2024’s unfinished business that carries over to 2025

The stories we cover almost never begin and end neatly within a calendar year.

News marches to its own drum beat, so whatever starts out in one year inevitably spills over into the next.

As we look forward to 2025, it’s helpful to look back at 2024 and the stories that will continue to capture our attention.

Of course, the easiest one is Trump 2.0. Appointments, executive orders and budget battles will be the highlights. Expect chaos to be thrown into the mix as well.

We will watch the happenings that affect the government contracting community. Questions around opportunities and challenges will drive our coverage of the new administration.

The second Trump administration is not the only story from 2024 that will continue into 2025. Below is my list, but you should also read Ross Wilkers' take on the coming year as well.

I read his before I wrote mine, so there will be some overlap. But we both bring our own perspectives as you see in Washington Technology each day.

The 2025 Top 100

This is another easy one, but we will likely see significant changes when the next annual rankings come out in June.

How far up will Amentum move from No. 21 after closing its merger with the Jacobs government services business?

How far will Jacobs fall from No. 18?

Jacobs' Next Chapter

Jacobs is looking to remain technology company at its core after that divestiture.

The Jan. 13 episode of our WT 360 podcast will feature my conversation with Shannon Miller, president of strategy, growth and digital at Jacobs. She will describe what this new era means for the company and its federal government work.

CIO-SP4

I love Ross’ Fight Club analogy in his If, Then 2025 commentary.

I do not have much to add, but a list of what to watch in 2025 is not complete without a mention of this contract. It will be interesting to see how the National Institutes of Health's IT acquisition arm digs itself out of this mess.

Groundswell vs the Army, Accenture and SAP

On one level, this is a typical protest story. Groundswell and Accenture Federal Services both pursued a potential $1 billion contract to consolidate various business systems onto a single SAP-based platform. Accenture Federal won and Groundswell has filed a lawsuit to protest the award.

I have to acknowledge that the only public documents available tell Groundswell’s side of the story. But in reading those filings, it is clear that Groundswell challenging the status quo. The Army said it wanted to do something different but then made the award to Accenture Federal, the long-time incumbent.

This is the type of case that potentially could expose the sausage-making aspect of acquisition.

Or it could be settled and just fade away.

Carahsoft and the FBI search

The FBI raid on Carahsoft’s headquarters captured attention and headlines for several days. Carahsoft has maintained business as usual. They are one of Washington Technology’s biggest sponsors and we have continued to hold events at the conference center.

Carahsoft says it is cooperating with investigators. Carahsoft also says the probe centers on a company they used to do business with.

It will likely be some time before the next public action, or that action may never come.

Similar to the Groundswell case, this one has the potential to teach us both the good and bad about how government procurement works.

Peraton’s New CEO

Stu Shea is the architect of Peraton, forming it into a coherent organization from a mis-mash of parts and pieces.

Shea's retirement leaves the next chapter to be written by his successor, Steve Schorer.

Owned by private equity firm Veritas Capital, Peraton is the largest privately-held company on the Top 100 and hit position No. 11 for 2024.

Peraton is almost certainly too large to be a takeover target of another Top 100 company.

The question I think everyone wants an answer to is how will Veritas exit. Will another private equity firm acquire the company? Will Peraton go public?

My money has always been on Peraton going public, which means the questions are about when and how?

I’m not sure if 2025 will be the year we get an answer, but perhaps we’ll see some clues.