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Astrion hires former Sierra Space CEO Vice as new leader

Ross Wilkers — Fri, 03 Apr 2026 10:12:00 -0400

Astrion has hired a new chief executive in Tom Vice, the former Sierra Space CEO and a four-decade veteran of the aerospace-and-defense sector.

Vice also will hold the title of executive chair and his appointment is effective immediately, Astrion said Thursday. Vice succeeds Dave Zolet, who has led the engineering and technical services provider since it launched in 2023.

Astrion is owned by the private equity firm Brightstar Capital Partners, which formed the company through the merger of ERC and Oasis Systems. Astrion has since embarked on an aggressive expansion push that included the purchase of Axient in the summer of 2024.

Only a few months before that transaction, Zolet told our WT 360 podcast that the company was pushing toward $1.5 billion in annual revenue and prioritizing the development of a culture he called the “Astrion Way.”

In a LinkedIn post on his departure, Zolet touted Astrion as a 6,000-employee company today with annual revenue north of $1 billion.

Vice will pick up that groundwork laid out as Astrion focuses on programs across defense, homeland security, critical infrastructure, space operations and allied missions. Astrion touts its core service lines as including systems engineering, threat analysis, modeling and simulation, testing and evaluation, and training.

“Astrion’s strength starts with its people — a talented team with deep mission understanding, strong customer relationships, and a proven record of execution,” Vice said in a release. “We are building on that foundation with focus, urgency, and resolve — strengthening what we do best today while expanding the operational capabilities, integrated solutions, and innovative technologies we bring to our customers.”

Vice led Sierra Space in a four-year tenure that included $1.7 billion in Series A and B capital rounds, as well as the capture of several national security and defense programs. He is also a former CEO of Aerion Corp., an aerospace company founded in 2003 that sought to build supersonic jets before it shut down in 2021.

Prior to Aerion, Vice spent three decades at Northrop Grumman including his last four years there as president of its aerospace systems segment. His tenure in that role included the capture of the Air Force’s Long-Range Strike Bomber program in 2015.

Astrion also announced Thursday its hire of Eric Brown, formerly a vice president at Lockheed Martin, as president of space operations and allied missions. Conn Doherty, a former executive at RTX and Chaos Industries, also has joined Astrion as chief growth officer.

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How 20 airports are avoiding spring break security lines

Jim Carroll — Fri, 03 Apr 2026 10:00:00 -0400

Spring break is supposed to start the moment travelers leave the house — not grind to a halt before they ever reach their gate.

But for millions of Americans heading to the airport this month their vacation is getting stopped at the security checkpoint. Lines with wait times of two hours or more are creating frustrated travelers, forcing families to miss flights, and turning spring break into a headache.

The current Homeland Security Department funding crisis is shining a harsh light on the Transportation Security Agency's operations at airports across the country.

But under this scrutiny, we are seeing a success story. At airports where TSA is supported by federal contractors, lines are moving and travelers are making their way to their destinations on time.

TSA officers are dedicated public servants, but throughout the shutdown missed paychecks have forced many to look for other ways to make ends meet. Officers have had to make difficult choices — picking up other work, missing shifts, or leaving the job altogether.

This impacts travelers because fewer TSA officers working at airports means understaffed checkpoints, fewer lanes open to safely and efficiently screen passengers, and in the worst cases lines that can take hours – meaning missed flights.

But here's what the shutdown is also revealing: some airports aren't experiencing any of these delays. Some airports are continuing to support a record number of travelers. Some airports are making sure that you make it to your destination by providing you with an easy, efficient, and secure screening process — because they have the support of federal contractors.

Twenty airports across the country participate in TSA's Screening Partnership Program (SPP), which contracts qualified private companies to handle security screening under full federal oversight. San Francisco International Airport — one of the busiest airports in the country — participates in the SPP and has seen normal wait times throughout the shutdown.

And there's another benefit that often goes unnoticed: SPP airports have demonstrated real savings for the taxpayer, with government contractors providing the same security and efficiency as TSA but for a lower cost.

This approach isn't new – and there are success stories across the federal government to prove its effectiveness. Contractors provide the surge capacity that keeps critical operations running when they are most needed. Think of the IT specialists that secure government networks, the logistics professionals who support military operations overseas, and the analysts that process sensitive data around the clock – many of whom are federal contractors.

By partnering with private industry, the federal government ensures that they are using the best service providers and technology for the mission at hand.

At nearly two dozen airports across the country, the SPP program works by doing exactly that – giving the federal government the support needed to ensure that there is both efficiency and continuity.

The TSA Federal Security Director remains in charge, but contractors support the mission, following standard operating procedures, protocols, and policies. The TSA crisis is giving us the opportunity to examine how we run airport security across the country.

It might be too late for spring break, but with the help of federal contractors and the expansion of the Screening Partnership Program, we might be ready for summer vacation.

Jim Carroll is CEO of the Professional Services Council, a trade association representing approximately 400 government contractors.

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Growth, tech and operations leadership moves across the market

Ross Wilkers — Fri, 03 Apr 2026 09:30:00 -0400

Abt Associates

Sunnie McClain has joined the research and data analysis provider as vice president of digital solutions, a role she brings 25 years of public sector and commercial industry experience to.

Abt has tasked McClain with leading its functions in enterprise solution development, go-to-market strategy and strategic partnerships.

McClean most recently worked in tech leadership roles at Mitre Corp. and also held senior leadership roles at Dell Technologies.

Aretum

Amy French has moved up to chief financial officer at the Renvous Capital Partners-backed tech integrator, which she first joined in the summer of 2023 as controller.

French has worked in the chief accounting officer post for the past two years and previously held a stint as acting CFO.

Her career prior to Aretum also includes financial leadership roles at Aurora Flight Sciences and its parent company Boeing.

Capital Technology Group

Gregg Leone has joined this specialist in enterprise architecture and application integration work as chief growth officer, a newly-created role he brings two decades of experience to.

Leone will help oversee CTG’s efforts to expand into new agencies and pursue larger, more complex contracts to support growth.

He most recently worked as chief growth officer at VMD and is a 16-year veteran of CACI International.

Constellis

Joseph Zobro has joined the risk management and mission support services provider as chief legal and compliance officer, a role he brings a decade of law and regulatory experience to.

Zobro now oversees all of Constellis’ functions related to its governance framework and reports directly to the CEO.

His career includes roles at Textron’s Bell business, C3 AI and Anduril Industries.

Dataminr

Paul Tierney has rejoined the artificial intelligence software company as head of public sector after a one-year stint as president of Janes.

Prior to Janes, the 28-year industry veteran worked as senior vice president of public sector sales at Dataminr.

“The landscape has shifted since I first started here, but the core challenge for our public sector customers remains the same: the need for a definitive signal that cuts through the noise to provide a true decision advantage,” Tierney wrote in a LinkedIn post on his new role. “We are advancing into the era of agentic AI, where real-time signals evolve from passive alerts into the definitive context and clarity required to drive a response when every second counts.”

IonQ

Bill Dunlap, the former Defense Department principal deputy chief information officer, has joined the quantum computing technology maker as senior vice president of global architecture.

IonQ’s CIO Katie Arrington announced the hire in a LinkedIn post, which noted their prior work together in DOD when she was the department’s CIO.

Dunlap will lead IonQ’s work on enterprise architecture, infrastructure design, scalability and data.

Koniag Government Services

Shlomy Gantz has moved up to an operating group president role at this provider of IT and operations management services, which he first joined in the summer of 2024.

Gantz will lead KGS’ applied innovation operating group after previously assisting in efforts to scale out offerings across its civilian and defense portfolios.

His career also includes 14 years at Intevity.

Peniel Solutions

Jarred Aultman has joined the technology modernization and records management company as chief technology officer, a role he brings a decade of tech experience to.

Peniel has tasked Aultman with leading the execution of its tech vision that includes priority areas such as cloud computing architecture, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence and platform modernization.

He most recently spent seven years as a senior solutions architect at Amazon Web Services.

Radiance Technologies

Paul Lithgow has moved up to chief growth officer at the employee-owned government technology services company, where he now leads its overall corporate development function.

The four-decade defense veteran first joined Radiance in 2025 as vice president of its space group. His career also includes a stint as CEO of GEOST, where he spent six years altogether as an executive.

His career also includes senior roles at NovaWurks and Comtech.

Salesforce

Mia Jordan has moved up to regional vice president for federal at the provider of cloud-based software for customer relationship management, which she first joined in the fall of 2021.

“The last four and a half years built the foundation. Now I’m leading at the intersection of federal mission and AI-driven transformation, helping agencies move faster, operate smarter, and deliver results that matter,” Jordan wrote in a LinkedIn post on her new role.

Jordan served in several leadership positions inside government prior to Salesforce. Those roles included chief information officer at the Education Department’s Federal Student Aid office and CIO for the Agriculture Department’s Rural Development division

Sierra Space

Jeff Schrader has joined the spacecraft and defense tech maker as chief strategy officer, a role he brings 25 years of market experience to.

Sierra Space has tasked him with leading its functions in corporate development, expansion priorities, mergers and acquisitions, and planning for franchise program pursuits.

