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NTT Data hires CGI Federal veteran for U.S. government unit

Nick Wakeman — Tue, 21 Apr 2026 08:00:00 -0400

NTT Data has hired Horace Blackman, a former CGI Group executive, as the new leader of its U.S. federal subsidiary.

Blackman was most recently senior vice president and business unit leader for CGI Federal’s defense, intelligence and space business. He brings more than two decades of experience in the market to NTT Data.

“Horace’s deep expertise and mission first mindset are exactly what agencies need as they modernize at speed,” John Hillen, chairman of NTT Data's federal board of directors, said in a release Tuesday.

Blackman's work experience spans both the public and private sectors, including early work on digital services and enterprise modernization efforts. He has held leadership roles at the Veterans Affairs Department, where he led programs focused on modernizing health care and benefits delivery.

His career in industry includes senior roles at Leidos, Lockheed Martin and Edifecs.

Blackman is a past Federal 100 award recipient and a three-time FedHealthIT 100 honoree. He also has served as rector of the George Mason University board of trustees.

He will lead NTT Data's federal strategic growth initiatives focused on client delivery, secure cloud modernization, artificial intelligence-enabled mission solutions and digital transformation.

“Throughout my career, I’ve seen the profound impact that smart, secure, mission‑aligned technology can have on agencies and the people they serve,” he said. “I look forward to working with this exceptional team to deepen our partnerships, advance innovation and help our clients achieve meaningful mission outcomes.”

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DOD, GSA switch out contractors for resource support program

Ross Wilkers — Mon, 20 Apr 2026 15:29:30 -0400

The Defense Department and General Services Administration have moved to replace Accenture, the lead contractor for Military OneSource -- a program for connecting service members and their families with resources on handling military life.

GSA is running this procurement on behalf of DOD and terminated the original award to Cognosante on Friday for cause, the agencies said in a notice to Sam.gov. Accenture’s U.S. federal subsidiary inherited the contract through its acquisition of Cognosante in May 2024 and proposals for the contract were due in October 2023.

Following the termination, GSA awarded a new contract to Leidos on Friday to take over technology and other support services for a program that covers 4.7 million participants.

Leidos’ contract has a ceiling of $456.3 million, GSA said in a separate award notice. The original contract with Cognosante covered a potential five-year duration, including an initial base year and up to four individual option years.

Military OneSource provides service members and their families with round-the-clock access to information, resources and counseling support. The Internet, telephone, email and artificial intelligence chatbots are among the communication channels available to users.

The lead contractor’s areas of responsibility include program management, call center operations and support, IT operations management, and strategic outreach.

Under the Federal Acquisition Regulation, contracting officers typically issue a cure notice and a show-cause letter to the contractor outlining problems with the program and expectations for remedying those issues. The contractor then usually has a minimum of 10 days, or longer if specified, to cure the problems.

GSA first awarded Accenture Federal Services/Cognosante the contract in July 2024, then undertook a corrective action after Leidos filed a protest claiming the agency did not fully consider the impact of that business combination.

AFS/Cognosante was re-awarded the contract in May 2025 at a $576.1 million ceiling and no protests followed.

Officials at Accenture Federal Services did not respond to our request for comment.

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AI and CMMC: A double-edge sword for defense contractors

AJ Yawn — Mon, 20 Apr 2026 14:50:54 -0400

The Pentagon’s Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification initiative, a program for verifying that defense contractors have implemented the cybersecurity controls required to protect sensitive government information, requires those contractors to take concrete steps to protect controlled unclassified information. These requirements are substantial – if companies fail to comply, they risk losing their contracts.

Recently, the rise of artificial intelligence has added even more complexity to the efforts of contractors to comply with CMMC requirements. This has created a real and immediate problem: AI tools are inadvertently expanding organizations’ CMMC assessment boundaries, introducing new attack vectors into CUI environments and complicating assessments.

For example, an employee may paste a CUI document excerpt into a commercial large language model such as ChatGPT, inadvertently transmitting CUI to a cloud environment not authorized or assessed under the company’s CMMC boundary. Doing this may represent a potential breach of CMMC requirements and a CMMC scope violation.

