Episodios

  • Adaptation is essential for companies to thrive in today’s market

    Adaptation is essential for companies to thrive in today’s market
    Jul 14 2025

    Companies in the government market have to make big “Sliding Doors”-type decisions all the time on which paths to choose for themselves and those to turn away from.

    Aaron Myers works with contractors in those situations as a managing director at Nextfed and joins our Ross Wilkers for this episode to provide key questions for them to answer when it is time to make important choices.

    Delivery models, strategic priorities and customer sets all feature in the conversation between Aaron and Ross, which takes place against a market backdrop where the codes to crack are changing rapidly.

    Aaron and his Nextfed partners have first-hand experience in asking those questions of themselves, which has led the team to become a part of Aprio. That features in the chat too.
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    41 m
  • Nextgov/FCW’s David DiMolfetta on Iran, cyber and the Salt Typhoon breach

    Nextgov/FCW’s David DiMolfetta on Iran, cyber and the Salt Typhoon breach
    Jul 7 2025
    Iran is known to be one of the world’s major nation-state actors in cyberspace and that fact has returned to the forefront since its war with Israel started on June 13.David DiMolfetta, who covers cyber for our partner publication Nextgov/FCW, joins for this episode to break down how Iran typically operates in cyber and what U.S. government agencies are watching out for as the conflict continues.The defense industrial base is also on notice for potential intrusions on their systems, as David explains to our Ross Wilkers.David also provides an update on what we are learning about the breach into U.S. telecommunications networks, which was carried out by the Chinese hacking group known as Salt Typhoon but discovered two years after it started.Iran-backed hackers may target US defense companies tied to Israel, agencies warnDHS expects Iran’s cyber forces will target US networks after strikes on nuclear sitesUS charges Iranian operatives with hacking Trump campaignTrump campaign allegedly hacked, blames Iran for stealing internal communicationsTreasury sanctions Iranian cyber officials tied to 2023 water system hacksUS agencies assessed Chinese telecom hackers likely hit data center and residential internet providersFBI awaits signal that Salt Typhoon is fully excised from telecom firms, official saysSalt Typhoon hacks ‘a wake up call’ to secure telecom services, lawmakers saySalt Typhoon hackers possibly targeted telecom research at US universitiesUS sanctions Chinese firm behind sweeping Salt Typhoon telecom hacksAt least 8 US carriers hit in Chinese telecom hacks, senior official saysChinese telecom espionage began with ‘much broader’ aims, officials sayHundreds of organizations were notified of potential Salt Typhoon compromiseNYPD officer database had security flaws that could have let hackers covertly modify officer data
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    31 m
  • Nextgov/FCW’s Edward Graham on the Veterans Affairs’ contract controversy

    Nextgov/FCW’s Edward Graham on the Veterans Affairs’ contract controversy
    Jun 30 2025

    The Veterans Affairs Department is coming under heightened scrutiny after it emerged that artificial intelligence likely played a role in VA’s decisions on which contracts to cut as part of the Trump administration’s purported efficiency push.

    Edward Graham, who covers VA for our partner publication Nextgov/FCW, joins for this episode to break down what is known so far about VA’s use of AI in that process and efforts to get more transparency into what unfolded.

    ProPublica broke the story first on June 6 and published a follow-up June 10.

    VA is far from alone in making DOGE-related contract cuts since President Trump took office in January, but this storyline at that agency is drawing ire from some lawmakers and contractors who lost work there.

    Ed takes our Ross Wilkers through the many moving pieces inside VA, so buckle up to gain many insights into this much-sought after customer for many companies in the market.

    Lawmakers demand review of VA’s AI-driven contract cuts

    Democrats raise alarm over AI-driven contract cuts at VA

    Funding for further EHR deployments ‘vitally important,’ VA secretary says

    Draft proposal looks to put EHR reform measures back on the table
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    50 m
  • The 2025 Top 100 also is a roadmap for next year and beyond

    The 2025 Top 100 also is a roadmap for next year and beyond
    Jun 23 2025

    Each annual release of the Top 100 also provides a jumping-off point to start pondering what the next year’s rankings could look like and how today’s macrotrends shape it.

    For this second part of their 2025 Top 100 conversation, Nick and Ross pick up where they left off by looking at the Trump administration’s spotlight and scrutiny of GovCon five months after moving in.

    The government customer collective wants all the latest and greatest tech tools, but also sounds picky about where they want to get them from. Nick and Ross highlight the different kinds of roles companies across the market play in providing that tech and how those could change in future years.

    The 2025 Washington Technology Top 100 Rankings
    WT 360: Our first takeaways from the 2025 Top 100 with more to follow
    2025's Top 100 rankings reveal a market in major upheaval
    TOP 100: CGI Federal’s Stephanie Mango on navigating Trump’s ‘dynamic environment’
    TOP 100: How Serco Inc. uses its pivot to position for Trump priorities
    GSA expands review of ‘consulting’ contracts to 9 more companies
    GSA expands contract reviews to resellers
    Industry awaits significant disruption as GSA works on contract takeovers
    GSA’s new procurement strategy challenges the reseller ecosystem
    GSA's new procurement strategy begins with consumer tech
    GSA unveils new unified procurement strategy
    GSA’s procurement chief details administration’s acquisition reform plans
    GSA leaders urge acquisition teams to embrace flexibility as FAR overhaul rolls out
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    23 m
  • WT 360: Our first takeaways from the 2025 Top 100 with more to follow

    WT 360: Our first takeaways from the 2025 Top 100 with more to follow
    Jun 16 2025

    Edition number 32 of the Washington Technology Top 100 rankings is now live for all to use in researching the federal market's largest technology and services contractors, and mapping the numbers to the industry’s macrotrends.