Schrader most recently worked as vice president of strategy and business development for Lockheed Martin’s space segment. He is also a former president of SEAKR Engineering and Blue Canyon Technologies, both of which have since been acquired by RTX Corp.

This year so far, Sierra Space has hired industry vet Dan Jablonsky as chief executive and completed a $550 million Series C capital raise.

Tria Federal

Tudor Alexandrescu has joined the Sagewind Capital-backed digital services provider as vice president of national security, a role he brings 17 years of public sector and commercial industry experience to.

Tria has tasked Alexandrescu with leading delivery and growth efforts across its Homeland Security Department and State Department customer set, which fall within the company’s public safety business unit.

He most recently served as chief of technology integration and innovation at the Transportation Security Agency.

Valkyrie Enterprises

Matt Matthews has joined the government technology and professional services company as vice president of enterprise operations, a role he brings 25 years of industry experience to.

Valkyrie has tasked Matthews with leading its functions in integration, capture enablement, digital transformation and strategy implementation.

Matthews most recently worked as chief delivery officer at Client Solution Architects, which he first joined in 2021 as a vice president. His career also includes roles at Capstone Corp., Science Applications International Corp. and Booz Allen Hamilton.

Versa Integrated Solutions

Quinton Brown has rejoined the IT modernization company as chief artificial intelligence officer, a role he brings 25 years of industry experience to.

Brown will lead Versa’s push to integrate AI and machine learning tools across its portfolio for public sector and commercial clients.

He most recently worked as a partner development executive at Google’s public sector arm. During his previous Versa tenure, he worked as senior vice president of business development.

V2X

Mike Uster has joined the government services company as chief information officer, a role he brings 35 years of technology experience to.

V2X has tasked Uster with leading its global IT strategy to include enterprise systems, digital transformation efforts, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence and platform resilience.

Uster most recently worked as CIO and chief technology officer at ManTech, where he spent 21 years altogether prior to V2X.

Westat

Patricia Shifflett and Scott Cody have moved up to C-level executive roles from the senior vice president ranks at this provider of research, data collection and analysis services.

As chief business officer, Shifflett will oversee technical delivery and efforts to strengthen collaboration across teams. The three-decade public sector veteran is on Westat’s board of directors and first joined the company in 2018 as a vice president.

In the chief solutions officer post, Cody will oversee three capability centers and focus on how the company advances its offerings across the market. Cody first joined Westat as a senior vice president in 2023 and is also a three-decade public sector veteran.

HawkEye 360

Frank Finelli and Jonathan Shames have joined the board of directors at this privately-held commercial satellite operator.

Finelli most recently spent 25 years at The Carlyle Group, where he retired as partner and managing director focused on defense and aerospace investments. Shames is a four-decade veteran of Ernst & Young, where he also worked a stint as geopolitical leader.

In December, HawkEye 360 closed a $150 million Series E equity and debt financing round with some of that capital put toward the acquisition of Innovative Signal Analysis.

State Street

Sue Gordon, the former principal deputy director of national intelligence, has joined the board of directors at the global financial services giant and becomes an independent member.

Gordon will also sit on the board’s examining and audit committee, plus the technology and operations committee.

During her 29-year CIA career, she led significant transformation initiatives including the creation of its In-Q-Tel venture capital arm.

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Stop trying to prevent every cyberattack. Start planning to survive one.

Gary Barlet — Fri, 03 Apr 2026 09:00:00 -0400

Iran-linked hackers recently launched cyber activity across the networks of several U.S. organizations, including a software supplier serving the defense and aerospace industries.

As geopolitical tensions escalate, organizations should expect increased cyber activity targeting government agencies, contractors, and the supply chains that support them. Much of this cyber activity will be opportunistic rather than highly sophisticated – focused on exposed systems, weak credentials, or unpatched vulnerabilities.

Hacktivists and proxy groups may also attempt to amplify disruption through intimidation campaigns, creating psychological impacts.

However, in supply chain environments, even limited access can cause operational disruptions – with significant consequences.

Federal agencies and contractors must reduce their exposure by working with suppliers to adopt an “assume breach” mindset, strengthen visibility, and reinforce fundamental cybersecurity practices.

Assume breach

Preventing every cyber incident is unrealistic. The attack surface is too large and expanding too quickly for defenders to lock down every possible entry point. Supply chain attacks make this even harder, especially when malicious activity is delivered through trusted software updates or legitimate vendor access that organizations are designed to allow.

Agencies and contractors must adopt an “assume breach” mindset, in partnership with their suppliers. The goal isn’t to prevent every intrusion; it’s to limit the blast radius and maintain operations when prevention fails.

This requires a clear understanding of where agencies are exposed, how attackers can move laterally across connected systems, and which assets matter most to mission success. Once those paths are understood, protections can be prioritized where they will have the greatest impact.

An assume breach mindset puts speed and containment ahead of false confidence in prevention. Teams must be able to detect abnormal activity early and stop it before attackers can move laterally across the environment. When that visibility is missing, adversaries are free to operate undetected and expand their access.

The goal is resilience, not perfection. Limiting impact and protecting mission-critical systems enables agencies and contractors to maintain operations during a cyber incident. Not the illusion that every attack can be stopped.

Improve visibility

Contractors, agencies, and suppliers need a clear understanding of how systems connect, how data moves, and where external partners have access to operational resources. Without that visibility, malicious activity can blend into normal traffic until an attacker has already moved deep into the environment.

Mapping how systems and applications communicate establishes a baseline of expected behavior and exposes hidden dependencies between internal environments and external partners.

When that baseline exists, unusual connections and unexpected traffic stand out quickly — allowing teams to respond before a localized issue becomes a widespread disruption.

Identify crown jewels

Agencies and contractors must prioritize protecting the systems that matter most. Identifying the crown jewels — the assets whose compromise would have the greatest operational impact — allows teams to focus defenses where failure is not an option, from critical infrastructure and sensitive data to mission essential systems.

Suppliers often maintain operational access to internal systems, which can create potential entry points for adversaries. A compromise within a partner environment can quickly become a pathway into government networks if those connections are not carefully managed.

Understanding these dependencies allows agencies, contractors, and suppliers to prioritize protections around the systems and relationships that present the greatest operational risk.

And don’t overlook the fundamentals. Validate patches, eliminate default credentials, enforce strong multifactor authentication, reduce exposed services, and actively monitor logs and alerts. These basic steps close off easy points of entry and shore up systems attackers routinely exploit.

Alignment with Zero Trust architecture mandates, global standards like ISO 27001, and supply chain security requirements such as the Department of Defense’s Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) is essential.

These frameworks move security from guidance to accountability, requiring suppliers to address known gaps and risks that might otherwise be ignored until an incident occurs.

Build supply chain resilience

Supply chains will remain a prime target, particularly during periods of geopolitical tension and instability. Managing that risk starts with an assume breach mindset, stronger visibility across interconnected environments, and clear cybersecurity expectations for suppliers, agencies, and contractors.

The goal is resilience — not perfection. By prioritizing protection of mission-critical systems, improving detection, and containing threats before they spread, agencies and contractors can limit disruption and sustain operations.

In today’s interconnected supply chains, that resilience isn’t just a security requirement — it’s essential to protecting federal missions and national security.

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Antaris closes $28M Series A capital round

Ross Wilkers — Thu, 02 Apr 2026 11:21:00 -0400

Antaris, a developer of artificial intelligence assistance software for satellite makers, has collected $28 million in Series A capital from investors to accelerate the development of its flagship offering.

The company opened for business in 2021 to develop a tool for aiding in the satellite design process and helping manufacturers map out key decisions and missions across the entire lifecycle. Antaris’ vision is to help satellite operators fly the entire mission virtually in a digital twin environment before committing to any hardware choices, or even laying out the metal.

Westwave Capital, a venture fund focused on deep tech, led the Series A round announced Tuesday. Lockheed Martin’s venture capital arm also participated alongside a base of new unnamed investors.

“This investment validates our vision for software-defined space missions,” Tom Barton, CEO and co-founder of Antaris, said in a release. “We’re now in position to push the boundaries of AI-native mission design and autonomous operations, giving customers the speed, resilience, and confidence they need to succeed in contested and commercial space.”

“Virtualizing every system element is no longer just about simulation," added Karthik Govindhasamy, Antaris’ chief technology officer and a fellow co-founder . “It’s now the foundation for AI-driven autonomy, giving mission teams a faster, safer path to software-defined space.

The Antaris Intelligence platform’s touted functions include predictive design modeling, anomaly detection, constellation orchestration and autonomous on-orbit operations.

Antaris will put a bulk of the newfound investment toward further efforts at developing the platform and expanding the company’s network of partners, including satellite operators and government agencies.

Antaris is contracted to help SARsatX develop a 16-satellite constellation in Saudi Arabia and is starting out on an expansion push in Japan.

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Army launches $50B IT, professional services solicitation

Ross Wilkers — Thu, 02 Apr 2026 11:18:00 -0400

With much anticipation and fanfare, the Army has unveiled the final solicitation for its potential $50 billion contract that will bundle IT and professional services into a single vehicle.

