Past Performance
Federal-grade pedigree across USDA, HUD, and VA
Two tiers, honestly framed. HSG corporate past performance (HSG LLC as a company) plus key-personnel past performance from prior employers — the convention required by federal source-selection.
Tier A · HSG Corporate
House Strategies Group LLC
HSG corporate past performance
USDA Animal & Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS)
USDA APHIS — Organizational Design, Position Classification, and Overseas Workforce Compensation & Budget Mapping
HSG has served since June 2022 as the senior organizational-design, position-classification, and compensation-and-budget mapping subcontractor supporting USDA APHIS Plant Protection & Quarantine and Action Programs on overseas workforce in Mexico, Panama, and Guatemala. The engagement is HSG's standing active USDA mission-area presence — and it is the closest possible operational analog to the staffing-and-budget transition challenge USDA now faces in absorbing Food for Peace. The FFP transition is not simply a programmatic shift; it requires USDA to design new program-staff positions, classify them at appropriate federal grades, map the staffing structure to a defensible payroll budget, and stand up the supervisory and reporting architecture from scratch. HSG has done precisely this kind of work for USDA, currently, with documented Exceptional performance.
- Organizational design for USDA mission-area programs — directly transferable to FFP staffing architecture
- Position-classification work at federal grade levels — directly transferable to FFP staff classification
- Compensation and budget mapping for overseas USDA workforce — directly transferable to FFP payroll budget formulation
- All performance ratings Exceptional per signed PPQ from Sheetal Patel, President, Rumik Consultancy
- PPQ has 24-month reuse authorization signed 2026-04-07
- Active engagement — current operational fluency inside USDA
- Mexico, Panama, Guatemala overseas workforce coverage (overseas-workforce parallel to FFP field-office structure)
Reference: Sheetal Patel, President, Rumik Consultancy LLC · miki.patel@rumikconsultancy.com · 469-951-1423
VA Office of Construction & Facilities Management; VA Office of Real Property
VA Lease Contract Administration — Real Estate SME & PM Lead
HSG served as Real Estate SME and Project Management Lead under the VA's Lease Contract Administration contract — overseeing post-acceptance management of 58 active VHA leases representing over 2.5 million square feet of medical and administrative space nationwide. Jelani House directed data integrity operations across five VA systems, validated annual operating cost escalations, and managed legal instruments. HSG also designed and implemented an AI-enabled workflow automation system that cut administrative processing time by more than 30 percent — the operational predecessor to the AI-augmented service delivery methodology HSG brings to this contract.
- 58 active VHA leases / 2.5M sq ft of medical and administrative space nationwide
- Data integrity across 5 VA systems (eCMS, G-REX, CAI, iFAMS, FMS)
- Legal instrument management: Novation Agreements, Estoppel Letters, Subordination Agreements
- AI-enabled workflow automation: 30%+ reduction in administrative processing time
- Performance Management Plans, bi-weekly briefings, inspection reports, financial reconciliation summaries
Clark, Love & Hutson, PLLC (representing U.S. farmers)
Syngenta GMO Corn Class Action — Expert Witness Engagement
HSG provided expert witness testimony and litigation support to Clark, Love & Hutson in a landmark biotechnology case representing U.S. farmers against a major agricultural firm for damages from the premature commercialization of an unapproved GMO corn product. Maurice House — drawing on his career as Senior Foreign Service Officer and former Agricultural Minister Counselor — served as expert witness on the global GMO regulatory environment, the duty of care owed by biotech firms, and cascading market impacts. Jelani House prepared technical briefs and comparative analyses synthesizing U.S., Chinese, and EU regulatory frameworks with global trade precedents (Starlink, LibertyLink). The case concluded in a settlement of approximately $500 million.
