WT 360: The market from all angles

Latest Episodes:

2020's top GovCon stories Dec 28, 2020

Show notes

2020 was a year like no other. The pandemic kicked it off in March and continues. The year came to a close with a massive hack of government systems and with a contentious presidential transition underway. In the final 2020 episode of Project 38, Editor Nick Wakeman gathered reporters from Washington Technology, FCW and Defense Systems to review their top stories of the year.
Lauren Williams, senior editor of FCW and Defense Systems, brings her views from the defense beat, while FCW’s Mark Rockwell shares important procurement trends. And WT Senior Staff Writer Ross Wilkers talks the business of government.
What’s remarkable is the amount of overlap they see in their respective beats. Much is driven by COVID-19 and the profound changes it has brought to the market. But nothing in government happens in a vacuum and their discussion reinforces that point.

How the DynCorp deal transforms Amentum Dec 23, 2020

Show notes

Amentum is a new name to the government market but its people are no strangers given its past history as the former AECOM management services business. In this episode of Project 38, Amentum CEO John Vollmer brings us up to speed on how the new(ish) company navigated 2020 and is integrating its recent acquisition of DynCorp.

Nine months after its launch, Amentum closed its deal for DynCorp International, a transaction that was negotiated and agreed upon in almost exclusively virtual fashion given the coronavirus pandemic. A select group of leaders are meeting in-person to spearhead the integration that still has a large digital component to it.

Vollmer and Senior Staff Writer Ross Wilkers both found agreement in this discussion that the world is not going back to the way it was before COVID-19, though many have different opinions on what that world will look like. How to up one’s digital game for success in the future is a question on Amentum’s mind, which Vollmer gives us a glimpse into.

Will the Biden administration drive more commercial tech in the GovCon market? Dec 22, 2020

Show notes

Megan Metzger of Dcode, the organization built to bring commercial technology firms into the federal market, and Editor Nick Wakeman talk about opportunities sparked by the incoming Biden administration. But many of those opportunities have more to do with a changing market than with politics.

Dcode's CEO describes in this episode how government buyers are looking for more commercial technologies, while systems integrators are slowly turning in that direction as well and want more direct relationships with emerging tech firms.

She sees a shakeup ahead that will favor the companies that embrace commercial ways of doing business as that is what customers are demanding. To succeed, traditional government contractors need to undergo a mindset shift away from putting butts in seats and toward partnership and collaboration with commercial tech providers.

How public-private partnerships have forever changed Dec 17, 2020

Show notes

The coronavirus pandemic is one of those situations where collaborations between the public and private sector entities had to accelerate given the situation. In this episode of Project 38, Guidehouse’s two lead executives share their views with Senior Staff Writer Ross Wilkers on what those partnerships looked like in 2020 and how change going forward.
CEO Scott McIntyre and Chief Operating Officer Charles Beard have also have led the company (once PwC’s U.S. public sector shop) through its launch as an independent business in 2018 and acquisition of Navigant Consulting in 2019 to gain equal government and commercial footings. They update us on how that deal has changed Guidehouse and why it was important for them to be present with the regulators and those who are regulated.
Also on the agenda: questions to answer in thinking about the future of work and what the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines mean for future teaming between government agencies and companies like Guidehouse.

How the Biden administration can accelerate digital services Dec 15, 2020

Show notes

Many people see little change from the Trump administration to the Biden administration as far as tech priorities are concerned. But in this conversation with Editor Nick Wakeman, 18F co-founder Greg Godbout describes what he sees as an opportunity to accelerate the evolution toward a digital transformation of government.
In addition to 18F, Godbout also led digital services efforts at the Environmental Protection Agency. His advocacy for digital transformation continues as part of the executive team leading Fearless.
Godbout says the Biden administration needs to focus on delivery and outcomes and that focus will accelerate the transformation of how government agencies provide services to their constituents. He sees an opportunity to supercharge an ongoing evolution.

COVID's permanent impact on GovCon and human capital Dec 10, 2020

Show notes

We are always told that government contracting is a people business at its core even as technology and connectivity loom large. In this episode of Project 38, we hear from the GovCon market’s leading human capital specialists on how COVID-19 has wrought permanent changes to the way companies recruit and develop their work force.
Jon Barney and Sam Dinte, respectively of Odgers Berndston and Dinte Executive Search, work with contractors on building their leadership teams and help shape their overall human resources strategies. Their first-person anecdotes shared here illustrate both how companies had to shift and are thinking through the long-term implications.
They see the human factor as continuing to be at the core of how GovCon companies operate, but certainly the underlying mechanics will look very different going forward.

Inside Microsoft's federal focus and the importance of mission resiliency Dec 07, 2020

Show notes

From her perch as president of Microsoft’s U.S. regulated industries group, Toni Townes-Whitley looks across both the legacy of the software giant as well as its future. In this episode of Project 38, she speaks with Editor Nick Wakeman about what that future entails and how it is reflected in major wins such as the CIA’s Commercial Cloud Enterprise contract.
Whitley also talks about social justice, the incoming Biden administration and how computing at the edge will be a game changer across the public sector.
An overarching theme of the discussion with Whitley is the importance of mission resiliency, something the ongoing pandemic has been teaching the entire marketplace.

How a presidential transition impacts your BD and capture activities Nov 23, 2020

Show notes

Even in normal election year, the transition from one administration to the next create uncertainty in the market. In this episode of Project 38, Editor Nick Wakeman speaks with business development and capture management expert Bob Lohfeld on what companies should be doing to successfully move through these next few months.
His biggest piece of advice is to realize many IT priorities will not change. Some flavors might be adjusted, but agencies will still rely heavily on contractors. That doesn’t mean standing still however. As Lohfeld explains, you still have work to do and that means taking care of your customers like never before.

What you need to know about the looming CMMC deadline Nov 19, 2020

Show notes

A Nov. 30 deadline looms for compliance with the CMMC cyber standard's interim rule, so Washington Technology Editor Nick Wakeman checks in with FCW and Defense Systems Senior Editor Lauren Williams to get her take on what industry should be doing.

Williams and Wakeman talk about what compliance with the Defense Department's new Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification means, the challenges ahead, and what kind of impact the transition to a Biden administration might have.

Williams is an experienced defense reporter who has closely tracked the development of CMMC. Here she offers her insights on what has happened so far and where she is going to focus her reporting going forward.

REPORTER ROUNDTABLE: The presidential transition and today's pressing GovCon issues Nov 09, 2020

Show notes

The presidential transition is underway, sort of, and other issues are weighing on the market. In this episode of Project 38, Washington Technology Editor Nick Wakeman leads a discussion with his colleagues from WT and FCW about what the transition means as well as other issues having an impact on the government contracting market.
FCW Executive Editor Adam Mazmanian talks transition, while WT Senior Staff Writer Ross Wilkers shares the perspective of publicly traded contractors on the upcoming budget as well as what’s behind the increase in merger and acquisition activity. FCW Staff Writer Natalie Alms dives into President Trump’s executive order banning certain anti-bias training, and while it’ll likely be pulled back by the Biden administration, the extraction might not be as simple as the stroke of a pen.