The Army set up the Marketplace for the Acquisition of Professional Services contract to cover a wide range of knowledge-based work for mission and enterprise requirements around the world, including in contingency and operational settings.

Bids for the potential 10-year MAPS vehicle are due no later than 5 p.m. Eastern time on May 1, the Army said in a Wednesday notice to release the request for proposals.

MAPS will be the Army’s primary contract for acquiring staff augmentation and technology support from industry. This work currently takes place under the Responsive Strategic Services Sourcing and Information Technology Enterprise Solution-3 Services vehicles, which have a combined 396 companies involved as primes.

Approximately $13.8 billion in total task order obligations have flowed through RS3 and ITES-3S since both of them were opened for business in 2017 and 2018, respectively, according to GovTribe data. RS3 is slated to sunset in May 2027, followed by ITES-3S in September 2027.

MAPS’ duration includes an initial five-year base period and a single option for five more years.

The Army will award up to 350 positions on MAPS across these five domains with 70 slots each:

Engineering, logistics and operational services
Management and advisory support
Research, development, testing and evaluation
Emerging IT
Foundational IT

That 70-per-domain figure further breaks out to 30 large businesses, 25 small businesses and 15 commercial sector vendors in each. The Army can adjust those numbers in the event there are fewer awardable proposals in either category.

The Army has structured its evaluation approach for MAPS as a four-phase process that begins with a review of all bids and ranking their self-scores in phase one, then phase two will involve a verification review and making any needed downward adjustments to re-rank proposals.

For phase three, the Army will establish a pool of preliminary prospective awardees in each domain and look at bidders’ small business subcontracting plans and status as responsible contractors.

If any preliminary prospective awardee is found ineligible, they will be removed from the competition and the next-highest verified score will move up in rank to take that position.

Phase four is where the Army will aim to hit its goal of having the 70 highest-verified scores identified for each domain, and those companies will become final awardees.

Companies may bid for a place on more than one domain, but they must submit separate proposals for each domain they are pursuing. Bids must also identify which domain they are focused on and have unique scorecards for each.

The same cover letter, qualifying projects and past performance questionnaire can be reused for each domain proposal submission.

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Air Force seeks data migration solution for classified 3DExperience systems

Nick Wakeman — Thu, 02 Apr 2026 11:00:00 -0400

The Air Force is looking for ways to package data so it can move between two classified systems that are air-gapped from each other.

The systems work in a 3DExperience environment and several data types need to move from between them including PDFs, Word documents, CATIA design and simulation files, 3DXML files and Enovia business objects.

The request for information notice posted Friday does not identify the two systems, but they are continuously in operation and handle classified data.

The notice is a market research effort by the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center as it develops a new contract. There is no mention of an incumbent contractor.

Responses are due April 26.

The procurement strategy is undetermined as the notice asks all businesses with 3DX capabilities to include their size in their responses. The Air Force also wants respondents to suggest a procurement strategy.

3DX is a product lifecycle management and collaboration platform made by Dassault Systèmes, a France-headquartered software company. 3DX is widely used in defense, aerospace, automotive and manufacturing industries by engineers, designers, and program managers.

Work in each system must continue, so the solution will need to add and merge data without overwriting or deleting existing data. All data will be moved at the start, but only new and updated data will be moved between the systems.

Data can only flow in one direction between the two systems with no connection back. This security requirement is common in classified defense networks.

The Air Force says the effort is part of its broader e-program digital engineering initiative as the Defense Department pushes toward greater use of model-based acquisitions.

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Vendors struggle to navigate the Anthropic ban’s fallout

Alexandra Kelley — Thu, 02 Apr 2026 10:00:00 -0400

The artificial intelligence vendor landscape in Washington, D.C., has been rocked by the ongoing dispute between Anthropic and the administration, with the business community searching for clarity in contracting requirements amid increasing anxiety over how technology contracts with the government will be handled.

The Pentagon declared Anthropic a supply chain risk after the company refused to allow its products to be used for surveillance of Americans or in lethal autonomous warfare. President Donald Trump subsequently ordered that all federal agencies stop using Anthropic products. A judge on Friday temporarily barred the government from enforcing either the supply chain risk designation or the governmentwide ban, though the government has until April 2 to seek an emergency stay on the injunction.

Multiple sources within the federal tech industry spoke with Nextgov/FCW about how they are adjusting to a post-Anthropic ban procurement and contracting landscape on the condition of anonymity to speak candidly about the ongoing situation.

One industry source said their organization is closely monitoring the Trump administration’s “evolving approach” to AI procurement strategies, but remains uncertain about the future.

“Some of the requirements under consideration for government acquisition of AI tools and services are prompting more questions than answers, and industry is actively engaging to help policymakers understand how certain far-reaching proposals could unintentionally undermine the White House's goal of furthering American AI dominance,” they said.

The governmentwide ban raises concerns for companies that have Anthropic products — like its generative AI, Claude — embedded in different parts of their software stack.

Harold Schultz Neto, head of product and AI at Labrynth — a company that builds AI platforms to expedite permitting, documentation and compliance processes — told Nextgov/FCW that his firm continues using Claude internally, namely for coding, product design and prototyping. He said, however, that he has had to pivot from using it for customers in order to comply with Trump’s new mandate.

“Our solutions are built on top of Claude,” Schultz Neto said. “And when the federal mandate came, we had to not hire Claude for [customers] directly, and also stop our development on top of Claude for [customers].”

Schultz Neto said Google’s Gemini is now the core component of Labrynth’s customer-facing products and, although none of the company’s products that go to market use Claude, the loss of the Anthropic tool’s powerful programming abilities is a paramount concern, particularly regarding Labrynth’s internal operations.

“If we serve the government, we can use other models inside our tools, but not being able to code with Claude because there's some federal mandate, that's a big concern that we have right now, and I think that should also be a concern from the federal agencies,” he said.

“Our member companies … might use Anthropic, not in the final product that they're delivering to the government, but to test the security of it, to validate or review the code,” a second industry source said, noting that companies are struggling to interpret the scope of both the supply chain risk designation and the government ban.

“We've been sharing what we know from the government with our member companies,” they said. “Everybody doing business with the government is used to and expects fully that things will be documented, that there will be clear requirements, that things will be spelled out, that there will be terms and conditions in the contract, and that they can follow along with those. In this case, a lot of that is missing.”

Current and prospective contractors are missing this clarity following the Anthropic ban, and they have more anxiety surrounding how contracts with the government will be handled alongside new and developing policies.

“There's a fear that the standard administrative requirements are being transformed into legal traps by making specific policy mandates material,” a source within technology contracting told Nextgov/FCW. “Companies are increasingly worried about contractual retribution, and the concern that the administration may use its power of suspension and debarment, traditionally reserved for the most bad-faith actors, against firms that aren't in lockstep with the latest executive priorities.”

That source also said there are new questions surrounding how the government will decide if a company is a fit partner and if it is now more subjective.

“Contractors fear their past corporate decisions or public stances are scrutinized through new lenses from the administration, the fear that you can be disqualified for lack of integrity or lack of compliance with those views, not because you've done a poor job,” they said.

That concern highlights the lack of clear guidance and resulting fears reverberating through the tech industry.

“The most common question that we've gotten is just: ‘Have you seen any official guidance on this? Have you seen anything officially posted anywhere? Have you seen anything that would pass for actual policy that could be held up?’ And, unfortunately, so far, the answer to that has been no,” the second tech industry source said.

Beyond uncertainty surrounding guidance in contracting with the federal government, companies share similar concerns with Labrynth in terms of whether or not internal Anthropic use will impact their ability to work with the government.

New draft guidance from the General Services Administration offers some clarity, suggesting the government is looking for more freedom as to how to use procured technology systems.

Quinn Anex-Ries, a senior policy analyst at the Center for Democracy and Technology, said the draft terms and conditions serve as the most recent resource to help guide companies and AI developers in working with the government, and that it centers on “unbiased AI principles” for large language models. Anex-Ries said these latest updates to previous GSA memos on AI acquisition may offer clarity but include terms that would undermine “key safety measures in AI systems.”

“Implementing GSA's draft terms and conditions across all AI solicitations and contracts in the federal government could result in systems with fewer safety protections and worse outcomes, and a vendor community that is reticent to push back when their products are used unsafely,” Anex-Ries said.

The second tech industry source told Nextgov/FCW that the draft GSA language will weed out vendors — potentially more than the administration anticipates — due to how broad the language is written.

They added that the GSA draft guidelines include verbiage that is not typical contracting language, which offers limited clarity.

“There are a lot of terms used in [the GSA draft guidelines] that are not defined,” they said. “The whole point of having contract language is to give clarity on the terms of the contract so that there's something that's enforceable.”

One senior government official told Nextgov/FCW that, following the Anthropic ban, the government is trying to send a message to the technology sector about being a “disciplined buyer” of advanced systems.

“For a long time, the balance in government technology procurement has favored vendors, particularly in emerging areas like AI where the market is moving quickly,” the official said. “What you’re seeing now is a willingness to set clearer expectations with industry that access to federal markets requires transparency, fair terms, and a genuine partnership with government. Most companies understand that and are adapting to it.”

