The principals of The National Group have a commitment to providing hands-on government relations consulting.  Client service is always provided by the principals themselves, not lesser-experienced account executives.

• When a client hires The National Group, it is hiring the firm as a whole – the considerable collective experience and expertise of the various partners and 'of-counsel' individuals associated with firm.  How this expertise is applied to each client's projects is the responsibility of the leader of The National Group client team.
  
  
• The firm's founding philosophy is to remain a small firm comprised of veteran lobbyists who do their own work.  Growth of the firm will be limited in order to ensure that clients receive the highest quality service from senior professionals.
  
  
• Our client team will strictly, and at all times, follow all federal and Congressional ethics rules and regulations and codes of conduct in pursuit of our client's goals.  We will register, when appropriate, under federal lobbying registrations laws and keep the client informed of their responsibilities under the various laws.
  
  
• Our client team will be in constant contact with our clients and will be available for consulting 24 hours a day and seven days per week, including holidays.  Our team will make frequent reports to the client about progress on the projects we are pursuing in Washington in whatever form and at whatever time intervals the client desires.
  
  
• At the outset of all client relationships, we will conduct a resource identification and project development session.  During this session, which may last a day or two, we will want to meet with all individuals who lead programs, projects and activities of the client to be briefed on these activities and determine where federal funding might be applicable and which projects are best suited for a federal funding strategy.  We will also meet with the leadership of the client at the beginning of the session and, again, at the end, to identify the leadership's priorities and to share the ideas we have with them.  We also update these resource identification and project development sessions at the end of each project year in preparation for the following year's federal funding campaign.
  
  
• During our initial session, we will ask that the client be prepared to appoint a day-to-day contact with our team who will serve as a facilitator in our efforts to pursue your projects.  We do, however, strongly suggest that the executive leadership of the institution or company be intimately involved with our process.  While The National Group does have extensive contacts on Capitol Hill and within the Administration in Washington, we believe it is critical for the success of what we do for you that your executive leadership and others who are supporters of your institution or company in the community participate actively and frequently in the request for federal funding or for whatever action we are asking the Congress or the federal government to take.  Members of Congress act on requests and issues on behalf of their constituents.  For this reason, we, your Washington counsel, need your active partnership in our process.
  
  
• Either at the time of the initial session or sometime later after our client team has digested the information we have received, our team will make recommendations on which projects to pursue, what form they should take, how they will be prepared, and the legislative and executive branch strategies we will follow in Washington to seek federal funding.  These recommendations will be based upon the combined expertise of the members of The National Group and will represent our best plan for pursuit of your goals in Washington.
  
  
• In most cases, we will recommend a series of actions to be taken by the client as the new year unfolds – actions which often follow the Presidential and Congressional budget calendars and consideration.  These actions typically involve the following:
  
  
  • Preparation of a formal case statement to be submitted to Congress and the federal agencies.
    
    
  • Preparation and delivery of an advance letter making the client's Congressional representatives aware that the client is requesting funding or requesting an action by the federal government.  This is usually done in January of the new year.  This letter will often contain a copy of the formal case statement document.  The National Group team would prepare these documents.
    
    
  • Scheduling of a Washington visit by the client's executives and group of community supporters, usually in February or March.  Meetings will be held with Members of Congress from the client's state and with other relevant Members who sit on committees with jurisdiction over the clients project.  Also, in some cases, visits will be made to officials at various federal agencies.  At these meetings, we would work to obtain a commitment from Members of Congress to support the client's request in the Congressional budget process or take an action with the federal agencies.
    
    
  • The National Group would then work with the Congressional champions of the client and their staff to make official requests on behalf of the client's project to the appropriate Congressional committees or federal agencies.  This work usually takes place in February, March and April of the project year.
    
    
  • A return to Washington in April or May by the client to testify, if necessary, before a Congressional committee on the client's proposal.  The National Group team would prepare all testimony and provide guidance to the client with respect to his or her appearance before a Congressional committee.  The same would be true with a visit to a federal agency – The National Group team would advise the client and accompany the client on such meetings.
    
    
  • A series of telephone calls and letters to Members of Congress who are supporting the client's requests would be made during April, May, June and July.  These would be scripted and organized by The National Group's client team.
    
    
  • During May, June and July, when the Congressional committees 'mark up' the President's budget and begin consideration of client projects and requests, The National Group team works behind the scenes with the clients Congressional supporters and the committee members and staff to promote favorable consideration of the requests.
    
    
  • Throughout Congressional consideration of the client's projects, The National Group team provides Members of Congress with analysis of the project requests, legislative precedents for funding, legislative language and talking points for discussion of the project by Members of Congress, among other things.
    
    
  • After the Congress returns from its traditional August recess, it begins final consideration of spending bills – appropriations bills – and other measures.  This final consideration takes place in so-called 'conference committees' – meetings between House members and Senators to reconcile the differences between the House and Senate-passed bills.  This process is a critical time for our client's projects – sometimes projects are included earlier in the process, at the committee level, and The National Group works to ensure that the projects remain in the final conference report.  In other cases, our clients' projects are added to the final bill in conference and our client team works closely with our client's Congressional supporters to ensure that the project is added.
    
    
  • It is possible that during the fall time period, The National Group client team might ask the client to return to Washington for a day or two to highlight the project with our Congressional champions and answer any last minute questions that might arise.
    
    
  • Once our client's project is added to a final bill, we work to ensure that the White House will not oppose the project.  While the President no longer has a line-item veto, it is important to ensure that there is no Executive Branch opposition to the project.
    
    
  • After the President signs the bill into law containing our client's project, we guide the client in the 'grant release process.'  This process differs agency to agency and we work closely with our clients to steer the right course with the program officials at the agencies and facilitate and expedite the release of the funding approved by Congress or implementation of the action directed by Congress of the federal agency.  The client may be asked to come to Washington early in the new year – January, February, March – to meet with project managers.
    
    
  • At the end of this process, The National Group team is already working on renewing the process for the next year, which begins with an end-of-the-year meeting with the client during which time we review progress, strategies, and projects and update our resource identification.  A new set of strategies is agreed upon in November or December and the next year's pursuit of client goals begins.
    
    
  • Each year, the process becomes easier and more streamlined as our National Group team gets to know our client even better and the client feels more and more comfortable with the process in Washington, managed by us.