Additional risk may also be introduced when AI tools are used to draft policies, procedures and system security plan content. AI-generated content looks authoritative but may be inaccurate, generic or describe controls that do not match the actual technical environment. When using AI for these purposes, every implementation description still needs to be verified against the actual environment before it goes into a compliance review.

The good news is that contractors can conversely deploy AI tools to enhance CMMC compliance. Specifically, AI can help by automating the evidence collection process as well as system security plan generation and continuous monitoring.

In the area of evidence collection automation, AI-powered tools can reduce the cost of compliance by assisting with queries of the environment’s identity platforms, configuration management systems and security tools. AI can also help process raw output into consistently formatted artifacts and flag anomalies such as accounts with unexpected permissions, systems not enrolled in endpoint protection and patches that exceed remediation timelines.

When used correctly, AI tools are also effective for supporting the drafting of system security plans. An AI assistant can review a draft plan and identify missing implementation descriptions, inconsistencies between sections or controls that are documented without the appropriate references. In addition, AI can map existing policy documents to the applicable CMMC requirements they satisfy, identifying policy gaps and redundancies.

Also, when applied to continuous monitoring and anomaly detection, AI-based tools can help detect anomalous network behavior that may indicate malicious activity and monitor compliance to ensure that the controls assessed at certification remain in place. And when applied to risk assessment, these tools can process vulnerability scan data, threat intelligence feeds and configuration data to generate risk-prioritized remediation recommendations. This prioritization directly addresses one of the most common challenges in CMMC programs: knowing which of many gaps to fix first given limited resources.

Contractors can employ a five-step process for leveraging AI without creating more compliance risk. First, they need to identify every AI tool in their environment, including commercial AI assistants used by employees on work devices, and categorize them by whether they are deployed on-premise, in a private cloud, or in a commercial cloud. Contractors also must determine whether the tools can access, process or store CUI.

Second, they must assess whether users can input CUI into each of the tools identified in the environment. If the answer is yes, they have to look at whether the tool’s backend is authorized by the government’s FedRAMP program to process CUI.

Third, the organization should update their system security plan to document every AI tool identified as an in-scope asset, the security function it performs and how it is managed and controlled. For AI tools that have been determined not to process CUI, document the justification and the controls that prevent CUI from entering the tool.

Next, they should establish an acceptable use policy for AI that defines which tools are authorized for use on work systems; which categories of information cannot be entered into any AI tool; the approval process for adding new AI tools to the authorized list; and how violations are reported and addressed. Finally, they should train employees on which AI tools they can use, which information categories cannot be processed by AI tools and why. Abstract policy without context does not change behavior.

One caveat: Despite its usefulness in assisting with CMMC compliance, AI output requires human verification. A completeness check that an AI produces is useful, but a human with actual knowledge of the environment must confirm that the implementation descriptions accurately reflect technical reality.

AJ Yawn is the governance, risk and compliance advisor at NR Labs.

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Z SofTech challenges how NASA delivered its SEWP VI elimination notice

Nick Wakeman — Mon, 20 Apr 2026 12:53:29 -0400

Z SofTech Solutions is pushing back on the Government Accountability Office’s dismissal of its SEWP VI protest.

GAO ruled that Z SofTech filed its protests well after the window for raising objections and a second part of the company's protest was insufficiently detailed.

In Z SofTech's request for reconsideration, President Letitia Alexander says they want GAO to take a second look at the entire decision to dismiss the protest.

SEWP VI is the recompete of NASA's popular government-wide contract for IT services and solutions.

On the point of untimeliness, Alexander said NASA sent the notice of z SofTech’s elimination to an unmonitored email address instead of the point contact included in the company’s proposals. The notice was also not accessible through the SEWP portal, Alexander said.

It was nearly two months before Z SofTech discovered the email and then filed its protest with NASA, which dismissed the challenge for being untimely. The company then filed a protest with GAO, which also dismissed it because it was too late.