Earlier executive policy memos offer insight into the Trump administration’s priorities in contracting and procurement, particularly within the AI landscape. Pursuant to President Donald Trump’s July 2025 executive orders, the Office of Management and Budget issued a memo to instruct agencies to evaluate if the large language models they use comply with the White House’s “unbiased AI principles.”

Other documents, including the April 2025 OMB memo outlining AI procurement management guidance, left industry wondering how stipulations in this order would be executed.

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Old-school spycraft could make a comeback as AI undermines trust

David DiMolfetta — Thu, 02 Apr 2026 10:00:00 -0400

Artificial intelligence is widely expected to revolutionize intelligence gathering, enabling faster, cheaper and more scalable collection of information. But a new analysis suggests the technology may also spur a return to some of espionage’s oldest methods.

The recent article published in Studies in Intelligence, the CIA-backed academic journal, argues that, as AI degrades the reliability of digital communications like text messages and video calls, traditional human intelligence tradecraft — like dead drops, brush passes and in-person meetings — could regain renewed importance.

The same technologies that enhance intelligence gathering may ironically make it harder to trust the data those tools produce or transmit, argues the author, Thomas Mulligan, a RAND Corporation researcher who served in the CIA from 2008 to 2014.

AI is already being used to generate convincing deepfakes and fabricate messages. These tools, his paper argues, introduce a new source of “noise” into digital communications, which he says is making it harder to distinguish between authentic and synthetic signals.

That erosion has implications for how spies communicate with their sources.

“If my friend tells me, face-to-face, that he is in trouble and needs money, I can be confident that that’s true,” Mulligan writes. But when the same message is delivered through an electronic medium, it becomes “more likely a scam than a bona fide plea for help.”

That dynamic elevates the value of communication methods that are not mediated through electronic means.

A properly executed dead drop, for instance, allows an intelligence officer to securely receive information while also verifying that it came from a specific human source, rather than an AI-generated deception, he says. A dead drop involves a secret location used to exchange information or physical items between people without requiring them to meet face-to-face.

The same logic applies to brief, in-person exchanges like brush passes, in which spies and sources pass materials to one another during a quick, seemingly routine encounter in public.

The argument runs counter to assumptions that advances in AI will diminish the role of human intelligence, or HUMINT, in favor of more technical collection methods.

Long before the advent of spy satellites and tailored computer hacking kits, human intelligence dominated espionage as the world’s oldest form of spying. From royal couriers and informants in the Persian Empire carrying sensitive information across imperial networks to the Culper Spy Ring’s use of invisible ink and dead drops during the American Revolutionary War, intelligence once solely moved through people.

In recent months, the Trump administration has made it a point to highlight contributions that CIA operatives have made toward its national security achievements, including efforts targeting the government of ousted Venezuela leader Nicolás Maduro. The agency has also taken a more public-facing posture, releasing recruitment videos aimed at sourcing in China. And in the months leading up to the Iran war, agency spies had been reportedly tracking the movements of now deceased Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

At any given time, the CIA, the nation’s primary human intelligence agency, may be operating across dozens of countries worldwide to collect foreign intelligence or conduct covert action — activities intended to influence political, economic or security conditions abroad, while concealing the U.S. government’s role.

Mulligan’s paper also comes as the tech industry has pushed for AI adoption across government agencies, including offices focused on national security and intelligence. In February, the CIA announced a major overhaul of its technology procurement process, as part of an effort to more quickly adopt leading-edge capabilities for use in its missions.

In a phone interview, Mulligan said AI may play a more permanent role in helping human spies craft better-sounding communications, just as cyber experts have argued that AI tools greatly enhance and scale bad actors’ phishing campaigns.

“A core part of being a case officer and human intelligence operations is persuasion, talking to a prospective agent or a recruited agent and trying to convince him or her to do things that can be difficult, can be dangerous and can be stressful,” he said. “I think AI has a constructive role to play, from the point of view of a case officer, in enhancing his or her ability to persuade.”

But there’s a prevailing question about how much intelligence practitioners risk when they outsource tasks to AI. Gathering intelligence from other people “is a human business at the end of the day, and it does involve an agent and a case officer as a team engaging in a difficult and sometimes dangerous relationship,” Mulligan said.

“My view,” he added, “is that [HUMINT] will have to have a human element — a real, essential human element — for the foreseeable future.”

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Startup debuts agentic AI assistant for war

Patrick Tucker — Thu, 02 Apr 2026 09:30:00 -0400

The Pentagon is eager to incorporate AI “agents”—software that can autonomously execute complex tasks like customer service, scheduling, or code writing—into more of what soldiers and defense civilians do. But a growing body of research shows that agents built from well-known large language models exhibit unpredictable and dangerous behaviors even in benign settings.

Edgerunner AI, a veteran-founded startup, built a different kind of agent tool for the military, one trained by former operators and experts on actual military tasks and in real combat settings. The Wednesday release of the new tool, WarClaw, is part of a trend away from large, big-name frontier models toward smaller, more custom ones that offer more user control.

Public interest in what’s called “agentic AI” rose 6,100 percent between Oct. 2024 and October 2025. Demand for software that can autonomously achieve complex tasks by designing and implementing processes and then fine-tuning the results without continuous prompting is forecast to rise from $4 billion last year to more than $100 billion by 2030.

The Defense Department is moving on the trend early. In January, as part of its AI strategy rollout, it announced development of an “Agent Network” to build “AI-enabled battle management and decision support, from campaign planning to kill chain execution” and to build a “playbook for rapid and secure AI agent development and deployment” for business processes.

Edgerunner’s AI agent, WarClaw, “searches and analyzes databases, interprets intelligence reports, pulls relevant information from the web, drafts documents and briefings, and automates routine processes. Integrations include Microsoft PowerPoint, Word, Excel, Teams, Outlook, and more,” according to a company statement. But it is very different from similar tools from well-known model makers like Anthropic, xAI, or OpenAI.

Tyler Xuan Saltsman, the founder of Edgerunner AI, told Defense One in an exclusive interview that agents that come from such companies pose a particular risk to the military; the claim is backed by recent scholarship.

In March, scientists from Harvard, MIT, and others found agents built from Anthropic’s Claude or Kimi, and then run in OpenClaw (agent software that works with large language models), exhibited “unauthorized compliance with non-owners, disclosure of sensitive information, execution of destructive system-level actions, denial-of-service conditions, uncontrolled resource consumption, identity spoofing vulnerabilities, cross-agent propagation of unsafe practices, and partial system takeover.”

AI agents also offer an “illusion of control,” which is particularly dangerous in military contexts, according to a March paper from Cornell University. The researchers found that agentic systems can absorb corrections or resist assessments in ways that military planners and monitors can’t see because the processes to expose them don’t exist. “A waypoint-following drone cannot misinterpret an instruction; a pre-programmed targeting system cannot absorb a correction; a conventional sensor network cannot resist an operator’s assessment. Agentic systems can do all of these things, and current governance frameworks have no mechanisms for detecting, measuring, or responding to these failures,” the authors write.

AI agents derived from the most well-known large language models also don’t like following orders from military commanders, rejecting commands some 98 percent of the time, according to a paper Saltsman co-wrote. He told Defense One that his time working with these models compelled him to adopt a completely alternative approach to model development.

WarClaw

Products from OpenAI, Anthropic, and Grok represent only one way to develop high-functioning models—a method built on harvesting huge amounts of data from the internet and then both training and running them in large, energy-intensive data centers. Because these models are mostly consumer-facing, they’re designed to keep users asking questions, contributing prompts and data, and looking at advertisements. Those incentives help to explain why the models respond to users with flattery and reassurance, even when users are wrong.

Saltsman said the chronic inclination toward sycophancy in popular large language models is a national security problem, broadly. But for the military, it’s an even bigger risk.

So Edgerunner AI took a different tack. They use large enterprise cloud resources to train the models, but the models are capable of running on premises with no internet connection, which is essential for military operations. That gives the user much more control over how much (or little) energy goes into them. Unlike better-known large language models, they are trained on a highly curated data set that’s specific to the military, and the trainers include military subject matter experts and former operators.

Most importantly, he said, the agents are designed to run autonomously, saving the operator time and attention. But autonomous does not mean without human supervision or control. The models can’t just pick whatever strategy they might like to complete a task without their operator's permission. And the processes are designed to be auditable and transparent, as opposed to the opaque functioning of other models.

That unique approach has caught the attention of military users via contracts and cooperative research and development agreements with the Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School that trains special forces groups, and Special Operations Command. The company is working with the Navy to integrate their software onto submarines and warships, via the Interagency Intelligence and Cyber Operations Network, and they are working with Lockheed Martin and the Army on the Next Generation Command and Control system.

The unique attributes of their approach to model building—curated data, communication independence, and control over process—are also what civilian users increasingly want from AI, according to surveys. That suggests future dual-use potential for the company in an environment where both consumers and warfighters are looking for alternative futures for AI.