- Maurice House expert witness on global GMO regulatory environment
- Comparative U.S. / China / EU regulatory analysis (Jelani House)
- Direct HSG retainer — corporate past performance, not subcontract
- Case settled at approximately $500M
HUD Office of Asset Sales (Program Financial Advisor)
HUD OAS Program Financial Advisor — Capital-Markets Deal Architecture (Emax PFA prime since 1999; HSG embedded since 2023)
Emax has served as HUD's Program Financial Advisor (PFA) continuously since 1999 — a 27-year federal-advisory engagement applying Wall Street capital-markets discipline to HUD's loan-sale portfolio. Emax structures, prices, executes, and reconciles federal loan-sale transactions across HVLS, HNVLS, SFLS, MHLS, and HLS product lines, with cumulative sale volume exceeding $7 billion. Audrey McGuire (Emax CEO and former Wall Street investment banker) provides senior firm oversight; HSG has been embedded in the active delivery team since 2023. The engagement is the most direct demonstration possible of the team's ability to apply capital-markets discipline to federal portfolio decisions — the precise capability the administration's bilateral co-investment foreign-aid doctrine requires.
- Emax has held the HUD PFA continuously since 1999 — 27 years of federal-loan-portfolio capital-markets advisory
- Cumulative federal loan-sale volume supported: >$7 billion across HVLS / HNVLS / SFLS / MHLS / HLS
- Wall Street investment-banking discipline applied to federal portfolio decisions — closest operational analog to the deal architecture the America First doctrine requires for FFP bilateral co-investment agreements
- Senior Emax firm leadership (Audrey McGuire) directly engaged
- HSG embedded in delivery team since 2023; documented Exceptional performance
Reference: Michael McGuire, President, Emax · michaelmcguire@emaxllc.com · 212-813-3510
HUD Office of Asset Sales · Navy NAVFAC · VA OAEM · VHA (via Emax prime)
HSG Multi-Agency Federal Advisory Subcontract under Emax
HSG has served continuously since 2023 as senior analytical and project-management subcontractor under Emax Financial & Real Estate Advisory Services, LLC across HUD Office of Asset Sales (PFA program; Emax prime since 1999), Navy NAVFAC (PPV / Real Estate IDIQ), VA OAEM (Enhanced Use Lease Post-Transaction Support), and VHA Lease Administration. All HSG performance ratings on the engagement are documented Exceptional via signed PPQ from Michael McGuire (President) and Emma Gleason at Emax. For the FFP transition contract, Emax shifts roles — from prime customer of HSG to analyst-surge subcontractor under HSG — contributing a talented junior-professional bench scaled around HSG's senior FAS subject-matter experts.
- Continuous 3+ year HSG-Emax federal-advisory partnership
- Performance ratings Exceptional via signed PPQ from Mike McGuire and Emma Gleason
- Multi-agency federal advisory bench: HUD, Navy, VA, VHA
- Role flip on FFP: Emax becomes HSG subcontractor for analyst surge support
Reference: Mike McGuire, President, Emax · michaelmcguire@emaxllc.com · 212-813-3510
Tier B · Key Personnel
HSG founders & senior practitioners — prior-employer engagements
Federal source-selection convention: prior-employer experience is cited as key-personnel past performance, not HSG corporate past performance.
Diana L. Caley
Author — USAID Food for Peace Emergency Indicator Handbook (199 indicators)
Authored the USAID Food for Peace Emergency Indicator Handbook — the definitive reference document defining the standard and custom performance indicators, measurement protocols, data collection methods, disaggregation requirements, baseline and target-setting methodologies, and reporting frameworks USDA has now adopted for FFP Title II programs. The FY25 NOFO's nine standard performance indicators (individuals participating in USG food security activities; children under five reached with nutrition-specific interventions; children under two reached with community-level nutrition interventions; pregnant women reached with nutrition-specific interventions; quantity of food (MT) distributed; Food Consumption Score; Reduced Coping Strategies Index; prevalence of moderate or severe food insecurity; prevalence of acute malnutrition) are operationally descended from this authored framework. This is the single most directly relevant individual past performance for the FFP transition RFQ.
