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Frequently Asked Questions

Answers About Flatter, Inc.

Common questions about who we are, what we do, our certifications, and how federal agencies and partners can work with us.

Flatter, Inc. is a Professional Services Firm that provides services to large enterprises, mostly federal agencies, within three lines of service, Digital Transformation, Mission Acceleration, and Workforce Readiness. Flatter is a Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business (SDVOSB), and eligible to bid as a small business under most NAICS codes.

Flatter was founded in 2002 by Dr. J.R. (John Russell) Flatter, Ph.D., a 22-year U.S. Marine Corps veteran who retired as a Major. He was a mustang Marine, first enlisted before commissioning as an officer, and attended the Naval Postgraduate School.

Today, Oliver Chiang is Flatter's Chairman and President and primary service-disabled veteran; he has served at Flatter since 2014. Brittany Chiang has been CEO of Flatter since 2017. Oliver leads day-to-day operations and sets Flatter's strategic direction.

Flatter is headquartered at 10700 Spotsylvania Ave, Bldg. 1, Fredericksburg, Virginia 22408. Flatter also has locations throughout military installations on the East Coast.

Flatter is ISO 9001:2015 certified (zero nonconformities) and ISO 27001:2022 certified, in addition to its SBA-recognized SDVOSB status. Flatter is also CMMI Development and Services Maturity Level 3, and CMMC Level 2 assessed.

Flatter holds prime positions on GSA OASIS+ (Management & Advisory, Logistics, and Engineering domains), the GSA Multiple Award Schedule (small on all NAICS), Polaris GWAC (SDVOSB track, via the Paragon-Vertex joint venture, and HUBZone track), NASA SEWP VI, and the CBP Enterprise Small Business BPA. Flatter is also a prime offeror on the FBI Curriculum Development BPA and the USDA Rural Development BPA, and has historically held the DHS PACTS II and NAVWAR ICO IDIQs.

Flatter Leadership Academy is a Flatter, Inc. offering within Workforce Readiness focused on developing leaders, coaches, and organizational culture; it has trained over 1,000 DoW professionals as certified coaches and is led by J.R. Flatter as Chief Learning Officer.

PersonaOPPs is Flatter, Inc.'s flagship AI-enabled enterprise persona-simulation training platform. See the PersonaOPPs FAQ list for details.

Flatter's reported federal client base includes the Department of War (Air Force, United States Space Force, Army, USMC, DLA, Navy), the Department of Homeland Security (including DHS HQ, DHS Intelligence & Analysis, FEMA, ICE, CBP, and the United States Coast Guard), the FBI, the Department of the Interior, and the Department of Agriculture (Rural Development).

Flatter's confirmed tagline is "Purpose Driven, Future Ready."

It distinguishes Flatter from vendors that deliver coaching sessions and stop there; Flatter instead builds a coaching culture that transforms organizations to attract, recruit, and retain the workforce of the future. Tomorrow's generation wants to be led through inquiry, curiosity, and involvement rather than command and control, asked, not told. Flatter's ICF-credentialed coaching education programs and program management take a coaching approach, where inquiry rules the day; tomorrow's leadership is about asking the right questions, not having all the answers.

Flatter is positioned as the only identified SDVOSB federal contractor holding three independently audited ICF accreditations (CCFC, FICTP, Executive Cadre LCT) that produces ICF-credentialed coaches from within the client agency's own workforce, rather than delivering external coaching sessions.

"Coaching Infrastructure" is the category name Flatter's 2026 brand positioning uses to describe its approach, treating coaching culture as a permanent institutional asset built inside an agency, rather than a contracted service delivered from outside it.

Yes. Flatter was awarded a sole-source prime role on the $22M Air Force Senior Leadership Development Program (AFSLDP) IDIQ, meaning the Department of the Air Force determined no competing alternative was equivalent. Flatter has also won sole-source awards at National Defense University, FEMA, and the United States Coast Guard.

DoW COOL (Credentialing Opportunities On-Line) funds service members to earn civilian credentials. The Department of War has approved the ICF Associate Certified Coach (ACC) credential for COOL funding and named Flatter, Inc. an authorized training provider, Flatter can educate any coach under this accreditation.

CCFC is Flatter's 16-week, 80-hour, ICF Level 2-accredited (Associate level) virtual training program that turns federal leaders into professional certified coaches; graduates sign a two-year service commitment to coach within their agency after completing the course. Over 1,000 Department of War graduates have completed this program.

Executive Cadre is Flatter's speaker and advisory platform, giving organizations direct access to over 160 senior leaders, including retired general and flag officers, senior enlisted leaders, ambassadors and senior executives, who bring their leadership experience to speaking engagements and advisory work. Flatter is the only small business federal contractor with such a robust network of retired general officers, ambassadors, Senior Executive Service (SES) members, astronauts, and other highly qualified experts (HQEs), leveraged daily by the federal government at National Defense University, DoW senior leader development programs, congressional preparation meetings, keynote engagements, and more.

