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2020 Wrap-Up

Thursday, December 31, 2020

As we wind down what has arguably been the strangest year in recent history, our thoughts are with our ZAI family, partners, and customers. Almost every one of us has been affected in some
way by the COVID‐19 pandemic—some more than others. For those who have lost loved ones, we extend our deepest sympathies.
In the midst of our “current normal,” ZAI has a lot to be proud of in 2020. We won more than $130M in competitive bids, to include large and small bids, new work and recompetes, task orders, and subcontracts. We continued work in established locations and expanded into new locations. Perhaps most notably, almost all of this work—at least since mid‐March—has been done remotely. Most of our employees pivoted almost overnight and worked with ZAI IT to set up spaces in their homes to continue providing exceptional service to our customers. Those of us who had never heard of Teams or Zoom quickly became experts in both using the app and wearing comfortable bottoms while dressing professionally on our upper halves. Many of us gained new four‐legged “co‐workers” who periodically make appearances on our video calls. Our ISO audit team successfully completed both the internal audits and the actual re‐certification audit virtually, to include displaying evidence of our processes at work. Every day across the company, we are using virtual meetings to review proposals, have staff meetings, solve operations issues, meet with customers, and even have fun team building events.
As individuals, many of us have celebrated milestones this year—marriages, births/adoptions of children and grandchildren, graduations, and significant birthdays, among others. While the celebrations may have been different and more subdued, they are all still worth marking and being proud of! Congratulations to all who celebrated one of these events.
But the last nine months have not been without disappointment. Although we worked diligently to negotiate a different outcome, we did have to furlough employees on a few contracts where the work either slowed down or was unable to be performed remotely. When that work resumes, we intend to bring back those employees who are still available. Many of our contracts on which work stopped are back up and running—and a few have even transitioned back to in‐person work. Our HR department has worked tirelessly throughout the pandemic to touch base with our employees
and help those who need assistance with paperwork or benefits issues.
As we hear positive news of vaccines, we look forward to a promising 2021—a year in which we hope to re‐connect, in person, with our co‐workers and return to our worksites or continue teleworking, if approved by our clients; a year of continued success in winning new work and maintaining current contracts; a year of health and happiness. Happy holidays to you and your families. Please stay safe!