In his first year as CEO, Ron Ash of Accenture Federal Services has been positioning the company for growth opportunities that focus on Trump administration priorities for artificial intelligence and other technologies that foster efficiency.

Ash tells our Nick Wakeman about how these changes in the market have impacted partnerships, fostered new business models and brought more commercial practices into the federal market.

He calls 2025 the “year of the rebuild” with new opportunities accelerating in 2026 as agencies increase demand for solutions that help them use their resources more effectively.

Beyond reseller pacts: How government contractors are building strategic tech partnerships

GSA adds global AI providers to the schedule

GovCon enters uncharted territory in Trump's efficiency push

Trump’s ‘pincer maneuver’ reshapes federal contracting landscape

Needless to say, the 2025 presidential transition has put technology higher on the agenda when talking about the business of government and how those tools can be a lever for changing how agencies operate.

David Birken, senior vice president for digital modernization and experience at ICF, joins for this episode to explain how federal tech modernization has been a long-term growth priority for the company and some fundamentals that remain the same.

Mapping technology implementations to workforce trends will always be crucial for one. In talking with our Ross Wilkers, Birken lays out ICF’s approach to that and what it takes to bring employees along as part of that process.

Customer delivery and satisfaction, partnering well with commercial software companies and ICF’s blueprint for multidisciplinary teams also feature in the conversation.

How ICF used its own AI toolset before taking it to market

ICF lays out the risks, opportunities from Trump's push for cuts

How workforce priorities shape ICF's modernization strategy

WT 360: ICF's vision for its tech office goes beyond ones and zeros

WT 360: All about ICF's physical and strategic moves

Government contractors struggle with exit and succession planning for multiple reasons, while the majority of transaction activity in the market these days has some level of private equity involvement on either side.

But companies that want to remain independent, the employee stock ownership plan can be an alternative transaction that creates liquidity and incentives for the shareholders.

David Blauzvern, a managing director at CSG Partners and a specialist in these transactions, joins for this episode to explore all it takes to go down the ESOP path after a company decides on it.

Blauzvern also tells our Ross Wilkers about certain instances where ESOP companies can stand out to the government customer. Of course, they also go over which companies the ESOP model can be right for and those it is not.