Congratulations 2024 Outstanding Academic Achievement Award Winners!

NCMA DC is honored to recognize the 2024 recipients of our prestigious Outstanding Academic Achievement Award (OAAA). We had a large number of highly qualified applicants this year and these three were the best of the best:

First Place - Scott Hepler

Scott Hepler graduated with his JD and a concentration in Procurement Law from The George Washington University Law School in May 2023. Scott received several academic awards, including the John Bell Larner Award for having the highest cumulative GPA in his graduating class. During law school, Scott was involved with The George Washington University Law Review, the Moot Court board, and the Government Contracts Student Association.

While in law school, Scott pursued his interest in government oversight during internships with the National Science Foundation's Office of Inspector General (OIG) and with USAID OIG. Between his second and third years of law school, Scott combined his interest in oversight with his passion for government contracting as a summer associate at the Government Accountability Office (GAO), Office of the General Counsel (OGC).

After law school, Scott returned to GAO OGC and was assigned to support the Contracting and National Security Acquisitions audit team. This audit team focuses on how efficiently and effectively federal agencies acquire goods and services. Since being at GAO, Scott has helped support a variety of audits touching on DOD acquisitions, including supporting GAO's Fiscal Year 2024 Annual Weapons System Assessment.

Second Place - Ethan Syster

Ethan Syster is a recent graduate of The George Washington University Law School where he earned his J.D. with a Concentration in Government Procurement Law in May of 2024. Ethan received The Murray J. Schooner Scholarship for Government Procurement Law as well as the Patricia A. Tobin Government Procurement Law Award. During the course of his studies, he served as the President of the GW Law Government Contracts Student Association and was a 2023 winner and 2024 co-chair of the Arnold & Porter Government Contracts Moot Court Competition.

Ethan has interned with the U.S. Transportation Security Administration’s Chief Counsel’s Office in the Acquisition, Policy, & Transactions division, as well as the U.S. Civilian Board of Contract Appeals, and the U.S. Court of Federal Claims in the chambers of The Honorable David A. Tapp. Ethan will join Covington & Burling as an associate in September 2024.

Scott Hepler

Ethan Syster

Michael Gerbasi

Third Place - Michael Gerbasi, CFCM

Michael Gerbasi is a recent graduate from the Master of Studies in Law (M.S.L.) degree program at George Washington University (GWU) Law School. During portions of the 2021-22 and 2022-23 academic years, he continued classes at GW Law during a nine-month deployment to the Middle East sitting in weekly virtual courses at 2 am local time.

Michael is an active-duty Army Acquisitions Officer for the Modernization Directorate at Army Contracting Command – Redstone Arsenal (ACC-RSA). As a Contracting and Agreements Specialist, he provides acquisition support to the Army’s Aviation and Missile Technology Consortium (AMTC), an enterprise consisting of government and over 1,200 industry and academia members within the guided missile, manufacturing, and aviation technology base.

Assigned to Redstone Arsenal’s Modernization Directorate, Michael has supported key modernization and R&D efforts related to unmanned aerial platforms and loitering munitions using the DoD’s Other Transaction Authority (OTA). He is a 2023 recipient of NCMA’s Innovation in Contracting Award and earned the 2022 Army Contracting Command (ACC) Outstanding Active-Duty Military Officer Award.