Rakhi Sharma, Rigil’s Founder and CEO, reflects on longtime FAA support
Three decades ago, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) headquarters in southwest Washington, D.C., buzzed with employees who frequented the Phillip’s Flagship seafood restaurant at the nearby wharf, or rushed to and from the L’Enfant Plaza Metro station. The internet was fairly new, moreso in the government space. FAA’s Offices of Finance and Management (AFN) and Security and Hazardous Materials Safety (ASH) were playing increasingly important roles in the agency’s future, security, and safety.
ASH was building their first-ever web application to help the agency move into the digital world. Rakhi Sharma was there, building strong technical foundations with the FAA.
“It was an exciting time to work with the FAA,” said Rakhi, who is now the President, Founder, and CEO of the strategy, technology, and products company Rigil. “Building many of the technical pieces of such an instrumental organization.”
Rakhi founded her company, Rigil, in 2005. Rigil’s first consulting work came as a subcontractor providing security application support to the ASH organization, and later prime contracting FAA Air Traffic Organization (ATO) cybersecurity work. “I built a company focused on trust – for our people, and for our customers – to get the job done and done right,” she said. She was a mother of two young children at the time and recalls the supportive environment of family-focused colleagues. “They encouraged me to find balance.”
Rigil has come far since its early days supporting technology in the aviation and security world. “We’ve matured as a business and evolved in the ways we make an impact for our customers and our communities,” says Rakhi. “We’ve supported many critical FAA programs – with our custom products and our services – IT Modernization, Cybersecurity, Program and Project Management, and Budget and Financial Management.”
Since its beginning, Rigil has provided various levels of support to the FAA including managing day-to-day executive office functions and communications, as well as providing IT expertise and analytical support to meet the mission objectives.
Rigil also implemented its custom solution, iViews™, to help the FAA make financial decisions. iViews provided available balances, IT Acquisition Requests (ITAR) Status, budget reports, and contract census data.
Helping FAA account for decisions and dollars, digitally
In 2015 Rigil deployed iViews™ at the FAA. iViews is a fiscal budget management solution that eliminates spreadsheets and streamlines approvals, saving time and money.
After working closely with FAA customers for a decade, Rakhi said, “We saw the complexities involved with managing large fiscal budgets, and how critical they were to keeping the government running smoothly. We saw an opportunity to expedite processes, reduce risk, and eliminate manual labor.”
Since presenting iViews™ to Rigil’s customers, the FAA saw a 35% decrease in procurement request processing time. The tool’s use continues to expand and today has broad reach across the FAA.
Our low-code, no-code enterprise management tool combines budget and financial activities with general program functions. It enables end-to-end financial clarity from the budget spend plan through contract management, while integrating with standard federal databases to support pre- and post-procurement activities.
Leverage large data sets, splice them multiple ways, and easily create reports and dashboards for monthly, quarterly, and annual reporting. Bid farewell to spreadsheets for tracking, instead use iViews while digitally accounting for every dollar and decision.
In support of FAA’s IT modernization and cybersecurity efforts, Rigil helped to stand up Unmanned aircraft Service Suppliers (USS) and implemented FAA’s cloud infrastructure hosting remote ID services. Rigil conducted requirements analysis for, and managed, workforce development initiatives (WDI) which focused on quickly restoring partial functionality to help desks while permanently resolving issues and determining root causes. Rigil also supported FAA’s Zero Trust Architecture (ZTA), and maintained and updated the agency’s enterprise architecture system from multiple tools and databases into a single service-oriented architecture.
“With an intimate understanding of our FAA customers’ challenges and needs, we developed award winning products,” said Rakhi. Rigil’s Innovation Hub has deployed several products that are still in use at the FAA today. “The ideation and creation is done on Rigil’s time and dime, not the customer’s. Our work has our customers in mind and helps them solve their toughest challenges.”
Rigil’s Innovation Hub produced iViews™, recognized by ACT-IAC as a best mobile solution, and StrataGem™, an enterprise learning platform, which the Air Traffic Control Association (ATCA) and National Training and Simulation Association (NTSA) recognized as an impactful aviation education and human performance tool. Rigil deployed StrataGem™ with the FAA’s Office of Safety and Technical Training (AJI) to train air traffic controllers via games and keyboards.
Rigil will celebrate 20 years in business in June 2025. “We’ve supported the FAA from day one,” Rakhi said. “We are passionate about the FAA mission, we know the technology, we know the processes and procedures. We are very familiar with the FAA while maintaining our innovative and agile way of working.”.
What’s in a name?
Rigil
Ri-gil / R-IH-JH-AH-L
(rhymes with ‘vigil’)
Noun. The brightest star in Centaurus; second nearest star to the sun.
“I knew my company would have a single-word name based on an actual word,” said Rakhi, who grew up with a passion for science, technology, and astronomy.
Rakhi researched dozens of stars, constellations, and galaxies when she found the name Rigil Kentaurus, the brightest star within the Alpha Centauri triple-star system. Rigil represents the name of the brightest star system in the southern constellation of Centaurus.
Three stars make up Alpha Centauri and there are three circles within Rigil’s logo. The circles in the center represent Entrepreneurship, Agility, and Morals. The circle encompassing those three circles represents Teamwork. Together, there are four circles in total, representing Rigil’s core values (TEAM).
“Rigil was the perfect name for my company; a capable organization focused on making life better in the aviation and aerospace industries and the world community,” Rakhi said.