The ongoing transition to a Trump 2.0 administration is far from the only key happening that government contractors have to take note of and follow closely with 2025 now underway.

But our first episode of this New Year has to start with transition talk. We do just that with the help of Stephanie Smith, GovCon industry senior analyst and valuation services director at the global professional services firm RSM.

Here are the other big-picture items Smith and our Ross Wilkers went over:

• The nexus of macroeconomics and industrial policy
• Cyber and supply chain security priorities
• The U.S.’ push to regain global tech leadership
• Customer demand areas that remain paramount
• M&A transaction themes to watch in 2025

The ongoing White House transition is unprecedented because before Donald Trump’s (re)-election in November, Grover Cleveland’s win in 1892 was the last time a president was voted into office with a gap between terms. 

David Berteau, president and CEO of the Professional Services Council, and his team are fielding many questions on the transition from government contractors they represent as one of their leading trade associations.

In this episode, Berteau explains to our Nick Wakeman and Ross Wilkers what contractors are asking the PSC team about and all the key indicators that matter to industry when a new administration moves in.

Some priorities are poised to carry over like the CMMC cybersecurity standard, but time will tell if others continue on. The Biden administration also has priorities to work on as it moves out and Berteau goes over those as well.

(We recorded this conversation before the final 2025 National Defense Authorization Act's text was released. The reading list below includes coverage of it from our GovExec colleagues.)

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

FY2025 NDAA targets spyware threats to U.S. diplomats, military devices

Could Biden’s recent strategy to streamline government hiring be scuttled under Trump?

Trump teams to deploy throughout government after reaching agreement with the Biden administration

OMB releases federal tech impact report as Biden admin winds down

How the federal CIO is prepping for the presidential transition

‘Shock the system’: Startups and DOGE take over Reagan forum

Defense officials hopeful incoming administration keeps funding cutting-edge tech

When Leidos unveiled its current structure in the fall of 2023, chief executive Tom Bell emphasized repeatability as how the company would approach its digital transformation efforts for agencies.

That means Leidos has a single business segment dedicated to digital modernization and one that covers the company’s entire customer base. 

In this episode, Leidos’ digital modernization president Steve Hull explains why the company decided to put all of that work under one roof and how it defines “repeatability” in its offerings for agencies.

Leidos has four other customer-facing sectors that Hull’s team is in close contact with to find out what their particular client sets need, as he explains to our Ross Wilkers in a conversation that of course covers much of today’s major tech trends like artificial intelligence and autonomy.

Some jobs will require college degrees for as far as the eyes can see.

But in this episode, NextgovFCW’s tech workforce reporter Natalie Alms describes how what government and business leaders call “skills-based hiring” is becoming more of the norm for certain tech jobs.

As Natalie tells our Ross Wilkers, some agencies and contractors are de-emphasizing educational requirements for those roles and replacing them with other means.

Three big government contracts are now all about skills-based hiring. “Nat,” as some of us coworkers call her, gives some signposts to watch for how much further that approach could expand across public sector and more.

We recorded this episode before Nat’s next big story she teased toward the end landed on Nextgov/FCW. That article is link number one in the list below.

Trump’s first White House debated the role of USDS. What will Trump 2.0 do?

Major federal IT contracts to remove ‘unnecessary’ degree requirements

Harris touts skills-based hiring for feds on the campaign trail

Mace sponsors bill to ban educational requirements for government contractors

Goodbye degree requirements? Biden administration pushes skills-based hiring for tech talent

White House looks to eliminate college degree requirements for cyber jobs with federal contractors

Never mind the degrees – here's skills-based hiring

OPM issues guidance on implementing Trump-era hiring policy

Big mergers that essentially create new companies require a lot of work to harmonize all of the people, processes and resources into something more cohesive across the organization.

Jeremy Wensinger joined V2X as chief executive in June to lead this new phase of what he calls “optimization” now that all the integration activities stemming from the 2022 merger that made the company are done.

In this episode, Wensinger explains to our Ross Wilkers how V2X is working to optimize the broader portfolio it now has in the name of growth and expansion across the government market. 

Wensinger also describes where he sees V2X residing in the still-very fragmented federal services landscape, how it approaches technology insertion and what this new chapter means for the company’s 16,000 employees.

One of the government market’s most-anticipated transactions closed on Sept. 30 when what we can call “Old Amentum” joined forces with Jacobs’ federal-facing units.

This episode sees Steve Arnette, chief operating officer at what we can now call “New Amentum,” take our Ross Wilkers through all that went into putting this larger company together and where everyone wants to go from here.

Underpinning this new version of Amentum’s vision and goals is what it calls a “technology-enabled growth strategy.” Arnette walks through that very strategy, how it applies to the company’s priority markets and what all of this means for Amentum’s 53,000 employees around the world.

Jerry McGinn, executive director of the Baroni Center for Government Contracting at George Mason University, shares the findings of a new report that identifies areas of concern and offers advice for improvement across the defense industrial base.

Some of the key findings that McGinn discusses with Editor Nick Wakeman include the importance of leadership, government and industry collaboration, and the need to design systems for more rapid production.

The U.S. industrial base has responded before, as McGinn says. He offers some of those important lessons from World War II, COVID-19 and the U.S.' response to Ukraine.

The full report is available here.

Bryce Technology has been named to the Washington Technology Fast 50 list for four consecutive years, climbing to No. 11 in 2024.

For this episode, Bryce Tech's founder and CEO Carissa Bryce Christensen shares the secrets behind her company's rapid growth and success in the federal market.

Christensen discusses Bryce's strategic approach to building a scalable business, focusing the pipeline on the right opportunities and nurturing a company culture that empowers employees. She also tells Editor Nick Wakeman about the firm's ability to apply its expertise across both government and commercial sectors, especially in the dynamic space industry.

She also provides advice for aspiring entrepreneurs that emphasizes the importance of self-awareness, building the right partnerships, and staying true to your vision.

Companies can get distracted a lot when carrying out their strategy and vision, which often times leaves them vulnerable to losing market share to competitors and unexpected turns of events.

Everything starts with strategic planning and that is also where the conversation begins for this episode featuring James Calver, a partner at fractional executive services provider TechCXO and multiple-time CEO in the health care and financial services industries.

Growth-oriented mindsets are required for all companies, as Calver tells our Ross Wilkers. That also inevitably leads to acquisitions, of which Calver oversaw dozens throughout his long career and draws lessons from that he gives to other CEOs.

The differences between management and leadership are also on the agenda, as is how to incorporate uncertainty into a plan and vision.

It is not just appearances that suggest a robust government technology market, in fact there are numbers and patterns we can point to here in week number four of federal fiscal year 2025.

Where agencies are putting most of their technology budget dollars to work is the starting point for this episode featuring John Caucis and James Wichert, public sector analysts at the market intelligence firm Technology Business Research.

Caucis and Wichert take our Ross Wilkers through how companies are positioning themselves for that spend, including their organic investments and acquisitions that are signposts for where they want to go.

Also on their discussion agenda: how some companies are looking to wear both the integration and consulting hats, the future of Peraton with a new CEO in place and realities of the artificial intelligence landscape.