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GALT Aerospace gets Godspeed's backing

Ross Wilkers — Wed, 01 Apr 2026 11:47:00 -0400

GALT Aerospace, a maker of networking and sensing systems for airborne platforms, has accepted an investment from private equity firm Godspeed Capital Management to help shape the next phase of the company’s strategy.

GALT opened for business in 2015 with the full name of Global Air Logistics and Training Inc. and focuses on technologies for use in C3 missions — command, control and communications. The San Diego-headquartered company touts its systems as in use across the Air Force, Marine Corps and Navy.

Through this transaction announced Wednesday, GALT will invest in its tech development initiatives with the goal of further scaling the company’s presence nationwide. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

GALT’s strategy also prioritizes the U.S. military’s joint all-domain command-and-control vision, also known as JADC2, for connecting every soldier and system in the field.

San Diego-headquartered GALT designs its systems for use in applications such as airborne networking, multi-domain communications, and radio and waveform integration. GALT also describes rapid prototyping and systems engineering as among its core service lines.

Godspeed’s portfolio of companies in the government market also includes Aurex, Crimson Phoenix and NextPoint Group.

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OceanSound Partners hauls in $3.4B for third fund

Ross Wilkers — Wed, 01 Apr 2026 11:46:00 -0400

OceanSound Partners, a private equity firm focused on technology integrators working in government and highly-regulated markets, has fetched $3.4 billion in capital commitments for its third main fund and related vehicles.

That figure is more double the amount collected for OceanSound’s second fund, which closed in late 2024 at $1.5 billion, and it exceeds the third fund’s hard cap of $2.9 billion.

Fund II is largely invested with some capital remaining for follow-on acquisitions by portfolio companies, OceanSound said Wednesday.

OceanSound was founded in 2019 by CEO Joe Benavides, formerly a partner at Veritas Capital and a managing director at The Blackstone Group.

OceanSound typically invests between $75 million and $350 million to acquire controlling ownership positions in companies, whose touted enterprise values are usually in the range of $150 million-to-$750 million.

Like with most PE firms, follow-on transactions are a regular feature for OceanSound for each of its portfolio companies. OceanSound first invested in the digital transformation specialist SMX in 2019 and has since supported several acquisitions to further scale out that company.

Then in 2024, SMX moved into $1.15 billion continuation fund in 2024 that OceanSound created and Apollo Group entered into as a major partner.

OceanSound’s portfolio of companies in the government market also includes the likes of Antenna Research Associates, Certerra, DMI and Lynx.

Paul Weiss worked as legal counsel for OceanSound, whose exclusive global placement agent was UBS.

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Agency CIOs must supply top-down IT contract information, OMB memo states

Natalie Alms — Wed, 01 Apr 2026 10:00:00 -0400

The Office of Management and Budget is set to compile a centralized view of government technology contracts under new guidance released Tuesday.

The memo, signed by OMB director Russ Vought, directs chief information officers at large agencies to notify OMB of all IT contracts they sign off on for their agency on a monthly basis from May through October.

In addition to “all contracts or other agreements for IT or IT services,” the guidance directs top-level CIOs to notify OMB of contracts approved by a delegate if those contracts facilitate public-facing digital services. The Pentagon is exempt from the requirements, as are national security systems and smaller agencies.

The federal CIO, Greg Barbaccia, previewed the new guidance for Nextgov/FCW earlier this year, saying that he wanted to ramp up enforcement of the the Federal Information Technology Acquisition Act, or FITARA, a 2014 law that put CIOs in control of their agencies’ IT investments.

Even with FITARA being in place for over a decade, the power that CIOs have over government IT in practice varies across agencies and has long been a subject of congressional oversight as a result.

“What we want to do is make sure that CIOs are fully empowered to be there at the beginning of conversations, that they are part of the formulation of budget and policy from liftoff,” Eric Ueland, deputy director for management at OMB, said of the administration’s intentions for CIOs earlier this year.

As for OMB’s desired visibility into IT contracts, getting a top-down view of government spending has long been difficult, as the Government Accountability Office has reported. Even within agencies, a lack of visibility on spending has led to wasted money on duplicative software licenses, the watchdog has found.

"Without collaboration and ongoing oversight, we see overspending on products that aren't used, the same software billed multiple times at different prices, service agreements that don't align with agency missions and ultimately, wasted taxpayer dollars," Barbaccia said in a video announcing the new memo.

OMB’s new memo also directs agencies, including the Pentagon, to ask current vendors for information on each agency’s utilization rates and prices paid for IT products and services — and to require that disclosure moving forward in new solicitations and contracts. Agencies are then to share that information with OMB and the General Services Administration.

“Governmentwide sharing of this information will result in more informed procurement decisions, reducing time and cost burdens for both the Federal workforce and industry,” the memo says, tying the push for contract information to the Trump administration’s efforts to consolidate procurement more broadly.

"No more on-off buys, no more charging different prices for the same tools, banking on the fact that they won't or can't find out," said Barbaccia.

Editor's note: This article has been updated to include comment from the federal CIO.

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AI boat maker Saronic smashes $9 billion valuation

Lauren C. Williams — Wed, 01 Apr 2026 09:30:00 -0400

Robot shipbuilder Saronic raised nearly $2 billion to expand production and develop new vessels as the Navy seeks refined options for medium unmanned surface vessels.

“We're going to continue to scale and build out our shipyard in Franklin, Louisiana, and then we're going to invest heavily into Port Alpha, which is going to reshape the entire shipbuilding industry,” said Saronic CEO Dino Mavrookas, referring to a manufacturing plant it is building at an undisclosed site.

The $1.75 billion Series D funding round, led by Kleiner Perkins, brings the Austin-based defense tech startup to a $9.25 billion valuation. The round also included several new-to-Saronic investors, such as Advent International and Bessemer Venture Partners, and existing investors.

Saronic plans to use the money to expand its Franklin shipyard, where it’s building a 180-foot autonomous vessel named Marauder, and to build Port Alpha.

The massive defense tech investment comes as drone boats have proven their usefulness in global conflicts, including Russia’s war on Ukraine and the joint U.S.-Israel war with Iran, and as the U.S. Navy makes strides to integrate autonomous surface vessels into the fleet.

Autonomous surface vessels are a booming market with a lot of players. The Navy recently changed its strategy for assessing and buying medium unmanned surface vessels, pivoting to a marketplace focused on existing mature technology that they can choose from at a later date.

That marketplace format will be designed as a “regular and recurring competitive environment for robotic and autonomous technologies,” a Navy official told Defense One.

This move puts more emphasis on companies’ ability to build and deliver robot boats quickly to meet demand. And the Navy’s medium unmanned surface vessel marketplace gives “vendors a chance to propose combinations of attributes that they can deliver” that “align with the Navy’s operational problems,” Bryan Clark, who leads the Hudson Institute’s Center for Defense Concepts and Technology, told Defense One.

Speaking to reporters ahead of Tuesday’s announcement, Mavrookas said the company is “going to invest in Port Alpha. We look forward to sharing the news and the details of that when that becomes available, but that's going to be 10 [times] the capacity of our Franklin location.”

That mega-facility, which is still in the planning stages, is also expected to support building larger autonomous vessels for commercial and defense use.

Saronic is in the process of adding about 300,000 square feet to its Franklin shipyard, to increase production to 20 vessels a year. That expansion is expected to finish this year, a Saronic spokesperson told Defense One.

“Today, we’re focused on completing our Phase 1 expansion in Franklin, which is our existing $300 [million] investment into the shipyard. Demand continues to ramp from multiple customers for our MUSV fleet, and we will focus on meeting that need through continued investment and strategic expansion,” the company said.

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GSA adds 4 woman-owned small businesses to Polaris

Ross Wilkers — Tue, 31 Mar 2026 15:23:00 -0400

Four more companies have joined the roster of first phase awardees for the woman-owned track of Polaris, the massive government-wide contract vehicle agencies can use to buy IT services solutions from small businesses.

GSA’s additional choices of Digital Decypher, Fed Tec, Open San Consulting and The Prospective Group grow the number of Polaris WOSB Pool winners to 51.

Further award phases are in the works and no one has been officially eliminated from consideration, GSA said in its Tuesday notice to announce the new awards.

Polaris has a 10-year duration, inclusive of a five-year base period and up to five individual option years.

Back in February, GSA told 47 woman-owned small businesses they were official winners for phase one of the Polaris WOSB Pool. That move followed GSA’s initial announcement of 55 WOSB firms as “apparently successful offerors,” pending review of whether they were indeed WOSBs.

GSA is taking a staggered approach to making awards for both Polaris and Alliant 3, a companion IT services and solutions vehicle that is full-and-open. The agency received 293 proposals in total for the Polaris WOSB pool.

Polaris’ general small business pool remains the subject of several protests at the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, while the HUBZone pool has 30 final winners and the service-disabled/veteran-owned pool has 23.

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Special Operations Command opens proposal window for $2.6B services contract

Ross Wilkers — Tue, 31 Mar 2026 15:21:00 -0400

Special Operations Command has given small businesses the green light to start working on and turning in bids for a potential seven-year, $2.6 billion engineering and professional services contract.

