Mission Essential Personnel

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Mission Essential Personnel

Type	Private
Industry	Language, training, technical support, intelligence
Founded	Columbus, Ohio (2004)
Headquarters	Columbus, Ohio
Area served	Afghanistan, Middle East, Africa, Asia, Europe, U.S.
Key people	Peter Horvath, CEO, Marc Peltier, President, Sunil Ramchand, EVP, Michael Jakobowski, CFO, Susan Zidek, General Counsel
Revenue	$629 million (2010)
Employees	8,300
Website	Missionep.com

Mission Essential Personnel (MEP) is an American professional services corporation offering human-capital solutions and program support to government and corporate clients. MEP is the U.S. government’s primary provider of translators and interpreters for the U.S. military effort in Afghanistan. The company is based in the Easton Area of Columbus, Ohio.

Products and services

MEP provides translators, interpreters, and cultural advisors to the U.S. Army in Afghanistan, where more than 80 percent of its approximately 8,300 personnel work. Outside the U.S., the company has a presence in 13 countries in the Middle East, Africa, Asia, and Europe. MEP linguists serve on bases, in hospitals, and with members of the armed forces on patrol, playing a key role in coalition efforts to communicate with local populations. According to Reuters, "The 'terps,' as the soldiers call them in military slang, don't just do literal translations, they provide insights into local culture and customs that are key to any attempt to win the people over. And above all, their ability to read the situation on the ground can often save lives."^[1]

In August 2010, the U.S. Army named MEP as a winner of a five-year, Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity Intelligence Support Services contract, with a ceiling of $492 million. Then-CEO Taylor described it as a “great win for MEP and for our new Intelligence Services business unit.” ^[2] In September 2010, MEP won a spot on the multi-million dollar Intelligence Support Services – Afghanistan (ISS-A) contract vehicle providing MULTI-INT operations in support of CENTCOM. ^[3]

MEP also provides training/technical support to its clients. In spring 2010, it won a contract to teach the Air Force's Combat Airman Skills Training program, where instructors train airmen and women in basic skills including marksmanship, land navigation, convoy operations/vehicle roll over procedures, Survival Escape Resistance and Evasion (SERE), radio procedures, and squad level battle drills. MEP coordinates disaster response operations between military and civil authorities at the U.S. Air Force Expeditionary Center at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst in New Jersey.^[4] Justice Services International, a joint venture MEP formed, contributes to development missions overseas for the Departments of State, Defense, and Justice, and the U.S. Agency for International Development.^[5]

Then-CEO Chris Taylor testifying before the Commission on Wartime Contracting

In summer 2010, when then-CEO Chris Taylor testified before the Commission on Wartime Contracting (CWC), he said:

^[6]

MEP manages delivery orders for the U.S. government globally, under prime contracts for support in Afghanistan and Iraq. With the troop surge into Afghanistan, the need for language support increased. The majority of MEP’s language experts have ties to the areas where they work. The Columbus Dispatch profiled one U.S.-hired MEP translator, who said that while the work is often dangerous, "The belief in the cause and what I was working for undermined that fear." He continued that, "This is the process that will take us to a greater future and a better life for my people. Going back [to Afghanistan] is an opportunity to help this happen."^[7]

Recruitment

The primary languages needed by the military in Afghanistan are Dari and Pashto. Recruiting U.S. citizens for security-cleared positions presents unique challenges because the last major wave of Afghan immigration to the U.S. was during the early 1990s. According to the 2000 Census, only 7,700 U.S. citizens speak fluent Pashto, and of those, MEP says about half meet health and other clearance requirements. The company employs more than 1,000 of these citizens. To fill the rest of the military’s requirements, MEP also relies on more than 4,000 Afghan local national linguists.^[8] The Washington Post profiled MEP’s domestic recruiting at the Afghan Cup, an annual soccer tournament in the Washington area, where the company recruited 45 linguists in 2008 under the slogan "For America, For Afghanistan, For Me."^[9]

To protect linguists from Taliban attacks, MEP protects their identities and forbids media contact. When photojournalist Micah Garen published headshots of Afghan natives and coalition forces in Vanity Fair in 2010, he preserved a MEP linguist’s anonymity by photographing the back of his head.^[10]

Language academies

Given the rarity of Afghan-language speakers in the United States, MEP opened a Language Academy to help those with limited proficiency in Pashto, Dari, and English improve their skills as interpreters and translators. The Language Academy's flagship is in Pleasanton, California, with support locations in southern California, Virginia, and New York. Since 2008, MEPLA has trained more than 700 linguists.^[11]

Somali pirates incident

In April 2009, Somali pirates hijacked the Maersk vessel Alabama and took the ship's captain and crew hostage. An MEP interpreter assisted negotiation with the pirates during the crisis, alongside a Navy SEAL team. The linguist earned the pirates' trust, and after four days of negotiations, convinced the pirates to allow their boat to be towed behind the USS Bainbridge, until U.S. snipers killed three of the pirates and captured a fourth, Abduwali Abdukhadir Muse, rescuing the hostages and ending the crisis.^[12]

Company profile

History

MEP was founded in early 2004 by Army Special Forces veterans Chad Monnin and Greg Miller, who met during training at Ohio’s Rickenbacker Air National Guard Base. The pair recognized the need for improved language and cultural advising services in the Middle East and felt they could do a better job while treating linguists better. Later that year the pair was joined by Army Aviator Scott Humphrys who met Monnin and Miller in the army. Originally named Aegis Mission Essential Personnel, the company dropped “Aegis” in 2008.