“The timing of our filings reflects when we had actual notice of the Agency’s actions and when supporting information was developed and submitted, including through a supplemental filing that provided additional detail and documentation referenced in the initial protest,” Alexander said.

NASA eliminated the company because its past performance volume did not meet the solicitation's requirements. Z SofTech argues that it followed NASA’s Q&A guidance on where those materials should be placed.

The company is also raising a consistency issue but it used the same approach to submit past performance in category A and category C. Category C was eliminated but Category A was not.

“That same structural approach was not treated as an issue in Category A, which is part of the broader evaluation consistency question,” Alexander said.

On the point of insufficient detail, Alexander said the focus is on whether the initial decision fully accounted for supporting materials that were part of the record. This includes a detailed CLIN listing and how Z SofTech’s proposal aligned with NASA’s Q&A guidance.

The company also has an ongoing Freedom of Information Act request to gain access to its evaluation record and other communications.

Z SofTech filed its reconsideration with GAO on April 13. GAO expects to make a decision by July 22.

Separately, there are three other protests pending at GAO. NASA plans to extend SEWP V through Sept. 30, 2026.

SEWP V also has option periods that could push the end date out to April 30, 2027.

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Delivery, tech and operations leadership moves across the market

Ross Wilkers — Mon, 20 Apr 2026 12:47:06 -0400

Agile Defense

Shawn Tyrie has joined the Enlightenment Capital-owned digital transformation specialist as chief revenue officer, a role he brings two decades of defense sector experience to.

“The national security environment we're operating in right now spans great power competition to the proliferation of AI-enabled threats to violent extremist organizations,” Tyrie wrote in a LinkedIn post on his new role. “The diversity and urgency of these missions demand that government and industry close the gap between technological capability and mission execution.”

Tyrie was most recently an executive at the McChrystal Group and is a former senior account executive for Amazon Web Services.

Agile Six

The digital services provider has added two new members to its C-level leadership team from within, only three years after they joined the company.

Jennifer McLaughlin moved up to chief delivery officer and will focus on the health, quality and effectiveness of Agile Six’s services. She most recently held the title of vice president of delivery experience and is a 26-year tech veteran.

As chief innovation officer, Melissa Schaff will lead Agile Six’s work in applied artificial intelligence for government services and efforts to align it with the user experience. Schaff most recently worked as a digital services strategist and is a 13-year tech veteran.

Anser

Lynn Chia has joined the nonprofit public service research institute as chief strategy officer, a newly-created role she brings three decades of experience to.

Chia most recently co-founded the water-focused startup Ayon Technologies and is a former leader of HackerOne’s federal business. Her career also includes stops at Serco Inc., Deloitte and Booz Allen Hamilton.

Anser focuses on studies and analyses in national security, homeland security and public policy.

D&G Solutions

Trish Csank has joined the logistics and supply chain management specialist as vice president of strategy and mission solutions, a role she brings three decades of experience to.

Csank most recently worked as a vice president at LMI, where she helped lead different areas of its supply chain-focused businesses.

She is also a 25-year Air Force veteran and retired colonel whose career in service includes roles such as director of Task Force Liberty for logistics and engineering, plus deputy director of logistics.

Dynanet

Dr. Anthony “Tony” Kirilusha has joined the technology integrator as chief scientific officer, a role he brings 25 years of health care sector experience to.

Kirilusha will help lead efforts to scale Dynanet’s services in areas such as analytics, interoperable data platforms and digital transformation. Health IT is a priority market for Dynanet, which works with the Health and Human Services Department on tech initiatives.

Kirilusha most recently worked as chief scientific officer at Credence. He is also a 10-year veteran of the National Institutes of Health, where he was a program leader in its Office of Strategic Coordination.

Electrosoft

Jamie Holcombe, the former Patent and Trademark Office chief information officer, has joined the cybersecurity and digital engineering company as chief operating officer.

“Throughout my career, one belief has stayed constant: don’t ask to be trusted, build systems like they never will be. That mindset will continue to guide how I approach my new role at Electrosoft,” Holcombe wrote in a LinkedIn post on his new role.