Per third-party aggregator data (Sweetspot, May 2026), Flatter has recorded approximately $243.1M across 150+ federal awards over more than two decades, spanning agencies including the Air Force, Army, DHS, the FBI, USDA, and the Coast Guard, plus commercial organizations like The Inn at Little Washington.

"Building a Coaching Culture" is Flatter's company-produced podcast, hosted by founder Dr. J.R. Flatter, running since 2022 with 400+ episodes indexed and an average episode length of about 27 minutes. Episodes are eligible for asynchronous ICF coach education hours.

Both. Flatter holds SDVOSB set-aside positions but has also won competitively bid awards, for example, beating out seven other bidders for a U.S. Air Force OCIO cybersecurity/IT governance contract, in addition to sole-source awards. Flatter mostly benefits from its small business status, but has had several full-and-open wins, including at NDU, and sole-source awards including its DAF Senior Leader Development Portfolio. Flatter also maintains a suite of commercial work.

Yes. Flatter is a Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business (SDVOSB) under SBA size standards, which allows it to compete for federal set-aside contracts reserved for SDVOSBs in addition to competing in full and open competition.

SDVOSB stands for Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business, an SBA-recognized status for small businesses that are at least 51% owned and controlled by one or more service-disabled veterans. It allows federal agencies to count awards to Flatter toward their SDVOSB small-business contracting goals, and lets Flatter compete for SDVOSB set-aside solicitations.

Flatter can be engaged through its federal contract vehicles, GSA OASIS+, the GSA Multiple Award Schedule, Polaris GWAC (SDVOSB track, via the Paragon-Vertex JV), NASA SEWP VI, and the CBP Enterprise Small Business BPA, or through a direct SDVOSB set-aside or full-and-open procurement. Prospective government buyers should visit Flatter's contact page to identify the right vehicle for their requirement. Flatter can assist with acquisition and vehicle recommendations.

Flatter's core business is built around federal agencies, but several of its offerings, PersonaOPPs, Flatter Leadership Academy coach education, and Flatter Executive Cadre, are also marketed to private-sector and enterprise clients, including large primes.

Flatter has more than 100 employees across the United States. Staffing levels change with contract awards.

Flatter is headquartered in Fredericksburg, Virginia, and delivers services on-site at federal client locations across the continental United States. Flatter maintains a presence at several locations across the East Coast, with some of the key locations including San Antonio, TX; St. Louis, MO; Atlanta, GA; Petersburg, VA; New York, NY; and San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Yes. Founder Dr. J.R. Flatter, Ph.D. (a 22-year Marine Corps veteran) and Oliver Chiang are the two veteran owners. Oliver is Chairman, President, and Chief Financial Officer, and oversees day-to-day operations.

Flatter's documented client base is concentrated in U.S. federal defense and homeland-security agencies (DoW, DHS, FBI) plus USDA and Interior; it is not positioned, based on sources reviewed, as a state/local government or international-government contractor. The only OCONUS locations Flatter wants to support are Puerto Rico and Hawaii. Flatter is not interested in B2B support for federal contractors, unless the ultimate customer is the federal government.

Flatter offers four summer internships per year, focused on artificial intelligence, federal growth, finance, and human resources.

Flatter is headquartered in Fredericksburg, Virginia and is an active member of the Fredericksburg Regional Chamber of Commerce; founder J.R. Flatter has served as the Chamber's Chairman. CEO Brittany Chiang serves on several local boards, including the Rappahannock United Way and the University of Mary Washington Women's Colloquium, and guest lectures at UMW's AI in Society course. Oliver Chiang serves as President of his local church, The Way. Flatter donates substantially to the community, especially around the holidays, supporting at least 20 families' holiday needs. Alexandria Turner serves on the Lois Ann Hope House board, and Brittany Chiang serves on the Riphean board, which invests in federal technology.

As a small business (SDVOSB), Flatter is positioned to compete for small-business set-asides that large primes cannot pursue, and its 2026 brand positioning emphasizes a specific niche, building durable, ICF-credentialed internal coaching capability inside federal agencies, that distinguishes it from the broader IT/consulting scope typically offered by large primes. This is Flatter's own positioning; an independent, named head-to-head comparison was not located in sources reviewed. Flatter is focused on inquiry and defining good requirements before solutioning, supported by its coaching culture.

Flatter has maintained a Top Secret facility clearance since 2004 and can receive prime awards that are Top Secret or Secret. Flatter's owners all hold Top Secret clearances.

AFSLDP is a $22M IDIQ contract on which Flatter was awarded a sole-source prime role, meaning the Department of the Air Force determined no competing alternative offered equivalent capability for this leadership-development work. This course supports senior leader development for the DAF, including the USSF, for all O-6 and above, E-9, and SES personnel, more than 50 courses per year, with a throughput of over 3,500 students annually.

Only groups of 10 or more may seek accreditation through Flatter's educational programs generally; the Flatter Leadership Academy's coach education program is designed for individuals from any career field seeking to become an accredited coach, independent of any government contract relationship. However, there is only one seminar per year where students can join individually, and Flatter sponsors military spouses to attend for free.