The new SOF Global Services Delivery contract will succeed the current SOF Core Services Support Contract, which was awarded in 2020 to 46 companies. Both iterations are multiple-award contracts that cover a wide range of SOCOM’s needs in subject matter expertise and other knowledge-based services.

Proposals for SOF Global Services Delivery are due no later than 1 p.m. Eastern on May 13, SOCOM said in a Monday notice to release the final solicitation. SOCOM aims for the period of performance to begin on or around Sept. 2.

The command designed the vehicle to emphasize stability, agility and global reach in support of its missions inside and outside of the continental U.S.

SOCOM’s key priorities for the contract include training development, mission rehearsal, strategic planning, irregular warfare analysis, systems engineering, data management and global operational support.

SOCOM has structured the recompete around six primary work areas:

Educating and training services
Management support
Program management
Engineering and technical services
Professional services
Intelligence professional services
Administrative and other related services

The command will award positions on the new contract to the 15 highest-scored bidders, including ties, via a two-step evaluation process.

Step one involves a strict review of whether bids include all of the required information and follow SOCOM’s directions. Any proposal that is found noncompliant will be removed from the competition.

For step two, SOCOM will evaluate and verify each proposal’s self-score in order to determine if there are discrepancies between that score and supporting documentation. If there is a discrepancy, SOCOM will make adjustments to the claimed score in order to set the validated score for the evaluation.

Inaccurate self-scores based on ambiguous, deceptive, faulty or misleading supporting documentation will be eliminated.

SOCOM has obligated roughly $521 million in task order volume to-date against the current contract, according to GovTribe data. Threat Tec, Prescient Edge, Spathe Systems, Core One Solutions and K2 Solutions are the top five incumbents.

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Judge sides with VA in T4NG2 protest case

Ross Wilkers — Tue, 31 Mar 2026 10:49:00 -0400

A federal judge has denied all remaining protests involving T4NG2 — the Veterans Affairs Department’s main contract for IT modernization and other tech solutions that now looks poised to open for business with this ruling.

U.S. Court of Federal Claims Judge Molly Silfen’s decision is sealed for the time being, but she directed the clerk of the court on Monday to enter her judgment in favor of VA.

Back in May, VA agreed to not start awarding task orders until at least March of this year for the potential $60 billion Transformation Twenty-one Total Technology Next Generation 2 vehicle. VA made that move to give the court enough time to rule on the remaining protests, which totaled 26 at the time.

Silfen then gave those 26 companies a July 14 deadline to file amended complaints that would have continued their protests, or else they had to drop out of the case entirely.

That left a final group of these 18 protesters, who lost their challenges as of Monday’s ruling:

Arrow Arc
Clearview
Freedom Technology Partners
General Dynamics IT
Innovenue
Intellect joint venture
King Street
Mission Training
OMNI Cares
Pinnacle Computer Technology
Systematic Innovations
T4NG2 JV
ThunderYard Liberty JV
TISTA
Vector Innovative Solutions
Veteran First Technologies
Vision Tech

Attorneys representing the department and the remaining protesters will negotiate a public version of the decision, pending their requests for any redactions.

The potential 10-year T4NG2 vehicle has been the subject of several protests ever since VA first made awards to 30 companies in the fall of 2023, first at the Government Accountability Office and then at the Court of Federal Claims.

VA first substituted one awardee after a size review determined that company was not a small business. The court case started in March 2024, after which VA added three additional firms to the contract after a re-evaluation of their proposals.

Like its T4NG predecessor, the new T4NG2 contract will act as VA’s primary mechanism for acquiring IT services and solutions from industry.

VA has obligated $17.4 billion in task order volume to-date against the current T4NG iteration that expires on June 30, according to GovTribe data.

T4NG2’s final roster of 33 awardees is as follows after Monday’s ruling:

1Tech joint venture
A2E Digital Solutions
Accenture’s U.S. federal subsidiary
Alpha Communications Services
ATL-NG
Booz Allen Hamilton
Canopy Health
Clear Vantage Point Solutions
Credence Management Solutions
Deloitte
Digipathy
Dynamic Government Resources 2
ECS Federal
Galapagos-Intellidyne Solutions
GovCIO
H2 Technology Group
JTech
ManTech
NXG Solutions
Optical Link
Peregrine Digital Services
RP and Partners
Science Applications International Corp.
SCIO JV
SiloDynamics
Starlo Innovation
T4 Designs
Taurian Consulting
Technatomy Corp.
VCH Partners
Veterans EZ Info
Zetta Solutions

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‘We’ll go 40%’: Army wants good-enough tech it can reshape for battle

Meghann Myers — Tue, 31 Mar 2026 10:00:00 -0400

HUNTSVILLE, Alabama— Nine months ago, the 4th Infantry Division’s commander told an audience that he would be perfectly happy to take a piece of tech that does 60 percent of what the Army needs and let his soldiers’ feedback inform the remaining 40. On Wednesday, he said he’d like to switch those ratios.

Gen. Pat Ellis and his soldiers have been helping the Army develop its next-generation command-and-control software as the service tries out its new approach to acquisition, taking existing technology and putting it into the field as developers stand by to integrate soldier feedback.

“We'll go 40 percent,” Ellis said at the AUSA Global Force Symposium. “We don't want the product to be perfect. The soldiers actually want to be active participants in the development process.”

That approach wouldn’t necessarily work everywhere, he added, but it makes sense for software development at least.

The Army is doing something similar with its M1E3 Abrams tank and XM-30 Mechanized Infantry Combat Vehicle: delivering the bones of the vehicles to soldiers, whose feedback will inform what they need in terms of software, sensors and weapons.

It’s a drastic departure from the Army’s past acquisitions model, which involved long lists of requirements and a “black eye” if a company didn’t deliver exactly what the Army had asked for, the service’s Portfolio Acquisition Executive for C2/counter-C2 said.

“And so a test report that may say that it's not effective or effective with limitations, I mean, this was a significant emotional event for a lot of programs, and I think we've really kind of like short-circuited that,” Joe Welch said.

There’s no longer an expectation of perfection out of the gate, Welch added, and the Army is working hard with vendors to communicate that an offering that still needs work is no longer going to put them out of the running.

“In fact, you know, as you just heard, there's a preference that it's that it's not,” Welch said. “Because perfect, in some ways, means that, well, then you're done iterating on it. You're done making it better.”

During 4th ID’s Ivy Sting series to test out NGC2, Ellis said, he has convened so-called “solution summits” to talk about challenges and next steps with soldiers, vendors and even potential vendors.

“We bring everybody in and say, let's talk about this problem. Some folks are on the contract. Some folks are not,” he said. “We just talk about, ‘Hey, look, we've done airspace management, we've done chat functionality, we've done maps, we've had a lot of these challenges that we're seeing.’ And this lets everybody kind of talk about and kind of hear where the industry partners will go in that space.”

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NIH opens the bidding for $3B professional services recompete

Ross Wilkers — Mon, 30 Mar 2026 16:56:14 -0400

The National Institutes of Health is now ready for industry to start working on and submitting proposals for a potential $3 billion, multiple-award professional services recompete contract focused on supporting intramural and vaccine research.

NIH’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases uses the contract to acquire industry help in scientific, management, administrative and technical activities. Known as PSTSS, the Professional Scientific and Technical Support Services vehicle is primarily focused on activities at the Division of Intramural Research and Vaccine Research Center.

Bids for the five-year PSTSS contract are due to NIH by 3 p.m. Eastern time on April 27, NIH said in a Thursday notice to release the final solicitation.

NIH has obligated $531.4 million in task order volume to-date against the current contract, which was awarded in 2018.

GovTribe data pegs Guidehouse as the leading incumbent with having booked 45% of the work, followed by Axle Informatics at 26% and Gap Solutions next at 15%. Guidehouse inherited its incumbency through the acquisition of Dovel Technologies in 2021.

For the recompete, NIH is breaking out the evaluation criteria into technical factors and cost/price factors. The technical aspects of proposals cover recruitment capability, retention capability, management approach and corporate experience.

NIH is particularly interested in working with companies that have professional expertise in microbiology, molecular biology, biochemistry, infectious diseases, immunology, bioinformatics and vaccine research.

The scope of work also includes support for NIH’s international research efforts and the agency’s participation in responses to health crises around the world. This can include clinical trials, basic and applied research, and other efforts aimed at expanding the world’s base of biomedical knowledge.

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State starts to set up global logistics recompete

Ross Wilkers — Mon, 30 Mar 2026 13:21:00 -0400

The State Department has started the process to set up the recompete of its primary contract for logistics and other professional support services around the world.

Originally awarded in two batches, the Diplomatic Platform Support Services contract focuses on lifecycle support and operations-and-maintenance work with an eye toward being ready for contingencies. State awarded the full-and-open portion in 2019, then the small business set-aside pool in 2023.

Small businesses that are in or considering joint ventures to pursue the new contract are encouraged to respond to the request for information released Thursday, which represents State’s first move for the emerging DiPSS II effort.

