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.

For technology startups, the closure of an external investment round should be considered only the beginning of a new cycle in their strategies to grow the business and accelerate adoption of their products.

Michael Hauser, managing partner for Science Applications International Corp.’s venture capital arm, joins for this episode to explain how SAIC Ventures works with startups after investing in them to bring their technologies into government missions.

As Hauser explains to our Ross Wilkers, the SAIC Ventures team acts as a business model scout in addition to playing its role in the parent company’s overall tech scouting function.

Hauser also walks through the decision process of when a tech is ready for the customer to use, plus how Dairy Queen’s famous Blizzard blend helps explain the art and science of technology integration.

SAIC backs satellite bus design startup

SAIC joins zero trust startup's network of investors

Infleqtion closes $100M Series C round

Undersea drone startup fetches $16M to aid hiring, manufacturing push

Venture investing is part of the M&A conversation too

WT 360: RTX Ventures casts its net wide and far across an expanding tech ecosystem

WT 360: For Lockheed's ventures team, its investments are merely step one

PROJECT 38: How Razor's Edge Ventures scouts for tech and companies

PROJECT 38: Booz Allen signaling intent with $100M ventures fund

Every founder of a company faces this quandary: What does our next phase look like? How do we get there? Who can help us get there?

Sophia Harris and her leadership team at ODRG, which she founded in 2013, faced those questions head-on as they plotted out the company’s next steps and that led them to partnering with Advantage Capital.

This episode begins with Harris telling our Ross Wilkers the full story of ODRG’s hard pivot to being a national security and geospatial technology specialist. She also describes how that positioned ODRG to eventually be ready for an external investor, something that has always been in the front of her mind.

Keeping employees and customers onside was no easy feat, and one Harris speaks in-depth about in the conversation. Harris also describes how she faced the other common founder’s quandary: Am I ready to give up full control of the company I started?

Reindustrialization is a catch-all description of moves by government and industry to reinvigorate domestic manufacturing amid other countries’ investments on that front, especially China.

Lauren Williams, our Defense One colleague and a senior editor there, joins our Ross Wilkers for this episode to explore how the industry they cover is a part of that larger push to build more systems in America and use new advanced technology to do it.

Much of their discussion is informed by Lauren’s attendance of a mid-July conference in Detroit called the Reindustrialize Summit, which sought to bring together tech companies and investors with a keen interest in manufacturing.

Flying boats and AI-run factories pitched at 'Reindustrialize' event

Zapping drone swarms into submission

Meet the ‘cobots’ that could lower the cost of building submarines

SECNAV: Robots won’t replace shipbuilders, but they could make jobs ‘easier’

Hadrian secures $260M in Series C capital

Uber is the newest example of a consumer technology company entering into a government-wide arrangement with the General Services Administration, which negotiated the pact on behalf of every federal agency.

Frank Konkel, editor-in-chief for all GovExec publications including WT, joins for this episode to break down the finer details of that agreement and how contractors are a part of it too. Then there is the bigger picture theme for Frank and Ross to talk about: how GSA views it as fitting into the agency’s OneGov strategy for more consolidated buys of common tech goods and services.

Which also was the subject of Frank’s interview with GSA’s deputy administrator Stephen Ehikian at GovExec’s Government Efficiency Summit on July 17. Frank and Ross share their takeaways from that conversation with each other.

Click here to watch the Summit, which was recorded by C-SPAN.

WT 360: All roads lead back to GSA in this ‘Editor’s Summit’ episode

GSA, Uber partner to cut travel costs for feds, military and select contractors

GSA's vision for procurement is about having 'one wallet'

GSA plans to optimize operations following cost-cutting, agency head says

New OMB memo lays out GSA's plan to consolidate contracts

Industry awaits significant disruption as GSA works on contract takeovers

GSA prepping plans to move NASA SEWP and NIH contract vehicles under its management

GSA’s procurement chief details administration’s acquisition reform plans

GSA unveils new unified procurement strategy

ANALYSIS: GSA's new procurement strategy begins with consumer tech

Government contractors are under a different sort of microscope for not just how they do their work supporting agencies’ missions, but also how they talk about themselves out in the public.

The direct connections between external messaging and communications with government customers are the focal point of this episode featuring Dustin Siggins, founder of Proven Media Solutions, and Mild Red CEO Katie Helwig.

Compliance remains core to the business of GovCon in an environment where Diversity, Equity and Inclusion initiatives are on the way out. But core values and communicating those remain very much in, as Dustin and Katie explain to Ross.

Small businesses should especially take heed. The conversation includes tips and words of wisdom just for them.

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 partner for aerospace, defense and government advisory at Aprio. He 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 partners at Nextfed 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.

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 warn

DHS expects Iran’s cyber forces will target US networks after strikes on nuclear sites

US charges Iranian operatives with hacking Trump campaign

Trump campaign allegedly hacked, blames Iran for stealing internal communications

Treasury sanctions Iranian cyber officials tied to 2023 water system hacks

US agencies assessed Chinese telecom hackers likely hit data center and residential internet providers

FBI awaits signal that Salt Typhoon is fully excised from telecom firms, official says

Salt Typhoon hacks ‘a wake up call’ to secure telecom services, lawmakers say

Salt Typhoon hackers possibly targeted telecom research at US universities

US sanctions Chinese firm behind sweeping Salt Typhoon telecom hacks

At least 8 US carriers hit in Chinese telecom hacks, senior official says

Chinese telecom espionage began with ‘much broader’ aims, officials say

Hundreds of organizations were notified of potential Salt Typhoon compromise

NYPD officer database had security flaws that could have let hackers covertly modify officer data

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

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