IT Leadership and Technology Solutions for federal agencies and businesses. 25+ years of enterprise-level expertise delivered with military discipline and precision.
Veteran Forge Strategies LLC is a Virginia-based Veteran-Owned Small Business (VOSB) specializing in IT leadership, infrastructure modernization, and technology consulting for federal agencies and prime contractors.
Founded and led by John Farmer, a U.S. Navy Veteran with over 25 years of hands-on IT leadership — including 16 years as the sole IT Director managing full enterprise operations across three companies — we bring the discipline, accountability, and operational excellence developed through military service and senior-level IT management.
We deliver secure, reliable, and cost-effective technology solutions that align IT operations with mission objectives. Whether you need an experienced fractional IT Director, help modernizing legacy infrastructure, or a trusted technology partner for federal contract work — we are built for that mission.
16 years as sole IT Director across three companies — managing infrastructure, security, service delivery, and vendors simultaneously.
SAM.gov registered (UEI: G2S2CF7RK414 | CAGE: 1ZZM5), VOSB designated, NAICS codes aligned for federal IT procurement.
Built custom enterprise applications from scratch — job costing, estimating, time tracking, and warehouse inventory integrated with QuickBooks.
Delivered SOX compliance programs and supported multiple internal and external audits across publicly traded companies.
Comprehensive IT leadership and technology solutions built on 25+ years of enterprise experience.
Full network administration including DNS, DHCP, VPN, firewalls, TCP/IP, and multi-site infrastructure management.
Zero-downtime datacenter moves, system upgrades, and full infrastructure modernization projects at enterprise scale.
Full Exchange to M365 migrations, OneDrive and Teams enterprise rollouts, Active Directory management and governance.
20+ years managing Active Directory — user administration, group policies, enterprise security, and access control across complex environments.
Security assessments, risk management frameworks, SOX compliance, audit support, and incident response planning.
VMware and XCP-ng virtual server environments — provisioning, snapshots, rollback, SAN/EMC storage integration.
Enterprise applications in Classic ASP, C#/.NET 8, Blazor, and SQL — integrated with QuickBooks and existing business systems.
SonicWall and pfSense firewall management, VPN configuration, and secure remote workforce solutions.
Cisco Call Manager and Asterisk PBX implementation, configuration, and ongoing enterprise communications support.
Enterprise SAN and NAS management including EMC storage environments for development and production systems.
Multi-platform server administration across Windows Server, Unix, Linux, and BSD environments.
SharePoint environment management, document management systems, and enterprise collaboration platform administration.
Policy documentation, procedure development, and audit preparation for compliance-driven organizations.
DR planning, backup strategy, and business continuity programs that protect operations when systems fail.
Real enterprise outcomes delivered over 25+ years of hands-on IT leadership.
Maintained 99.9% network uptime across three companies over 16 years as sole IT leader
Led full Microsoft 365 migration from hosted Exchange — OneDrive and Teams enterprise rollout
Migrated firewall from SonicWall to pfSense — improved security, reduced licensing costs significantly
Executed multiple zero-downtime datacenter relocations and major system modernization projects
Built custom job-cost accounting, estimating, time-tracking, and warehouse inventory applications from scratch
Delivered SOX compliance programs and successfully supported multiple internal and external audits
Designed and managed VMware and XCP-ng virtual server environments for development and production
Managed international IT operations across offices in Germany, Japan, China, and Korea
Real outcomes from 25+ years of enterprise IT leadership. Details kept confidential — results are the proof.
A multi-office organization needed to relocate its entire datacenter infrastructure — servers, storage, networking, and communications — without any disruption to daily operations or revenue-generating systems.
Planned and executed a phased relocation strategy with full redundancy at each stage. Coordinated across vendors, facilities teams, and department heads to sequence the move around business operations.
A publicly traded company needed to migrate from hosted Exchange to Microsoft 365 while maintaining Sarbanes-Oxley compliance, preserving audit trails, and keeping 100+ employees productive throughout the transition.
Designed and executed a staged migration with full Teams and OneDrive rollout. Implemented compliance controls, maintained audit documentation, and delivered end-user training to ensure adoption at every level.
An organization's aging SonicWall firewall infrastructure was approaching end-of-life, licensing costs were climbing, and the configuration lacked the granular control needed for a modern remote workforce.
Designed and implemented a pfSense-based replacement — fully configured for the organization's network topology, VPN requirements, and secure remote access policies — with comprehensive documentation and staff knowledge transfer.
Flexible engagement models for federal agencies, prime contractors, and growing businesses.
Senior IT leadership on a part-time or project basis. Get 25+ years of executive IT experience without the full-time overhead.
Assessment, planning, and execution of infrastructure upgrades — from legacy migrations to cloud transitions and zero-downtime datacenter moves.
Risk assessments, security hardening, policy development, and compliance program delivery. Experienced with SOX and federal security frameworks.
Available as a VOSB subcontractor for prime contractors pursuing federal IT contracts. SAM.gov registered and ready to support your team.
Enterprise application development in C#/.NET 8, Blazor, ASP, and SQL. Specializing in business process apps and legacy system modernization.
Tier 2/3 help desk leadership, service desk process improvement, network administration, and VOIP/PBX systems support.
U.S. Navy Veteran leadership. Military discipline, mission focus, and accountability on every engagement.
We don't just advise — we execute. Strategic vision combined with practical, hands-on delivery.
SAM.gov registered, VOSB designated, and experienced supporting government and military environments.
Located in the heart of the federal contracting market — Fairfax, Virginia — for rapid on-site response.
Contact
John Farmer, President
Phone
(571) 405-0052Location
Fairfax, Virginia 22030
Tell us about your project or how we can help.