State has obligated roughly $2.5 billion in order volume against the current DiPSS contract to date, according to GovTribe data. Parsons Corp. inherited its incumbency through the 2022 acquisition of Xator Corp., which has been awarded the lion's share of the work at 93%.

DiPSS II will continue the current iteration’s lines of work that include program management, construction, life support, logistics and supplies, medical and emergency operations, maintenance and security support.

State anticipates a large portion of the new contract will focus on locations in the Middle East and South-Central Asia, much like with the current version.

The RFI asks respondents to detail whether they intend to develop a joint venture that would pursue the new contract, plus explain the nature of the JV and who the managing member company would be.

State also is asking for information on a company or JV’s ability to hire qualified personnel for working in austere locations and whether a cost-type contract can be accommodated.

Responses to the RFI are due by 3 p.m. Eastern Time on April 16.

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KBR wins $200M Transportation IT support recompete

Ross Wilkers — Mon, 30 Mar 2026 13:16:00 -0400

KBR has won a five-year, $200 million blanket purchase agreement to continue its IT and professional support work at a key Transportation Department hub focused on research and study programs.

The Volpe National Transportation Systems Center focuses on modernization efforts related to physical safety, cybersecurity, environmental impacts and traffic management. Approximately 600 federal employees work at the Volpe Center, whose primary mission is to advance innovation and help transform the future of transportation systems.

Transportation awarded the pact on Thursday and received four proposals, according to Sam.gov records.

NASA and the Defense Department are examples of other federal agencies that work with the Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Volpe Center. State and local governments, industry and academia also draw on Volpe’s expertise in human factors research, system design, resource allocation and other key aspects of transportation and logistics.

A sources sought notice from July 2024 breaks out the work KBR will continue performing into five primary functional areas:

Technology assessments and modernization
System analysis, development, deployment, field support and analytical research analysis
System and enterprise architectures and frameworks
Lab facility and operations support
Management and administrative support

KBR can trace its incumbency back to 2010, when Stinger Ghaffarian Technologies first won the work. KBR inherited that contract in 2018 through its acquisition of SGT and won the recompete in 2021.

GovTribe data indicates Transportation has obligated $148.3 million in task order volume against the current contract, which is slated to expire on March 31.

In the fall of 2025, KBR announced its intention to spin off the company's government services business into an independent publicly-traded company.

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WT 360: NextGov/FCW’s Natalie Alms on the early days of DOGE and its cost-cut decisions

Natalie Alms and Ross Wilkers — Mon, 30 Mar 2026 06:00:00 -0400

Cuts to contract and grant spending, including outright cancellations, were a feature of the Department of Government Efficiency’s activities during the first year of the Trump administration and some lawsuits followed from those impacted.

Natalie Alms, senior correspondent at NextGov/FCW, worked with our colleague and fellow senior reporter Eric Katz at Government Executive to watch 23 hours of testimony in one of those cases that sheds light on DOGE’s goals and the pressures to meet them.

“Nat” joins our Ross Wilkers for this episode to explain what she and Eric discovered in reporting out a story that is still working its way through the judicial system, but is showing enough of the atmosphere and environment surrounding DOGE.

Nat also goes over her findings on how some technologists joining the government workforce can remain connected to their private sector employers and summarizes the White House budget office’s ongoing review of federal contracts.

If you have a tip you'd like to share, Natalie Alms can be securely contacted at nalms.41 on Signal.

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Federal contractor DEI initiatives singled out in latest Trump executive order

Sean Michael Newhouse — Fri, 27 Mar 2026 15:14:41 -0400

President Donald Trump on Thursday signed an executive order targeting diversity, equity and inclusion programs at companies that are federal contractors.

While contractors are already subject to anti-DEI directives that the president enacted at the start of his second term, Trump wrote that this new order is necessary because “some entities continue to engage in DEI activities and often attempt to conceal their efforts to do so.”

Under the directive, agencies must ensure that contracts and subcontracts, within 30 days, include a clause that states the contractor:

Will not engage in DEI activities.
Agrees to provide information and reports to assess compliance.
Acknowledges that noncompliance with the order could lead to the termination or suspension of the contract and the company being barred from future government contracts.

The order defines “racially discriminatory DEI activities” as “disparate treatment based on race or ethnicity in the recruitment, employment (e.g., hiring, promotions), contracting (e.g., vendor agreements), program participation or allocation or deployment of an entity’s resources.”

While noting that racial discrimination in employment has been illegal for decades, Julia Judish, a special counsel at Pillsbury law firm, said that the inclusion of “recruitment” in the definition is an “about face” for federal contractors.

Government contractors had been required to implement affirmative action programs, but on the second day of his second term, Trump repealed an executive order from the 1960s that mandated such a requirement. Consequently, the Office of Federal Contract Compliance, a Labor Department agency that enforced the directive, was significantly downsized.

“It’s the flip of what had been required of government contractors over decades,” Judish said.

She also predicted that the new order will create uncertainty for contractors.

“Does this mean that, if a government contractor participates in a career fair at a historically Black college or university, is that viewed as a racially discriminatory allocation or deployment of their resources in support of recruitment that is more likely to reach potential applicants based on race or ethnicity?” she said. “So there’s a lot of questions.”

The new directive also requires the Office of Management and Budget, in coordination with the Justice Department, assistant to the president for Domestic Policy and Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, to “identify economic sectors that pose a particular risk of entities engaging in racially discriminatory DEI activities based on current or past conduct and issue additional guidance to contracting agencies regarding best practices to ensure compliance with this order within such sectors.”

Additionally, the order authorizes the Justice Department to sue contractors and subcontractors that violate these requirements and mandates changes to the Federal Acquisition Regulation in order to ensure the rules correspond with the new directive.

The second Trump administration has prioritized cutting employees and programs that officials determine perform work related to DEI.

For instance, the Interior Department this month reminded employees that they should report any suspected DEI activities and that doing so is considered to be a protected whistleblower activity.

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Judge blocks DOD's ban on Anthropic, calls it First Amendment retaliation

Nick Wakeman — Fri, 27 Mar 2026 15:04:35 -0400

A federal judge has issued a temporary injunction barring the federal government from enforcing its declaration that Anthropic is a supply chain security risk.

Judge Rita Lin in the U.S. District Court of Northern California is also blocking the government's enforcement of a presidential directive that all government agencies stop using the company’s artificial intelligence products.

Lin cited several grounds in her Thursday ruling, which says the Defense Department’s declaration was retaliation for Anthropic exercising its First Amendment rights.

DOD also violated Anthropic’s due process rights by not giving the company advance notice or an opportunity to respond before the ban went into effect. DOD also did not follow the procedures laid out in the federal law they relied on to ban the company from federal work, Lin said.

The judge also called DOD’s action “arbitrary and capricious” and contrary to the law.

Anthropic has been working with the Defense Department since late 2024 through a partnership with Palantir Technologies. Since March 2025, Anthropic has also gone to market with a standalone product Claude Gov.

The dispute emerged in the fall of 2025 when DOD pushed for unrestricted access to Claude for “all lawful uses.” Anthropic refused to remove two long standing restrictions – no mass surveillance of U.S. citizens and no lethal autonomous warfare.

DOD wanted those restrictions lifted, but Anthropic refused. Negotiations were cordial and Anthropic offered to help DOD transition to another vendor, according to the judge’s ruling.

But things went south in January, when Anthropic and DOD went public with the dispute. CEO Dario Amodei posted an essay that month talking about AI safety, and the company issued a statement on Feb. 26 on its position about how DOD should use AI.

Within 24 hours, President Trump issued his government-wide ban on Truth Social and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth designated Anthropic a supply chain risk.

“Neither the President nor Secretary Hegseth cited any statutory authority for the Directives,” Lin wrote in her ruling.

Anthropic worked for DOD for years and had gone through a lengthy national security vetting process. The company received nothing but praise, the judge wrote.

"The day after the designation was finalized—and before it was communicated to Anthropic—Under Secretary (Emil) Michael and Amodei cordially exchanged drafts of Anthropic's usage terms, with Under Secretary Michael writing to Amodei: 'After reviewing with our attorneys and seeing your last draft (thanks for being fast), I think we are very close here,'" the judge wrote.

On the First Amendment question, Lin found that Anthropic's public statements about AI safety — including Amodei's essay and the company's public statement on its dispute with DOD — were protected speech on matters of public concern.

Courts have long held that matters of public concern are at the core of First Amendment protections.

The judge said the government's own words undermined its national security argument. Trump called Anthropic a "radical left, woke company" and Hegseth attacked its "sanctimonious rhetoric" and "Silicon Valley ideology."

Most tellingly, an internal DOD memo stated that Anthropic's risk level escalated because it was engaging in an "increasingly hostile manner through the press."

"Punishing Anthropic for bringing public scrutiny to the government's contracting position is classic illegal First Amendment retaliation," Lin wrote.

The injunction takes effect in seven days. That timeline gives the government until around April 2 to seek an emergency stay from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, which it has indicated it will do.

Meanwhile, a separate but related case challenging the supply chain designation under a different federal statute is already pending in the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals. That means the legal battle over Anthropic's status as a government contractor is likely to play out on multiple fronts simultaneously.

