2019 Government Contractor of the Year: ACE Reporting-US, LLC

Lincoln, Nebraska – Working with the Procurement Technical Assistance Center (PTAC) at the Nebraska Business Development Center (NBDC) is continuing to yield impressive new federal contracting opportunities for ACE Reporting-US, LLC.

ACE Reporting-US, an acronym for Accurate, Certified and Electronic, provides court reporting and other related services nationwide from its office in Lincoln.

In 2020, the company added Region One (Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Maine and Rhode Island), a contract worth $856,590 annually, giving ACE Reporting-US a total of 35 active contracts in 21 states and Puerto Rico.

In fiscal year 2019, the company completed more than $7.6 million in contracts with the federal government, up from $5.22 million in fiscal year 2018 and from $646,069 in FY 2017.

President and CEO Kelly S. Morton has an extensive background in court reporting and education in the legal field. Morton founded ACE Reporting-US as a sole proprietor in November 2004 and ran the business part-time while also working for a judge in Lincoln.

In 2016, Morton switched her business to a limited liability company (LLC) and turned her attention to managing it full time.

“We have seven employees locally, and we manage 400 subcontractors, all for the Social Security Administration,” Morton says.

In the fall of 2017, Morton attended NBDC’s Meet the Buyers conference. The following spring, PTAC consultant Quentin Farley stopped at her office to share information about various services the center provides.

Since starting her company, Morton had worked with the Social Security Administration (SSA) as a blanket purchase agreement (BPA) holder, servicing SSA disability hearings in Nebraska from 2013 to 2016. A little over two years ago, she says, the SSA changed its business model from managing more than 1,800 individual BPA holders to putting the work out for bids, targeting small businesses as a set-aside.

Farley has since assisted Morton in completing her System for Award Management (SAM) registration renewal, Women-Owned Small Business (WOSB) self-certification, and Small Business Administration (SBA) Profile optimization. Farley has introduced her to BidMatching services and provided in-depth market research.

ACE Reporting-US currently has contracts with the SSA Office of Disability and Review; the Department of Labor, as well as state-level administrative venues including the State Liquor Control Commission and Department of Education. ACE Reporting-US reporters maintain federal security clearances.

Morton says ACE Reporting-US holds membership in both the National Court Reporters Association and the American Association of Electronic Reporters and Transcribers (AAERT). ACE reporters and staff are required to maintain their skill set, learn new skills and keep abreast of new rule changes and policies, she says.

ACE Reporting-US has continually raised the bar in the use of electronic reporting and digital technology for the courtroom. The company is capable of providing hard copy transcripts of proceedings, PDFs, e-transcripts and plain text formats for email, as well as uploading documents and transcripts to secure electronic file services.

Morton says Farley and NBDC are easily accessible whenever she has questions or needs contracting advice.

“Quentin has introduced me to a variety of resources that are helping get our name out there so we can receive more information about government contracting opportunities,” she says. “There is a shortage of court reporters locally and nationally, and we want to help fill it. He has been a valuable asset in that regard.”

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