Why some organizations accelerate while others stall

This is part 2 of three part series on the Defense Department’s shift to a Portfolio Acquisition Executive structure. Read part 1 here.

Every contractor will soon be subject to the same reforms as part of the Portfolio Acquisition Executive initiative. Some will accelerate. Most will stall.

Some contractors are already in early conversations, trusted with ambiguity, invited to shape trade-offs. Others are being managed at arm's length, reacting to decisions already locked.

The difference won't be contract vehicle or technical sophistication. It will be relationship quality and intelligence-gathering capability, and most organizations are developing neither.

THE WORKFORCE THE SYSTEM ASSUMES DOESN'T EXIST

The Warfighting Acquisition System assumes a workforce that doesn't exist at scale. It assumes that teams are empowered to make risk-based decisions in real time, communicate those decisions to stressed stakeholders, and gather the intelligence that shapes them.

This capability won't emerge organically.

For decades, the acquisition workforce, both government and industry, was trained to minimize risk and avoid deviation. The new system rewards judgment, adaptability, speed, and intelligence. Most organizations haven't thought about preparing their teams for this shift.

The organizations positioned to accelerate have recognized this gap early.

Some have already begun developing this capability in their delivery teams. Their Program Managers ask questions that reveal operational context rather than just technical requirements. They recognize when stakeholder stress signals portfolio pressure. They translate casual conversations into strategic insights and share them systematically with capture teams.

INTELLIGENCE FLOWS FROM DELIVERY TO CAPTURE

These organizations aren't waiting for business development to "hunt." Intelligence flows systematically from delivery to capture, and it starts with knowing what questions unlock truth.

This isn't additional work. It's a different focus.

Program managers are already in meetings with Army PMs, PAE deputies, and portfolio staff. They're already having conversations. The question is whether they recognize what matters.

Their teams recognize and document the operational pressures that shape evaluation priorities and budget decisions.

When an Army PM mentions CENTCOM calling daily for a capability, speed-to-delivery just became your highest-weighted evaluation criterion. When they mention that the budget must be spent by year-end, budget pressure creates acquisition urgency. When they say, "the boss is on my tail," career risk is driving their decision calculus. These pain points directly translate into how proposals get scored.

When a PAE deputy mentions "we're looking at portfolio synergies," an untrained PM nods and returns to technical topics. A trained PM asks, "Which programs are you considering for integration?" and identifies three specific systems for interoperability evaluation. That's intelligence that shapes your technical approach.

When an Army PM says "timeline is aggressive," an untrained PM hears schedule pressure and offers to accelerate. A trained PM asks, "What's driving the urgency?" and discovers it's operational urgency, not budget pressure, revealing that aggressive timelines actually score better than phased delivery.

Same meetings. Same stakeholders. Different questions.

One PM leaves with action items. The other leaves with competitive intelligence.

RELATIONSHIP QUALITY BECOMES MEASURABLE

Organizations that accelerate will track relationship metrics the same way they track financial data—as measurable assets requiring systematic management.

They'll track trust levels, access depth, and customer relationship scores. When relationship scores drop, they'll intervene. When access deepens, they'll double down. When chemistry is low, they'll adjust team composition.

A relationship score is a key performance indicator for future wins.

ENGAGEMENT BECOMES A CORE DISCIPLINE

Winning organizations will treat engagement capability as a core operational discipline, requiring systematic investment on par with cybersecurity or quality control.

Their teams will ask questions that clarify intent before proposing solutions, translate technical risk into decision-maker language, recognize and respond to stakeholder stress signals, maintain confidence during pivots and funding shifts, and influence outcomes without authority.

But capability development only happens when leadership changes what it rewards. Executives must model curiosity instead of defensiveness. They must reward judgment, not just compliance. They must promote program managers for credibility and intelligence contribution—not just flawless execution. These signals tell the workforce what matters.

Portfolio context means understanding evaluation priorities through stakeholder pain points. Speed of delivery is the #1 evaluation criteria because operational urgency is the dominant pain point.

Organizations that can demonstrate "6 months to fielding" will have a more powerful differentiator than "10% cost reduction."

THE ARMY EXPECTS PROTOTYPES, NOT PRESENTATIONS

A critical shift separates organizations that will accelerate from those that will stall: the willingness to invest before contract award.

The Army increasingly expects industry to bring working prototypes—not PowerPoint slides—that soldiers can test before acquisition decisions. Organizations that wait for a contract to build capability will lose to those willing to prototype at industry cost, integrate soldier feedback through transformation in contact units, and arrive with validated operational relevance.

Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George made it clear: the Army wants "half the cost in half the time." Organizations demonstrating this through working prototypes will win. Those presenting cost estimates and timelines will not.

CROSS-FUNCTIONAL COORDINATION REPLACES SILOS

Multiple people from the same organization will touch multiple PAE stakeholders—Army PMs, PAE deputies, capability program executives, requirements officers, contracting staff, and test leads.

Winning organizations will ensure their teams build coordinated relationships across this ecosystem, share intelligence systematically, and align their messaging.

No conflicting narratives. No surprises. No duplicate asks.

They'll have systematic methods for delivery teams to share customer insights with the capture team. They'll hold pre-brief sessions before customer meetings to align on messaging. They'll debrief afterward to extract and document intelligence.

Customer intelligence will flow from delivery to leadership without heroics.

WHY THIS SHOWS UP IN MARGINS

Without trust, speed creates friction. Change orders. Rework. Delayed decisions. Compressed margins.

Trust reduces friction.

Customers forgive imperfection when trust is high. They forgive delays when the rationale is clear. They accept trade-offs when they believe your team understands their pressures.

But trust without intelligence is blind. The organizations that win on margin won't just be building trust—they'll use that trust to gather the intelligence that shapes better decisions, positions them earlier, and ensures higher win rates.

This is why engagement and intelligence-gathering capability are financial differentiators.

Organizations that develop Program Manager capabilities in customer intelligence consistently outperform their peers.

Yet most contractors haven't adopted systematic methods. The gap is the opportunity.

THE WINDOW IS NOW

PAEs reached initial operating capability in January 2026. Some contractors are already being pulled into early conversations. Others are being kept at arm's length.

Organizations building these capabilities now will enter the PAE environment with advantages that competitors will take years to replicate.

What separates winners from losers isn't avoiding risk. It's managing it through relationship development and superior customer intelligence.

Take the 2-Minute Pulse Check

Before you audit your entire organization, start here: 10 questions that reveal whether your delivery teams are positioned as hidden revenue risks or competitive intelligence assets under the PAE model.

The assessment scores your organization across engagement readiness, intelligence-gathering capability, and trust mechanisms. You'll see immediately where you're aligned with the Warfighting Acquisition System and where you're exposed.

Take the PAE Readiness Pulse Check

The full PAE Readiness Checklist (73 checkpoints) downloads after you complete the assessment.

Look out for article #3 of this 3-part series: "The Workforce Capability GovCon Leaders Are Underestimating."

Nic Coppings is Senior Partner at Hi-Q Group, where he helps government contractors transform customer engagement into competitive advantage. With more than 20 years of experience in federal contracting, Nic has worked with hundreds of contractors to develop the human intelligence capabilities that drive on-contract growth, win recompetes, and identify adjacencies competitors never see. He can be reached at ncoppings@hi-qgroup.com