The company started as a subcontractor providing a handful of linguists in Iraq, but the company’s turning point came in 2007, when Mission Essential Personnel won the $703 million Afghanistan language contract.^[7] Due to Afghanistan’s increased support requirements after 2008, the contract’s funding expired sooner than expected. In spring 2010, the Army increased MEP’s contract ceiling by $78.5 million to ensure continuity of service while it prepared to re-compete the work later that year.^[13] The ceiling was raised an additional $525 million in March 2011, then another $330 million in February 2012.^[14]

According to MEP, due to the company’s performance the military has issued multiple Increased Levels of Effort for more than 1,500 linguist positions. The company also says the military has awarded it seven consecutive quarterly “outstanding” performance ratings. According to a company fact sheet, MEP “has reached a fill rate for translator positions as high as 97 percent. The previous incumbent [on the contract] was never able to surpass a 43 percent fill rate.”^[8]

Members of the Commission on Wartime Contracting have observed MEP’s significant growth: Co-chairman Michael J. Thibault said, “In 2006, they were a $70 million company ... By 2008 they were a $250 million company of actual costs subject to audit. That's pretty good growth. And this year it's estimated that it will be $430 million. And they were just awarded a $1.5 billion contract. Now, that's a great American success story.” Commissioner Dov S. Zakheim told CEO Taylor, “You’re growing like hotcakes.”^[6]

Leadership

In February 2012, Peter Horvath became the company’s interim CEO. Horvath, who had previously served on MEP’s Board of Advisors and as chairman of the Board of Managers, replaced Chris Taylor, who stepped down as CEO. Before joining MEP, Horvath was COO and executive vice president of Victoria's Secret, president of DSW, Inc, and an executive with Limited Brands.

The company’s president, Marc Peltier, is a retired Army intelligence officer and has led defense contracts for more than 16 years, including the last four at MEP. Previously, Peltier was with Titan L-3 and BTG. Peltier had previously served as MEP’s COO.^[15]

MEP’s CFO, Michael Jakobowski, has more than 25 years of experience in corporate finance and public accounting, and previously served as CFO of Cambridge Information Group, overseeing a portfolio of information technology companies with revenues in excess of $600 million.^[16]

MEP’s executive vice president, Sunil Ramchand, served at the White House Military Office (WHMO) during the presidencies of Presidents Clinton, Bush, and Obama, including as executive director of WHMO’s Policy, Plans, and Requirements directorate. He is a veteran surface warfare officer of the U.S. Navy and holds degrees from the U.S. Naval Academy and the Harvard Kennedy School.^[17]

The company’s general counsel, Susan Zidek, has 20 years of legal experience. She earned her bachelor’s from Wittenberg University and her law degree from the Ohio State University. She is also a graduate of the National Institute for Trial Advocacy program and the American University national government program.^[18]

In September 2009, MEP’s owners, including Monnin, Miller, and Humphrys, left day-to-day management to serve on the company’s Board of Directors.

MEP also has a Board of Advisors to guide its strategic planning. The board consists of Ambassador Mitchell Reiss, a senior American diplomat and the president of Washington College; Sarah Sewall, a lecturer at the Harvard Kennedy School and member of the Secretary of Defense’s Defense Policy Board; Dr. David Kilcullen, former Senior Counterinsurgency Advisor, Multi-National Force – Iraq, to General Petraeus; Dr. John Nagl, President of the Center for a New American Security; Michael Chertoff, former secretary of the Department of Homeland Security; and Admiral Eric Olson, retired commander of US Special Operations Command.^[19]

The vice presidents of MEP's three core services are John Doran (language), Brett Mason (intelligence), ^[20] and Jim Lawson (training and technical services).^[21]

MEP has corporate headquarters in Columbus, Ohio; a national capital region office in Chantilly, Virginia; recruiting offices in New York and California; and support facilities in Georgia, Indiana, and Maryland. It also has offices in Europe, the Middle East, and Asia.