Prior employer: USAID Office of Food for Peace
Diana L. Caley
Co-Author — BHA Monitoring and Evaluation Technical Guidance
Co-authored the BHA Monitoring and Evaluation Technical Guidance establishing institutional standards for performance monitoring, evaluation design, data quality assurance, compliance verification, and accountability across U.S. government emergency food assistance programming. The Guidance is the operational substrate for the FY25 NOFO's accountability framework (Reform 2: strict accountability against fraud, waste, abuse, and diversion).
Prior employer: USAID Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance
Diana L. Caley
M&E Advisor — $920M FFP Portfolio (DRC, Uganda, Bangladesh)
Strategic M&E advisory for approximately $920 million in Food for Peace emergency and development food security programming in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda, and Bangladesh — including direct management of a midterm evaluation in DRC. Direct experience in one of the seven FY25 NOFO priority countries (DRC).
Prior employer: USAID Office of Food for Peace
Diana L. Caley
Acting Team Lead / Senior M&E Advisor (GS-14) — $8–10B Global Humanitarian Programming
Supervised a 25-person M&E team responsible for monitoring, evaluation, compliance verification, and operational data management across $8–10 billion in global humanitarian programming, including all Food for Peace emergency food assistance activities. Senior federal-grade leadership experience directly transferable to the engagement-management posture this PWS requires.
Prior employer: USAID Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance
Diana L. Caley
Regional Humanitarian Advisor — $305M Southern Africa Portfolio
Strategic M&E oversight for a $305 million multi-country humanitarian portfolio spanning food security, nutrition, health, shelter, and disaster response across 7 countries in Southern Africa. Initiated continuity-of-operations planning during the USAID dismantlement with the original target of transferring operational functions to the Department of State (and ultimately, USDA) — the direct precursor analytical work to the scope of this contract.
Prior employer: USAID Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance
Diana L. Caley
Lead M&E Trainer — USAID FFP / BHA (35+ trainings, 5 countries, AFRICOM)
Designed, redesigned, and led the technical M&E training programs for USAID FFP and BHA staff over a near-decade — 35+ trainings delivered across 5 countries (Senegal, Niger, DRC, Kenya, Washington DC) for Contracting Officers, CORs, AORs preparing for field monitoring visits, partner-staff trainings, host-government officials, and UN agency representatives. Also delivered civilian-military humanitarian assistance training to U.S. Department of Defense and intelligence officers at AFRICOM (Stuttgart). Per Amendment 1 Q43, the vendor proposes the competency examination methodology for PWS 3.7; Diana's authored sample size estimation tool (published on USAID.gov, adopted by 8 partner projects in 4 countries) and target-setting toolkit anchor the assessment-instrument design.
Prior employer: USAID Office of Food for Peace + Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance
Kevin Sage-EL
Agricultural Counselor — U.S. Embassy Nairobi (Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, Malawi, Burundi)
Senior FAS Foreign Service post covering six East African missions. Managed $850K in regional training/development. Direct in-country FAS execution credential for two of the seven FY25 NOFO priority countries (Kenya, Rwanda). Broke a 10-year stalemate to gain Pacific Northwest wheat market access in Kenya. Shepherded an American investment in Kenya's pyrethrum industry; in 2019, more than 2,000 subsistence farmers grew chrysanthemum flowers for pyrethrum and earned 5× what they would have earned growing maize. Led U.S. efforts on food-safety issues for the U.S.–Kenya Free Trade Agreement. Operationally collaborated with the World Food Programme and the Food and Agriculture Organization throughout his tenure — directly applicable to the WFP / FAO multilateral coordination architecture USDA inherits with FFP.
Prior employer: USDA Foreign Agricultural Service
Kevin Sage-EL
FAS Branch Chief — Cooperator Matching-Grant Programs
Supervised the FAS unit overseeing matching-grant programs for approximately 30 U.S. fresh-produce and commodity cooperators — Sunkist (exports up 400% to $9B), California pistachio industry, Eastern pecan growers across 14 unified-after-Sage-EL-mediation member states (exports up 500% to $650M). Direct precedent past performance for the FAS cooperator-grant architecture USDA inherits under Food for Peace. Operationally adjacent to the FFP cooperator-agreement architecture (PVO Registration, IFRP, FACG) USDA must now stand up under USDA management.
