Who We Are
Pythia International is a project management and technical support firm providing services to commercial and public sector clients, with a particular emphasis on the U.S. federal market place, multilateral organizations and international markets. Pythia has successfully conducted projects for US DoD, USTDA, USAID, and the European Commission, either directly or as a subcontractor to companies such as CSC, Chemonics, Hyperion, and others.
The Pythia Group brings together an international team with vast results-oriented experience in integrated infrastructure planning, design, and implementation. We have provided technical assistance to national governments and municipal authorities in the development of core infrastructure, data bases, registries and data centers, planning for systems/technology migration, and integration of legacy systems, with a strong emphasis on compatibility and interoperability issues.
Increasingly, Pythia has become involved in program/project management and technical support projects, either on a prime or sub-contract basis, for large public-sector organizations. We have become adept at recruiting, training, fielding and managing support teams for these organizations, often on short notice. In this capacity, Pythia has developed skills in project planning, control, integration and logistics, as well as in ongoing program assessment/evaluation, and public awareness/communications.
While much of our expertise is in the ICT sector, Pythia has considerable experience in core infrastruture design and implementation, including electrical (trenching and cable networks), energy (power grid, smart grid, SCADA) and water systems [water and wastewater distribution systems (including trenching, pipes, cement works), and water treatment].
Irrespective of sector, our projects often entail organizational assessments, institutional capacity building, change management, capital budgeting & financial planning, environmental & socio-economic impact assessments, training & HR development, business development & planning, and diverse logistics services.
The core competencies of our ICT practice, focused primarily on government agencies and large vendors include: program & facilities management, diverse IT support services (desktop, laptop, software & system diagnostics; configuration, repair & maintenance of server networks; help desk, systems administration & web master services; etc.), IT network implementation planning (including design, technical specifications, procurement support & organizational alignment); outsourcing & partnering plans for IT systems development; and customer care process evaluation.
Project management skills, practiced and applied on telecommunications networking, core infrastructure build-out, systems integration, software development and business development projects represent our key assets. These processes and skills have allowed us to deliver cost-effective technology solutions and support services to clients such as IBM, Oracle and Vodafone, as well as to a large number of Government Agencies.
Brief History
Pythia International Inc. was incorporated in Virginia in 1993
Origin of our company name: In Ancient Greece “The Pythia” was the Oracle of Delphi, known for providing wise counsel, prophetic predictions or precognition of the future. The name Pythia is derived from Pytho, which in myth was the original name of Delphi.
In the early years, Pythia International worked primarily in the private sector, assisting US and European multinationals in building and expanding pan-European distribution networks. Through our representative office in Brussels we worked primarily with clients in the ICT and process industries.
Beginning in 1997, Pythia became involved in Eastern Europe where we assisted a number of U.S. and European companies in market assessments, establishment of operations, and in acquistions. Much of this work was done in partnership with the Economist Intellgence Unit (part of the Economist Group). During this period we also worked on projects funded by the World Bank, and the European Commission.
Since 2002, Pythia has been operating in the U.S. federal contracting space working extensively with USTDA, and, as a sub-contractor, with other agencies including USAID, DoS, and DoD.
At the same time, we have conducted a number of projects in the U.S. working with clients such as the Mason Enterprise Center (George Mason University) on software development and outsourcing, Hyperion Inc. on commercial telecoms projects in Northern Virginia, and regional hospitals in Lousiana on Health Care IT initiatives.
Since 2009, working as subcontrators to CSC, Hyperion and others, Pythia has worked extensively with the DoD while continuing our work on USTDA, EU, and private sector projects
Project Management as Core Competency
The Pythia Group is essentially a project management company. This core competency drives all other competencies and functional areas throughout all the sectors we operate in.
A word on our approach:
Pythia Group’s Project/Program Management Approach (PMA) incorporates the Project Management Institute (PMI)’s Program Management Body of Knowledge (PMBoK) guidelines and is based on defining clear and distinct tasks and responsibilities coupled with focused management oversight. This allows us to effectively coordinate, maintain and control multiple project activities at single or multiple on-site or off-site locations.
Our PMA has evolved from the key lessons learned over many years of experience working on contracts with government agencies, multilateral organizations and private companies. These include the need for detailed project plans, clearly defined expectations, experienced project managers, appropriately skilled staff, realistic budgets, and effective communication. We emphasize up-front project formulation clarity as a preventive strategy to downstream cost creep or schedule slip. The project management standards and processes that we have developed instill a disciplined approach to project planning, staffing, monitoring, reporting, and execution, leading to increased management control, lower risk and higher quality results.
Quality Assurance/Quality Control
International Focus
Certifications
Pythia International, Inc. is a HUBZone certified small business.
Pythia is ISO certified in the following areas:
- ISO 9001 - Quality Management;
- ISO 14001 - Environmental Management;
- ISO 27001 - information Security Management
Core Pythia Group executives are certified Project Management Professionals (PMPs), either through the Project Management Institute or through equivalent organizations in the EU.
All Pythia technical support staff are CompTIA A+, CompTIA Security+, and Microsoft Windows 7 Enterprise Desktop Support certified.
Many team members are Microsoft Certified IT Professionals and Technology Specialists (MCITP and MCITS), while others are CIW E-Commerce Specialists and CIW Web Design Specialists.