Building a Bench

When government technology contractors want to win new business, they often appoint a high-level former official or a seasoned industry veteran to their board of directors. Such luminaries bring cachet-and connections-that are supposed to give the company gravitas.

Companies don't often, however, hire half a dozen of the most well known players in the market as their personal business advisers.

But then, Vignette Corp. doesn't see itself as being like other companies. The Austin, Texas-based content management software maker-which has only been around about eight years, and whose highest-profile wins to date include contracts for the General Services Administration and the IRS-is playing offense. Vignette has surveyed the pantheon of technology luminaries and snagged several former top officials from federal agencies and major contractors.

The lineup starts with Steven Papermaster, the new co-chair of Vignette's "government advisory board." Papermaster is a member of President Bush's Council of Advisors in Science and Technology. Joining him on the advisory board are two veterans of the systems integration field: Milton Cooper, the ex-president of Computer Sciences Corp.'s federal division, and Bill Dzoranchik, the former CEO of the federal unit at Electronic Data Systems Corp.

Also named to the advisory board were Robert Woods, former commissioner of the Federal Technology Service, one of the government's most lucrative fee-for-service contracting shops; and Dan Young, former president and CEO of Federal Data Corp., which Northrop Grumman bought in 1999 from The Carlyle Group.

Collectively, these stars will help Vignette do three things, said Dick Martin, Vignette's public sector chief, : "Understand the nature of agencies' business problems . . . help us understand how the integrators go about solving those problems" and "make introductions" to the agencies and the integrators.

But is that reason enough for a heretofore niche software player to bankroll such a star bench? Probably not. That's why Martin is betting not just on his new players' networking skills, but also on the potential for his product.

The market for content management software is only just being tapped, Martin said. Intelligence, law enforcement and national security agencies will be attractive customers of technology that sifts, collates and analyzes vast mountains of disparate data. "In our segment of the software industry, the battles haven't been fought yet," Martin said. "We're on the front end of [the companies that are] going to claim this space."

Vignette already supplies the content management software for FirstGov, the federal government's official Web portal. The company has managed to survive a major shrinking of the portal software industry, which research firm Gartner estimates has been cut by about 60 percent since 2000. Vignette also has its eye-as does just about every tech firm-on the Homeland Security Department as a potentially rich resource. There, too, personal connections can be found. Jim Williams, who's managing the giant border control security system, US VISIT, is the twin brother of John Williams, a Vignette employee.