Prior employer: USDA Foreign Agricultural Service
Kevin Sage-EL
FAS Vessel Approval Analyst — U.S. Foreign Food Aid Carriers
Analyzed packaged commodity vessel bids to approve the most cost-effective carriers for U.S. foreign food aid and assistance overseas. Direct Cargo Preference Act compliance credential applicable to PWS §3.2 Prepositioned Commodities — no one else on HSG's bench (or on the bid, to our knowledge) holds this specific operational credential.
Prior employer: USDA Foreign Agricultural Service
Maurice W. House
USDA FAS Asia/Middle East Export Credits Manager
Managed the $1.2 billion U.S. Government agricultural export credit portfolio for Asia and the Middle East, analyzing country creditworthiness and structuring U.S. agricultural export credit deals at the country level.
Prior employer: USDA Foreign Agricultural Service (career federal Senior Foreign Service)
Maurice W. House
Counselor for Agricultural Affairs — Pakistan
Oversaw the $300 million USDA Commodity Credit Corporation GSM-102 program from Islamabad; ran the first P.L. 480 soybean program in Pakistan; executed the first U.S. wheat export to Taliban-led Afghanistan. Direct Title II execution in the unstable, non-traditional operating environments PWS Section 3.3 describes.
Prior employer: USDA Foreign Agricultural Service
Maurice W. House
Special Assistant to the FAS Administrator — Food Crisis Task Force Lead
Headed the interagency task force responding to the 2007–2009 global food price crisis. The framework his team built was used as reference material by the President, the Secretary of Agriculture, and the National Security Council.
Prior employer: USDA Foreign Agricultural Service
Maurice W. House
Deputy Administrator — FAS Office of Global Analysis
Led all international agricultural economic analysis for the U.S. Government. Supervised 75 analysts and economists. Direct analog to the agency-level analytical discipline PWS 3.4 country prioritization requires.
Prior employer: USDA Foreign Agricultural Service
Kevin Latner
USDA Food for Progress — Commodity Monetization & Market-Assessment Lead
Led the commodity monetization piece of USDA's Food for Progress program — including the market-assessment methodology for how to monetize particular commodities in particular markets to fund agricultural development activities. Food for Progress is the sister USDA program to Food for Peace, structurally analogous on every operating dimension that matters to this transition. Kevin's monetization market-assessment work is directly transferable to PWS 3.2 (commodity decisions), 3.4 (geography and commodity prioritization), and 3.5 (non-emergency programming).
Prior employer: USDA FAS / Latner & Associates
Kevin Latner
Development-to-Business Program Transition — Latner & Associates
Currently advises international development program clients on the transition from grant-based give-away models into business-focused programs targeting positive externalities. The framework is aligned with the current administration's policy direction away from open-ended grants and toward outcome-focused, market-anchored program designs — directly applicable to the America First framing PWS 3.1 requires of the Communications Strategy Guide.
Prior employer: Latner & Associates (current)
Kevin Latner
Executive Director — Cotton Council International
Authored three consecutive USDA FAS MAP/FMD Unified Export Strategy submissions for a $25 million global program — direct cooperator-program experience adjacent to FFP non-emergency programming and Title V Farmer-to-Farmer.
Prior employer: Cotton Council International
Jelani House
Senior Project Manager → Associate Director, Public Sector Financial Services
Eighteen years of continuous federal-advisory execution on HUD's FHA Office of Asset Sales (2006–2024) as Senior Project Manager at Novad Management Consulting and Associate Director, Public Sector Financial Services at Guidehouse. Federal-grade engagement-management discipline directly applicable to PWS 3.6 Coordination & Reporting and PWS 3.7 Training & Handover.
Prior employer: Novad Management Consulting → Guidehouse