Anthropic’s battle with DOD and the Trump administration has drawn a variety of supporters, who have filed amicus briefs with the court.

Among them are employees of its competitors Google and OpenAI. Microsoft also filed a brief as did several industry associations.

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Growth, tech and human resources leadership moves across the market

Ross Wilkers — Fri, 27 Mar 2026 14:58:52 -0400

Acentra Health

Mohamed Karama and Nirav Dalal have both taken up senior vice president positions at this technology solutions and services provider.

As senior VP of growth acceleration and performance, Karama will lead Acentra’s work to strengthen its cross-function posture and contribute to accelerate revenue growth. Karama joins Acentra and is a 25-year industry veteran previously of Guidehouse, PwC and Unisys.

Dalal first joined Acentra in 2024 and has moved up to SVP of sales leadership, where he will oversee all aspects of Acentra’s business development and capture management function. His 25-year industry career includes roles at Optum, IBM and Hewlett Packard Enterprise.

Ad Hoc

Sophie Myers has rejoined the digital services company as vice president of its business unit focused on the Veterans Affairs Department, a role she brings 13 years of public sector experience to.

Myers served as the VA’s director of veterans experience services from 2021 to 2025 and oversaw a large portfolio of systems for connecting customers with health care, benefits and other services.

Her prior stint at Ad Hoc was for two years, after which she joined VA. She most recently worked as a customer experience portfolio leader at Science Applications International Corp.

BigBear.ai

Jo Ann Bjornson has joined the artificial intelligence technology integrator as chief human resources officer, a role she brings nearly three decades of industry experience to.

She is a former chief HR officer for V2X. Her career in industry also includes senior HR roles at Leidos and Science Applications International Corp.

Bjornson announced her new role in a LinkedIn post.

Classiq

Chris Reid has joined the quantum computing software provider as head of public sector for the Americas region, a role he brings nearly two decades of public sector experience to.

Classiq has tasked Reid with leading the design and execution of its U.S. public sector strategy that includes work with government agencies and industry partners.

Reid most recently worked as chief of staff at Elastic and is a retired Army brigadier general.

Granicus

John Boerstler, a former chief experience officer at the Veterans Affairs Department, has joined the provider of citizen experience technologies as general manager for its U.S. federal government business.

Boerstler previously led VA’s strategies for enterprise customer acquisition and experience, including the enrollment of millions of veterans into benefits and healthcare programs.

He served in the VA CXO from 2021 to 2024, then joined Ipsos as head of public sector and worked in that role for one year.

Hanwha Defense USA

Reed Tewell has moved up to chief information officer at this subsidiary of the South Korea-headquartered conglomerate, which has prioritized U.S. shipbuilding in its growth strategy.

Tewell first joined Hanwha Defense USA in 2025 as director of IT and enterprise artificial intelligence. Now as CIO, he will lead the business’ overall tech strategy and efforts to use agentic AI in its operations.

Prior to Hanwha Defense USA, the 18-year industry veteran worked as director of IT at Leonardo DRS for five years.

iGov

Charles “Chuck” Reiche will move up to president at the IT solutions and services provider on July 1 after 16 years there, including the past nine as senior vice president of corporate business development.

Reiche will work with CEO Patrick Nevin to shape the next phase of iGov’s strategy and oversee day-to-day operations.

Reiche will succeed the retiring Mike Tyrrell, iGov’s president and COO for 20 years and chief financial officer for the past year. Tyrrell is a 35-year veteran of the industry.

Inadev

Paul Matteucci has joined the digital and business transformation provider as an equity partner and will lead efforts to expand across federal regulatory agencies.

The 25-year industry veteran most recently worked as senior vice president of federal consulting at Maximus, where he led digital transformation programs for both the IRS and Securities and Exchange Commission.

Matteucci is also a former chief information officer for the Office of the Secretary of Defense/Reserve Affairs. Matteucci’s new role at Inadev reunites him with former Attain colleague Manish Agarwal, who recently acquired an equity stake in the company and became chief executive.

Knox Systems

Hemant Baidwan has joined the managed federal cloud provider as executive chief information security officer following two years of service as CISO for the Homeland Security Department.

Baidwan spent 10 years altogether at DHS prior to Knox, where he will lead its cyber efforts and work with industry clients on navigating the government-wide FedRAMP program for authorizing cloud offerings.

Knox completed a $25 million Series A capital raise earlier this month.

Mattermost

Matt Mandrgoc has joined this online chat service provider as vice president of federal, a role he brings 25 years of industry experience to.

Manndrgoc will lead Mattermost’s efforts to expand its network of industry partners that help make the technology more available to government agencies.

His career includes senior roles at Zoom, Extreme Networks and Check Point Software.

Merlin Group

Robert “Bob” Costello, a former chief information officer for the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency, has joined this investment firm as chief digital and information officer.

He will work with Merlin Group’s affiliates and portfolio companies on efforts to build up their posture of delivering technologies to government and critical infrastructure organizations.

While at CISA, Costello led the agency’s enterprise IT strategy and overall tech modernization efforts. He is a two-decade veteran of the Homeland Security Department.

Parsons Corp.

Soo Lagasse will move up to chief human resources officer at the government technology and infrastructure company on April 1 from her current role as senior vice president of global talent acquisition and mobility.

A three-decade industry veteran, Lagasse first joined Parsons in 2021 and has since overseen efforts to expand its internship programs and overall mobility enterprise. Her career includes senior roles at CACI International, Engility Corp. and Raytheon.

Lagasse succeeds Susan Balaguer, who is retiring from Parsons and is also a three-decade industry veteran. They led an overhaul of Parsons’ overall talent function during Balaguer’s tenure as CHRO.

Precise Systems

Michael “Mike” Risik has joined the defense technology integrator as vice president of business development, a role he brings two decades of Navy and defense experience to.

Risik will help oversee Precise Systems’ efforts to expand its engineering and digital transformation offerings across defense and national security programs.

He is a retired Navy Reserve captain and former director of strategic solutions at Valkyrie Enterprises.

Qualis, InTrack and Tektonux

David Walsh has joined this space and missile defense technology integrator as chief strategy officer following its formation by Bluestone Investment Partners through a February merger of three companies.

Walsh will lead this company’s work to integrate its software, hardware and engineering offerings into ready-to-field products for the U.S. military.

The 12-year industry veteran most recently worked as chief technology officer at Parry Labs. His career prior to that includes engineering leadership roles at Collins Aerospace, Leidos and General Atomics.

SentinelOne

Jillian Swenson has joined the cybersecurity company as vice president of federal, a role she brings 26 years of industry experience to.

Swenson will lead SentinelOne’s push to expand its channel ecosystem and availability of its network protection technology for agencies, she wrote in a LinkedIn post on her new role.

She most recently spent five years at Amazon Web Services, where she led efforts to build out the cloud computing hyperscaler’s ecosystem of partners.

Unissant

Shaun Swartz has joined the digital transformation provider as vice president of its defense business, a role he brings nearly three decades of military and industry experience to.

Unissant has tasked Swartz with advancing its growth strategy for the market’s defense segment and working with agencies on moving technologies from pilot efforts to operational deployments.

Swartz most recently worked as senior vice president of growth at Red Cedar Consultancy. His career also includes leadership roles at Science Applications International Corp. and SOS International.

Tria Federal

Sean Vineyard has moved up to senior vice president of growth operations at the digital services company, which he first joined in 2022 amid its formation into Tria Federal.

The 25-year industry veteran and former vice president will oversee Tria’s enterprise business development, capture and growth strategy functions. Vineyard was a vice president at Federal Advisory Partners at the time of its acquisition by private equity firm Sagewind Capital, which used FAP as a building block to create Tria.

His career also includes roles at 11th Hour Service, Kearney, Deloitte and Booz Allen Hamilton.

In October, Tria's CEO Tim Borchert and president Atchut Kanthamani appeared on our WT 360 podcast to explain the company's direction and trends it is seeing across the landscape.

Xcelerate Solutions

Jeffrey Keen has joined the McNally Capital-backed secure IT services provider as senior vice president of federal civilian programs, a role he brings two decades of industry experience to.

Xcelerate has tasked Keen with overseeing program delivery and business development initiatives in support of IT infrastructure modernization efforts at civilian agencies.

Keen most recently worked as senior VP of federal civilian enterprise solutions at CACI International, which he joined in 2024 through its acquisition of Applied Insight. Before that transaction, he was an SVP and general manager at Applied Insight.

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions

David King, the former chief executive of Dynetics, has joined the board of directors at this defense technology maker and will be an independent member.

King led Dynetics as CEO from 2015 until 2020, when Leidos acquired the company for $1.65 billion. He then led the Dynetics subsidiary as group president until his retirement in the spring of 2022.

He has also been assigned to the board’s audit committee.

Redwire

Frank Calvelli, the former Space Force service acquisition executive, has joined the board of directors at this space and defense technology company and will be an independent member.

Calvelli holds the distinction of being the Pentagon's first-ever service acquisition executive solely focused on space programs.

He is also on the board of directors at True Anomaly and the board of trustees at Aerospace Corp.

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