Consolidation and “common goods and services” dominate the discussion around how the federal government wants to revamp its contracting functions, including moves to put the General Services Administration at the center of it all.

Leo Alvarez and Dylan Schreiner, respectively principal and GovCon senior manager at Baker Tilly, are fielding many questions from industry clients on what this landscape looks like and how to map their business strategies to it.

In this episode, Leo and Dylan walk our Ross Wilkers through some of the big-ticket vehicles to watch in 2026 and how they help illustrate the government’s push to make contracting more straight-forward for every stakeholder.

Navigating a world of fewer contracting officers and other key acquisition pros inside government also features in the discussion, plus what this all means for small businesses.

GSA quietly rolls out CMMC-like cybersecurity framework for contractors

New OMB memo lays out GSA's plan to consolidate contracts

NITAAC finally pulls the plug on CIO-SP4

GSA re-opens OASIS+ to new bids, shifts to continuous approach

GSA to take over SEWP VI contract ‘sooner rather than later’

Alliant 3's final solicitation hits the streets

Army gets moving again on bundled recompete of professional services, IT vehicles

Air Force Research Lab opens proposal window for $10B vehicle

Pentagon halts $15B Advana recompete draft solicitation

Pressure points on defense companies from their Pentagon customer to invest more and do business differently than before are coming from multiple levels of leadership, including President Trump himself.

Lauren Williams, business editor at our partner publication Defense One, canvasses the perspectives and opinions of industry pros on that matter to help put together the Defense Business Brief newsletter that goes out every Monday.

Lauren joins our Ross Wilkers for this episode to break down those different pressure points, including Trump’s executive order barring companies from stock repurchases and issuing dividends until they invest more in tech development and production.

But as Lauren also explains, that executive order is only one of several examples of the U.S. military customer taking a more direct involvement in shaping the kind of industrial base it wants.

WT 360: Defense One's Lauren Williams on the new world order of acquisition

DOE seeks batteries with four times the juice

Defense Business Brief: Thales’ frigate pivot + 2026 lookahead with Leonardo DRS

Defense Business Brief: Exec order fallout; $1B rocket-maker deal; Acquisition changes, and more

Trump lambastes defense CEOs over pay, stock buybacks

Defense Business Brief: US-made biotech; Rocketdyne; Hegseth’s industry tours

‘Very, very strange time’: After a big 2025, what’s next for the defense industry?

Hegseth hints at higher defense budgets as OMB says another reconciliation bill is possible

Unveiling acquisition overhaul, Hegseth tells industry to get with the program

Why DOD is so bad at buying software

Commercial technology is front-and-center of everyone’s mind across the public sector ecosystem these days, but history shows that agencies have moved slow on the acquisition and adoption fronts here.

Sheila Duffy, founder and chief executive of Greystones Group, views these efforts as grounded in collaboration as customer and contractor both have to agree on the roadmap for development and implementation.

Duffy joins our Ross Wilkers for this episode to go over keys for good collaborations with agencies on rolling out modern tools and how Small Business Innovation Research programs can be a pathway to accomplish that.

Any conversation about commercial tech in government has to include security. This one is no exception.