In each year from 2004 and onward, WT publishes a report and augmenting analysis that catalogs merger-and-acquisition activity in the government market as a way to trace the history of GovCon and the companies in it.

Nick and Ross begin this two-folded episode by going over the 2024 edition of that report and their highlights from it, both in terms of what we can gauge about the individual companies and the overall market at-large.

Part two shifts the discussion to all that is going on with President Trump’s return to office and the related transition activities, which are roughly 11 weeks in. Contractors are still left guessing a lot in terms of how the new administration wants to achieve its agenda and what is expected from industry.

Our 2024 M&A roundup is now available

Defense tech, digital modernization drive GovCon M&A in 2024

How consulting firms acquire to iterate, and sometimes reinvent themselves

The public company acquirer remains a unicorn in the M&A action

Venture investing is part of the M&A conversation too

ANALYSIS: Federal contractors navigate Trump administration uncertainty

Trump’s ‘pincer maneuver’ reshapes federal contracting landscape

Billions are on the line as DOGE, GSA increase scrutiny

COMMENTARY: The chainsaw approach to cutting government promises more damage than results

Trump administration asks agencies to cull consultants

Pentagon launches consulting contract review process

FAR overhaul: The challenges in tackling federal procurement’s 5,000-page beast

Centralized federal procurements bring plenty of risks, potential rewards

Even in a period of unprecedented change across the GovCon ecosystem, industry observers across-the-board remain certain that agencies and contractors alike will have more supply chain security requirements to navigate.

Leo Alvarez, a principal in Baker Tilly’s government contractor solutions practice, joins for this episode to go over the industrial side of that equation and how contractors can approach supply chain risk management as a partnership with their government customers.

As Alvarez tells our Ross Wilkers, contractors increasingly must detail their supply chain risk management frameworks to agencies in proposals to win the contracts. Putting those frameworks into repeated practice is also a business strategy that goes beyond just complying with regulations.

The CMMC cyber and supply chain standard for the industrial base also features throughout their conversation, given its finalization is an inevitability. Alvarez also explains how CMMC is part of the whole in the supply chain conversation, as opposed to being the whole.

Thales North America has a significant U.S. presence with thousands of employees and customers ranging from the Defense Department to NASA and the Federal Aviation Administration.

But the subsidiary has kept a relatively low-profile compared to competitors. For this episode, Editor Nick Wakeman sits down with Thales North America CEO Alan Pellegrini to talk strategy and tends in the market.

Item number one on the agenda is a discussion of what the company offers to its customers across space, defense, aviation and cybersecurity. Pellegrini explains how those areas line up with the priorities of its parent, the Paris-headquartered Thales Group.

From there, the conversation moves to upcoming opportunities and how Pellegrini sees the market evolving with more demands for dual-use technologies and digital solutions around data encryption, application security and identity and access management.

Pellegrini predicts a growing market for Thales, both in America and around the world defense spending everywhere changes due the Trump administration's push for shifting U.S. priorities.

Private capital is a broad umbrella term for several different types of investment and ownership models in business, but private equity is the one that looms the largest over GovCon and tech-centric companies there.

Tiffanny Gates has a front row seat to that as an operating partner at Capitol Meridian Partners, an investor that touts itself as at the nexus of government and commercial markets. Gates joins our Ross Wilkers in this episode to go over the unique role of private equity in bringing innovations to the public sector ecosystem.

Also on the agenda for their conversation: the U.S. government’s data problems and solutions from them, sorting artificial intelligence hype and substance, and workforce trends across the market.

When publicly traded companies release their financial results, the most interesting aspect of the conference calls have little to do with the numbers themselves and everything to do with trends across the market.

Luis Avila, a managing director in BDO’s technology and transformation practice, joins our Ross Wilkers for this episode that is also a note-swapping exercise of sorts. Both listened to the most recent round of GovCon investor calls in their respective roles of research and analysis, plus journalism.

The Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency, the race to technology superiority, supply chain health and wealth, and new entrants all were themes of those calls and feature in the conversation between Luis and Ross.

Keep in mind throughout their conversation that government contractors have their own unique approach to transparency, given their customers have publicly available budgets and policy documents.

Parsons explores 2 growth pathways for missile defense

Leidos eyes missile defense, border security tech as growth avenues

Maximus CEO sees tech modernization as opportunity in Trump's efficiency push

How the CEOs of Booz Allen, L3Harris view DOGE's vision

CACI's CEO weighs in on efficiency and acquisition

Lockheed's CEO: Efficiency push is 'an opportunity' for both industry and government

It goes without saying that success in the government contracting ecosystem requires more than just having good methodologies and processes, both of which are significantly enhanced by strategy and knowledge.

