit to see folks stepping up in ways beyond my imagination to help their families, friends, neighbors and loved ones. We are all walking this journey together, surrounded by everyday heroes by our sides, thank you for making the world a better place!
Godspeed to you all!
~ Brad Pierce
