Contractors Almanac

In a move that sent shockwaves through contracting shops and caused at least three procurement lawyers to faint into their redlined PDFs, the White House has announced a sweeping overhaul of the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR). The stated goal? “To remove outdated, duplicative, and unnecessarily burdensome regulations”—which, depending on your perspective, is either a long-overdue spring cleaning or a harbinger of 1,000 ambiguous mod clauses. For those of us in capture management, this is either great news or the beginning of a very long compliance migraine. Imagine telling your BD lead that the 1,986-page rulebook we’ve all been quoting like scripture is now getting redlined like a first-year proposal writer’s draft. Suddenly, all those years of memorizing FAR 15.305 like bedtime poetry might not buy you the same bragging rights. But here’s the kicker: this isn’t just a bureaucratic haircut. This is a full-on style change. The executive order mandates the removal of any FAR provi...

By someone who remembers when a DoD RFP had the word “simplified” in it, unironically. All opinions are my own. It started, as most federal shakeups do, with a signature, a pen, and a podium flanked by too many flags. On April 9, 2025, President Donald J. Trump signed   Executive Order 14192 : “Modernizing Defense Acquisitions and Spurring Innovation in the Defense Industrial Base.” If that sounds like a lot of words to say “DoD, go faster,” you’re not wrong. But in true Trumpian fashion, it wasn’t just a policy. It was a statement. A dare. A late-stage sequel to acquisition reform efforts going back to Goldwater-Nichols, with less red tape and more red meat. “Cancel it. Fix it. Or move it to the private sector.” At the heart of EO 14192 is a not-so-gentle command: The Pentagon is to  review every Major Defense Acquisition Program (MDAP) —you know, the big ones, the billion-dollar behemoths that fund entire congressional districts—and determine if they’re behind schedule or ov...

All Opinions Expressed are my own. Let’s cut to the chase: in today’s federal contracting environment, if you’re not on a major GWAC or IDIQ, you’re standing on the beach with a surfboard while everyone else is halfway to Maui. Once upon a time, you could build a healthy book of business through standalone contracts, open market buys, and maybe a few GSA Schedules sprinkled on top. But those days are fading like the memory of FedTeDS. Agencies are streamlining. Category Management is gospel. And  Best-in-Class contracts —you know, the ones blessed by OMB—are becoming  less optional and more existential . So how do you get in on the action? Below is a (semi-sarcastic but still strategic) guide to positioning your business to win long-term GWACs and IDIQs—because in this market, it’s either vehicle up or vanish into the 8(a) backlog. 1.  Start Before You Think You Should If you’re waiting for the Draft RFP to “start capture,” that’s adorable. The real players started  ...