Kristen Smith 
- Founder Farrell Proffitt spent 19 years in government contracting, 14 of them in executive growth roles
- Agency Known’s services run from pipeline development through post-award talent placement
- Agency Known is working with contractors in national security, defense and federal civilian markets
A new Washington-area agency is offering government contractors support across the growth cycle, from pipeline development through post-award talent placement.
Farrell Proffitt founded Agency Known in August and serves as CEO. The new organization told ExecutiveBiz on Tuesday that its services span pipeline development, business development, visibility work, capture and post-award deployed talent.
Proffitt brings 19 years of experience in government contracting, including more than 14 years in executive growth roles. She spent nearly three years as executive vice president for growth at PBG Consulting and 11 years as an executive vice president at RIVA Solutions, with earlier positions at Aquilent and K4 Solutions.
What Market Conditions Is Agency Known Targeting?
Agency Known built its model around a federal market that it describes as having been reshaped over five years. The firm cited contracts pulled from the pipeline, agencies operating on different versions of the Federal Acquisition Regulation following its overhaul, and dollars flowing through a narrowing set of schedules and vehicles.
The agency also pointed to proposed changes to the Small Business Administration’s size standards that would redefine which companies qualify as small.
The SBA published a proposed rule and a revised methodology notice in August. The agency estimates the changes would allow more than 114,000 additional businesses to claim small status, and would compress the North American Industry Classification System structure from roughly 1,000 size-standard categories to 338 broader industry groupings. Comments are due Sept. 21.
What Is Agency Known’s Approach?
The firm argued that AI has automated much of the mechanical side of growth work — opportunity identification, market research, competitive analysis, first-draft proposal content — and made those capabilities available to every competitor at the same speed. That shifts the differentiator to judgment, timing and access, according to Agency Known.
“GovCon companies have invested heavily in systems and processes, but growth still moves through trust. As AI automates the mechanics of growth operations, the human advantage becomes knowing who matters, what matters, and when to engage,” Proffitt said.
The firm describes its operating premise as the GovCon small world theory, the idea that a growing contractor sits a few relationships away from a conversation that changes its trajectory.
Agency Known works with contractors in national security, defense and federal civilian markets. Proffitt lists the Departments of Homeland Security, War, State, Health and Human Services, and Agriculture as customer focus areas.