    For this first in a two-part episode (the second goes out next week), Nick and Ross go over the companies and numbers that feature up and down the rankings’ 2025 edition.

    Here is *some* of what was on their agenda for part one:

    • What keeps companies in the upper half and what takes them out
    • Booz Allen Hamilton and Lockheed Martin swapping places 2 and 3
    • Nick’s conversation with CGI Federal’s president at our 2025 Top 100 launch event
    • 2025’s biggest risers and fallers
    • Nonprofits and their roles in the public sector ecosystem

    The 2025 Washington Technology Top 100 Rankings

    2025's Top 100 rankings reveal a market in major upheaval

    TOP 100: CGI Federal’s Stephanie Mango on navigating Trump’s ‘dynamic environment’

    TOP 100: How Serco Inc. uses its pivot to position for Trump priorities

    Strategic discipline drives Leidos’ continued Top 100 dominance

    Booz Allen plans 7% workforce cut

    Lockheed's CEO: Efficiency push is 'an opportunity' for both industry and government

    Industry layoffs mount as cancelled contracts and DOGE efforts take hold

    GSA expands review of ‘consulting’ contracts to 9 more companies

    COMMENTARY: The chainsaw approach to cutting government promises more damage than results
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    21 m
  • Defense One’s Lauren Williams on international companies and their US ambitions

    Defense One’s Lauren Williams on international companies and their US ambitions
    Jun 9 2025

    The U.S. defense landscape has a few mainstays whose corporate headquarters are in another country and the reverse is very much true as well regardless of geopolitical and economic conditions.

    But the ongoing tariff turbulence stemming from the Trump administration does pose questions about why international companies are still looking at the U.S. as a key market to grow their defense businesses.

    Lauren Williams, a senior editor focused on technology and business at our partner publication Defense One, joins for this episode to lay out some of the answers she has found so far and how receptive the Pentagon customer is to this trend.

    Lauren also tells our Ross Wilkers where, again with what she has found so far, tariffs fit into the equation of the global defense industrial landscape. Agenda item number two for their discussion is the future of the Defense Information Systems Agency as it prepares to lose as much as 10% of its workforce.

    Made in the USA: foreign defense companies eye bigger slice of the American pie

    The DOD’s tech agency braces for 10% workforce cut

    Pentagon heightens scrutiny on IT, management consulting contracts

    Pentagon hits Accenture, Booz Allen and Deloitte with contract cancellations

    Pentagon launches consulting contract review process
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    27 m
  • All roads lead back to GSA in this ‘Editor’s Summit’ episode

    All roads lead back to GSA in this ‘Editor’s Summit’ episode
    Jun 2 2025
    As Trump’s White House sees things, the General Services Administration should take on substantially all of the responsibility for managing the federal government’s acquisitions of goods and services.Frank Konkel, editor-in-chief for GovExec’s publications including us, and WT’s editor Nick Wakeman broke the story on May 21 of how GSA is planning to absorb major IT contracts run by the National Institutes of Health and NASA.That and GSA’s other moves down the consolidation path are the starting and ending points for this episode featuring Frank, Nick and Ross Wilkers that covers the wide spectrum of changes across the entire GovCon ecosystem happening as they recorded.The Federal Acquisition Regulation overhaul effort and what today’s world of government-industry engagement looks like were also on their discussion agenda, among other items.WT 360: Clear themes to note from the emerging structural changes to acquisitionWT 360: Our EIC Frank Konkel on GSA, Google and the government as a single whole customerIndustry awaits significant disruption as GSA works on contract takeoversGSA prepping plans to move NASA SEWP and NIH contract vehicles under its managementInside GSA’s AI strategy: Using the tech while learning how to buy itGSA’s procurement chief details administration’s acquisition reform plansANALYSIS: GSA's new procurement strategy begins with consumer techGSA, Salesforce agree to major Slack discounts for governmentTrump orders structural changes to rules covering $1T in federal spendingThe acquisition rule (re)writers really want you to have your sayTrump administration releases first wave of acquisition regulation changesRewrite of market research rules aims to give agencies more flexibilityFAR overhaul: The challenges in tackling federal procurement’s 5,000-page beast
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    36 m
  • Defense One’s Audrey Decker on the Golden Dome and its big challenges

    Defense One’s Audrey Decker on the Golden Dome and its big challenges
    May 19 2025

    Golden Dome is the U.S.’ newest ambitious attempt to create a multi-layered defense system for protecting the mainland from incoming ballistic, hypersonic, cruise and other types of missiles.

    Audrey Decker, who covers the Air Force and Space Force for our partners at Defense One, has covered Golden Dome from multiple angles as ideas for it have emerged since President Trump’s January executive order to get working on it.

    Audrey joins our Ross Wilkers for this episode to provide an update on how the Defense Department, especially Space Force, is working on the vision for Golden Dome and what it needs to become a reality.

    Software will be paramount in making Golden Dome happen, as Audrey explains from what government and industry officials have told her. How contractors are making their pitch to be part of the Golden Dome program is also on the agenda for Audrey and Ross.

    Industry eyes ‘wicked hard’ Golden Dome space interceptor challenge

    Golden Dome push sets stage for telecom battle over spectrum access

    Trump to get Golden Dome options next week: defense source

    Space Force sets up team to sort out support for ‘Iron Dome’—that is, ‘Golden Dome’

    America’s ‘Iron Dome’ is going to need a lot more sensors: NORTHCOM

    Trump’s ‘Iron Dome for America’ plan would put weapons in space, at a big cost
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    26 m