All government shutdowns do end at some point, no matter how dark and gloomy things may feel, and all businesses are charged with navigating both today’s environment and positioning for tomorrow’s opportunity set.

But the shutdown is where we had to start this episode featuring John Caucis and James Wichert, public sector analysts at the market intelligence firm Technology Business Research. John and James overview how TBR is monitoring the situation and how federal contractors may have had some early practice amid the Department of Government Efficiency’s pushes for cuts.

The conversation with our Ross Wilkers then turns forward to a preview of the new 2026 federal fiscal year that may be starting out without funding for agencies, but will still have plenty of priorities to follow once they open for business.

Some of those priorities featured in the discussion: IT modernization, drives for efficiencies, where the dollars are flowing in civilian and defense programs, more outcome-based contracting and the search for one integrator to overhaul the U.S.’ air traffic control system.

Booz Allen Hamilton has invested in 17 startups since the launch of its venture capital fund in 2022, which initially had $100 million to work with and is now tripled in size to $300 million.

Matt Calderone and Brian MacCarthy, respectively chief financial officer for Booz Allen and its VC organization leader, join for this episode to explain why the firm expanded the fund and all that happens after the investment.

As they tell our Ross Wilkers, technologists at both Booz Allen and the startups it invests in collaborate closely to develop the solutions for usage by federal agencies at scale.

Calderone and MacCarthy also highlight how reindustrialization is a new area for Booz Allen Ventures, in conjunction with the core tech priorities that have defined the fund over three years.

Booz Allen gives big boost to its venture arm

Booz Allen formally stands up ventures arm

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

Government workforces absolutely have been disrupted here in 2025 through layoffs and other exits of employees from agencies, but there is a future to talk about and especially when it comes to technology.

For this episode, NobleReach Foundation’s chief executive Arun Gupta helps us take that conversation forward with ideas and solutions for bringing more talent into the public sector. Much remains unsettled in how the Trump administration is looking at the federal workforce, but the theme of needing talent will always remain paramount.

One key concept Gupta lays out in the conversation with our Ross Wilkers is being a “dual citizen” of both industry and government to give people exposure to all sides of the ecosystem. Other types of pathways are part of the discussion as well.

Stephen Ehikian says GSA is primed for a ‘build back’ phase after his departure

OPM implements years-in-the-making update to federal hiring process

New OPM head plans to cement focus on efficiency

WT 360: A roadmap for keeping innovation and entrepreneurship pipelines healthy

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.

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