Amber Hart and Lisa Shea Mundt, cofounders of The Pulse of GovCon, believe that taking a true “BD 360” approach to the market means enhancing all aspects of the federal sales process with the goal of achieving an intuitive understanding of how agencies buy things.

They have now put permanency to their concept in the form of a book aptly named BD 360, from which the ideas in it are the foundation for this episode with our Ross Wilkers.

Legislation, policy and knowing how people work is where much of the conversation centers around. Yes, they talk about proposals too.

Few doubt that quantum computing will have a tremendous impact on the tech world and beyond.

But as NextGovFCW's emerging technology reporter Alexandra Kelley explains in this episode, it is important to look beyond the buzzwords and assumptions.

"Alexa," as we and other GovExec colleagues call her, walks Editor Nick Wakeman through some common misconceptions that include why just using the term “quantum” is imprecise. Some active use cases involve quantum sensing and quantum telecommunications, which are built on quantum physics principles.

Alexa is tracking post-quantum cryptography and investments at the Energy, Commerce and Defense departments to build the infrastructure that would enable full-scale quantum computing.

Quantum information sciences represent enormous potential that is attracting both government and private sector investment. Quantum also is one technology area where the federal government of the curve with investments, infrastructure and a variety of initiatives.

AWS unveils its quantum chip prototype, Ocelot

Microsoft debuts new superconductor chip designed for quantum computing

DARPA taps Microsoft, PsiQuantum for scalable quantum computer research

Industry group calls on Trump to appoint a quantum czar

Agencies look to automation software to usher in next phase of post-quantum security

FY2025 NDAA angles to enhance DOD’s AI and quantum sciences capabilities

Senators introduce quantum reauthorization bill with little time left in this Congress

Microsoft and Atom Computing unveil 24-qubit quantum machine

NIST approves 14 new quantum encryption algorithms for standardization

Microsoft and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory bring AI to quantum chemistry research

Ernst & Young needs little introduction as one of the world’s professional services Big Four firms, which gives it reach into every industry and ways of taking lessons learned from there into the public sector.

How does EY go about doing so, while seeking to blend its consulting core with technology know-how? That is the starting point for this episode featuring Doree Keating, leader of the EY Americas government and public sector practice.

As Keating tells our Ross Wilkers, success in any tech implementation effort begins and ends with strategic intent on the buyer’s part. Workforce expectations are a factor in that, which includes whether people will need new training or upskilling.

Keating also goes over the thinking behind EY’s acquisition of Dignari in the fall, plus how she sees defense agencies in particular taking a pre-emptive approach to resilience and anti-fragility.

Government contractors reside in the unique intersection of macroeconomics and industrial policy, both of which are relevant in the conversation surrounding President Trump’s use of tariffs.

Tariffs are very relevant for companies that mostly focus on services to their government customers as explained in this episode featuring Larry Sher, a government contracts attorney and partner at Winston & Strawn.

Sher tells our Ross Wilkers that while companies may not know what the tariff rates will be in the long-term, they still must be foundational in how they operate and support the business of government. The regulatory framework and policy tools contractors have to get some relief for increased costs also feature in their discussion.

For more information, check out these client alerts from the Winston & Strawn team:

Prospective Tariffs on Goods from Mexico, Canada, and China

Summary of America First Trade Policy

The Department of Government Efficiency is the new Trump administration’s main vehicle for at least starting the process of change at many federal agencies and on a very fast turn.

Natalie Alms, who covers federal technology policy and tech workforce matters at our partner publication NextgovFCW, broke the story that DOGE’s leader Elon Musk visited the General Services Administration’s headquarters and is asserting his influence there.

What was he doing there? Nat joins our Ross Wilkers in this episode to answer that question and many others surrounding GSA’s role in the Trump 2.0 transition.

Be sure to read Nat’s articles below as they take you close to the action, and are the foundation for her discussion with Ross.

Senate Democrats call for DOGE to halt until details are provided

Musk takes aim at GSA tech shop

Musk visits and asserts growing influence at GSA

Musk's role as ‘special government employee’ raises ethics questions

GSA announces new FAS, TTS leadership

GSA will ‘recommit’ to ‘founding purpose,’ says acting administrator

As the Trump administration gathers names of recent hires, some are being asked to justify their jobs

Trump administration opens the door to politicize government tech executives

Gregory Barbaccia named federal CIO