Commentary

How Anthropic is sending a signal to the market by hiring Teresa Carlson

Her history of turning skeptical agencies into customers signals a shift for the AI pioneer from regulatory defense to an aggressive infrastructure play, writes GovExec Chief Executive Officer Tim Hartman. 

TOP 100: What slogans say about your company

This analysis of Top 100 contractor taglines finds bigger and vaguer language. A growing number of firms are also betting their brands on artificial intelligence, writes Boscobel’s Joyce Bosc.

Find opportunities — and win them.

Why winning is keeping GovCon execs up at night

The edge gots to firms that excel at navigating the new regulatory landscape. Here’s eight keys to building your advantage, writes Chris Crowder of Unanet.

New EO puts a clock on quantum-safe encryption

EO 14412 sets hard deadlines for agencies and contractors to migrate away from crypto that quantum computers can one day break, writes Gina Scinta of Thales Trusted Cyber Technologies.

Not again! CMMC's comprehensive review is déjà vu all over again

Eight years, multiple pauses, and still no cyber protection to show for it — maybe it's time to move past CMMC, not review it again, writes former PSC President David Berteau.

Every capability needs a mission story

To build trust with your customers, your marketing efforts should focus on how what you do supports the mission, writes Katie Helwig of Mild Red LLC.

Federal AI policy just changed again. Is your security stack ready?

The White House's Anthropic directive shows why contractors can't build compliance around any single AI tool or ruling, writes Mark Mitchell of Netskope.

The third best practice GovCon keeps ignoring

Your Shipley process and CRM are only as good as the customer intelligence feeding them. Most firms have never measured that capability, writes growth expert Nic Coppings.

New executive order pushes agencies toward quantum-ready AI security

EO 14409 sets a high bar for protecting AI models and training data — and agencies can't do it alone; they need help from their vendors, writes Gina Scinta, CTO of Thales Trusted Cyber Technologies.

Federal acquisition rewrite leaves cybersecurity confusion unresolved

As the government overhauls its procurement rulebook, contractors are still grappling with a persistent problem that shapes how they price, plan, and perform work. This includes information that must be protected and those responsible for identifying it, writes Lindy Kyzer of ClearanceJobs.com.

42 companies from the 2016 Top 100 are gone. What happened to them?

A decade of mergers, divestitures and shifting priorities has reshaped the federal market. The next 10 years may be just as turbulent.

FedRAMP Is filtering out innovation, not just risk

The compliance gauntlet isn't just slowing emerging tech vendors — it's eliminating them before agencies ever see what they're missing, writes Irina Denisenko, CEO of Knox Systems.

A $1.5 trillion defense budget: The IT programs contractors should be watching

From a $63 billion autonomous systems push to $58.5 billion in AI investment, the fiscal 2027 request signals where the Pentagon is placing its biggest bets, writes ImmixGroup analyst Joshua Isler.

The hardest transition in GovCon: From founder to visionary

Strong leadership, partnership, and management turn opportunities into growth even in rocky times in the GovCon industry, writes Evan Henris, CEO of Parabilis.

How supply chain crises emerge with faulty assumptions

Commercial supply chains are built to operate in a different world and that often conflicts with how government agencies base their budgets and timelines, writes Don Baker.

Don't let political rhetoric obscure what the 8(a) program actually does

From faster procurement cycles to 15,000 jobs in Alaska, the facts about this program are being ignored in Washington, writes Nicole Borromeo, president of the ANCSA Regional Association.

Your PM heard it, but winning just isn't worth it to them

The intelligence is there. The relationships are there. But your operating model has taught your best people that sharing what they know creates more burden than benefit, writes growth expert Nic Coppings.