Charity and professional associations

MEP is a member of the UN Global Compact and International Stability Operations Association. MEP has also sponsored events for the Aspen Security Forum, Center for a New American Security, Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, and Harvard Kennedy School's Carr Center for Human Rights Policy.^[22]

In fall 2010, MEP announced creation of a scholarship program at the American University of Afghanistan to provide full tuition, room, and board for six students.^[23]

MEP is involved in other charity work with various organizations, including the Veterans First Foundation and Wounded Warrior, and it has performed company-wide clothes drives for Afghanistan.^[24]

Controversies

Care of linguists

MEP has been the subject of some critical media reports. In 2009, Corpwatch, a non-profit foundation focused on oversight of government contractors, accused the company of failing to care adequately for wounded local national linguists, including being slow to pay insurance benefits.^[25] MEP countered that it “files all claims and intervenes on behalf of our linguists with insurance companies and claims investigators. … In cases where insurance payments are delayed, we directly intervene on behalf of our linguists to ensure our professionals get what they are due. When complaints of delayed payments first arose in 2009, MEP deployed Defense Base Act (DBA) insurance subject matter experts to Afghanistan to respond. At that time, there were 170 outstanding insurance claims. As of July 2010, there were 28. MEP’s goal is always zero outstanding claims.”^[8] In fall 2010, Corpwatch’s Pratap Chatterjee told Columbus Monthly, “I personally believe that MEP cares about the translators and tries to do a good job for them. The reality is beyond Chris Taylor’s control.”^[26]

Corpwatch also claimed MEP underpays its local national linguists (LNLs). In a fact sheet, the company said, "Local nationals are paid well by the standards of their community. MEP’s LNLs are compensated better than doctors and cabinet-level officials in Afghanistan. MEP presently has a backlog of more than 600 Afghan nationals waiting to become linguists."^[8]

On The World of Troubles blog, journalist Jim Foley wrote that MEP was withholding pay from some linguists in dangerous areas. MEP responded that government regulations require a sometimes "cumbersome process which requires signatures from both MEP managers and military points of contact" and without those, pay cannot be disbursed. MEP further noted that the payroll problem had been successfully noted and resolved before Foley published his article.^[27]

MEP has also been charged with deploying interpreters who were old or otherwise physically unfit.^[28] MEP’s response was that it recruits, vets, and trains linguists according to the military’s specifications, but does not control their final assignments throughout Afghanistan. According to MEP literature, “Each linguist must pass a physical exam and comply with pre-training requirements. As of July 2010, 84 percent of U.S.-hired linguists and 99 percent of local linguists are 55 or younger.”^[8]

ABC News report/lawsuit

In September 2010, ABC News’ Brian Ross quoted a former MEP employee who alleged in a whistleblower lawsuit that the company had sent unqualified linguists to Afghanistan two years earlier.^[29] Disparate commentators criticized ABC’s coverage of the story. The Huffington Post’s David Isenberg pointed out Ross’s use of “weak, secondary sources,” and the former employee’s financial motives in bringing the case.^[30] The American Spectator’s Jed Babbin said Ross had “cobbled together information from irrelevant or financially interested sources.”^[31] Two weeks after the original report aired, the network published a follow-up on its website when U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema dismissed the case against MEP without prejudice. At the time, MEP CEO Chris Taylor said, "We are pleased with this favorable outcome which underscores our belief that the allegations failed to state a plausible claim against the company."^[32] When the case was refiled in November 2010, the same judge allowed the case against MEP to move forward.^[33] On February 10, 2011, the lawsuit was dismissed. The company released a statement saying, "The dismissals with prejudice result from a confidential negotiated agreement under which MEP will not make any payment to the Relator or the United States regarding the False Claims Act fraud allegations."^[34]

Shooting incident

In January 2010, linguist Ahmad Nasir Ahmadi fired on U.S. personnel in Afghanistan, killing two soldiers and wounding a third before an alert Army sergeant killed him. Nearly 18 months later, the survivor and family members of the deceased soldiers filed a lawsuit against MEP.^[35]

In response, MEP released a statement saying that the Army had conducted a thorough investigation of the incident and found the shooting was “the result of the unforeseeable criminal acts” of the shooter, who had been vetted and approved by the US Government. MEP also noted that it had not issued Ahmadi a weapon nor authorized him to use one.^[36]

Awards

In 2006, Ernst & Young named MEP’s founders Entrepreneurs of the Year for Emerging Markets at the regional level and as national finalists.^[37] In 2007, the company was ranked No. 1 on the Business First Fast Fifty list of fastest-growing companies in Central Ohio.^[38] In 2008, the company placed No. 6 on the list.^[39]

In 2009, the American Small Business Coalition presented MEP with its Founders Award for rapid growth and success serving U.S. Government personnel overseas.^[40] That year, Inc. Magazine included MEP on its Inc. 500 roll of the fastest growing companies, at No. 8 in the Government Services category.^[41] MEP made the list again in 2010^[42] and 2011.^[43] Washington Technology listed the company among its Top 100 Government Contractors for 2009 at #82.^[44] MEP moved up to No. 62 in 2010^[45] and No. 42 in 2011.^[46]

In 2010, MEP’s print and video ad campaigns won awards from the Columbus Society for Communicating Arts.^[47] In 2011, MEP was named the No. 1 language services provider by the Common Sense Advisory Board^[48] and the No. 1 government contractor in Central Ohio by the Columbus Business Journal.^[49]

See also

• List of United States defense contractors

References

External links

• Mission Essential Personnel website