Mary Ann Gilleece is a Partner in the Washington, D.C. office of Holland & Knight LLP. Ms. Gilleece provides advice to domestic and foreign corporations on a wide spectrum of issues related to legislative, government contract and business matters. Ms. Gilleece is knowledgeable about the laws, regulations and internal government procedures concerning the government acquisition process. This knowledge, coupled with her experience in senior positions in the executive and legislative branches of government, enable her to assist clients in grappling with and successfully resolving complex business, legal, legislative and regulatory problems. Her approach is to negotiate a resolution to a company’s problem whether that program is with the government or another contractor. She assists the company in developing a strategy that focuses on resolution and then guides the implementation of that strategy.
Ms. Gilleece’s clients are concerned with defense and civilian agency matters and encompass a wide range of business activities. These clients include manufacturers of major systems as well as smaller end items and component parts and providers of professional and technical services. She has assisted companies of all sizes including large, medium, small, small-disadvantaged and 8(a) as both prime contractors and subcontractors.
In 1972, Ms. Gilleece was appointed an Assistant Attorney General for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. She then practiced law privately. Beginning in 1977, Ms. Gilleece served for six years as Counsel to the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Armed Services. She was responsible for committee functions relating to federal contracting legislation and government procurement methods and the impact of the acquisition system on all sizes of federal contracts and programs.
From April 1983 to August 1985, Ms. Gilleece served as the Deputy Undersecretary of Defense for Research and Engineering (Acquisition Management). As Deputy Undersecretary, Ms. Gilleece managed a senior level professional staff and served as the principal advisor to the Undersecretary of Defense for Research and Engineering in all matters concerning management and policy for the Department of Defense (DOD) acquisition and manufacturing processes. She also served on the Joint Contract Administration Coordinating Council. She directed the effort to make procurement system improvements embodied in Executive Order 12352 of March 17, 1982, on Federal Procurement Reforms. As the DOD member of the OMB Executive Committee on Procurement Reforms, she recommended acquisition changes necessary to make the government contract process better. She had primary responsibility for the formulation and execution of DOD international acquisition, objectives, policies, and programs for cooperation in research, development, production, and procurement with U.S. allies.
Other major activities of her office included programs of Total Quality Management and the production capabilities of the U.S. industrial base. Matters related to the Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization Office (SADBU) was coordinated through her office.
Ms. Gilleece has held positions of responsibility with certain companies. In September 1998, the Board of Directors of AverStar, Inc., Burlington, Massachusetts, elected Ms. Gilleece to the Board. The Board also elected her to chair the Audit Committee. AverStar was sold to Titan Corporation. AverStar, Inc. developed and tested mission critical software systems for federal government and commercial customers. She was elected to the Board of Directors of Fire Arms Training Systems, Inc., (FATS) a publicly traded company, sold to Meggitt, USA. FATS designed and sold virtual training systems that improve the skills of the world's military, law enforcement and security forces. FATS training provides judgmental, tactical and combined arms experiences, utilizing quality engineered weapon simulators. Ms. Gilleece also elected to the Board of Directors of McDonald Bradley Corp., which was sold to Mantech Corp. McDonald Bradley, Inc., a client-centered information technology services company, specialized in creating order out of information technology chaos. The company provided three major services: Visual Intelligence Technology (Vista®); System Assurance (QV2®); Web Application Integration.
Ms. Gilleece has been an adjunct faculty member at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia.
Ms. Gilleece has authored many articles concerning federal government matters, including “Understanding How to Approach Congress” and “Lowest Bid - The Best Value?” Ms. Gilleece has been and continues to be a speaker at many meetings, seminars and symposiums.