Holcombe was USPTO’s CIO for six-and-a-half years.

Fluor

Stacey Shepard has joined the global engineering and construction company as senior vice president of growth and strategy in its mission solutions group, which houses the government portfolio.

Fluor hired Shepard to aid in its efforts to “sharpen our focus on the markets where we can lead and the services that set us apart,” Al Collins, group president for mission solutions, wrote in a LinkedIn post on the new role.

A three-decade market veteran, Shepard most recently worked as a senior managing director at CBRE. Her career also includes senior roles at Jacobs and AAI Corp.

Google

Lax Jadeja has joined the global tech giant as chief financial officer for its public sector business, a role he brings two decades of experience to.

“It's a privilege to support the teams working at the intersection of technology and public service, helping governments, agencies, and institutions leverage Google's capabilities to solve real-world challenges,” Jadeja wrote in a LinkedIn post on his new role.

Jadeja most recently worked as CFO at Viamo for four years. His career also includes roles at Amazon, Xerox and Computer Sciences Corp.

Ignite IT

David O’Neil has moved up to president at the digital transformation company, which he first joined in 2020 as chief growth officer and most recently was chief operating officer.

O’Neil will work with CEO Steve Pichney on the overall corporate strategy and long-term vision. Ignite IT has also tasked O’Neil with leading its partnership, joint ventures and alliances.

A 26-year market veteran, O’Neil’s career also includes roles at Xcelerate Solutions and Longevity Consulting.

Integrated Data Services

Sujey Edward has joined the business management software provider as chief strategy and innovation officer, a newly-created role he brings nearly two decades of market experience to.

Edward will oversee efforts at IDS to further iterate its core product as the Arlington Capital Partners-owned company pushes for expansion into new markets and works to identify potential acquisitions.

Edward most recently worked as chief technology officer and senior partner at IBM’s U.S. federal business, which he joined in 2023 following Big Blue’s acquisition of Octo. He was CTO at Octo prior to that transaction.

Merlin Labs

Mark Brunner has joined the newly-minted public company as chief revenue officer to help lead efforts at expanding the capability and availability of its autonomous flight operating system.

The 25-year tech and public sector veteran will lead growth initiatives to aid in Merlin’s work at scaling its Merlin Pilot tool, which uses artificial intelligence techniques to gather data during each flight to help it learn and get smarter.

Brunner most recently led public sector growth initiatives at PsiQuantum and before that worked as president of public sector at Primer AI.

Merlin Labs, again

Following its $200 million initial public offering in March, the company has unveiled its seven-member board of directors that includes six independent members.

CEO Matt George was named chairman of the board. Michael Blitzer was appointed lead independent director. Other board members include Kenneth Braithwaite, Kelyn Brannon, Michael Montelongo, Michael Montelongo, Dr. Robert Smith and Carolyn Trabuco.

Northrop Grumman

Chuck Jones has joined the blue chip defense hardware maker as chief information and digital officer for its defense systems sector, a role he brings 16 years of experience to.

“I’ll be leading IT, cybersecurity, and digital strategy focused on enabling mission outcomes through simplified, secure, and data-driven capabilities,” Jones wrote in a LinkedIn post on his new role.

Jones previously worked at vice president of digital operations at RTX’s Raytheon segment. His career also includes roles at Honeywell and General Electric.

Peraton

Justin Ciacco has moved up to president of the government technology integrator’s national aerospace solutions sector, a role that puts him in leadership for the Federal Aviation Administration’s Brand New Air Traffic Control Systems program.

Peraton captured the BNACTS program in December and will oversee an industry team responsible for the overhaul of the U.S.’ aging air traffic control system. The FAA eyes 2028 as when it wants to implement the new system.

Ciacco is a two-decade market veteran and formerly a vice president at Peraton, which he joined in 2021 via its acquisition of the Vion Corp. cloud business.

Radiance Technologies

Darien Hammett has moved up to chief operating officer at the employee-owned engineering services company, which he first joined in 2019 as an assistant vice president.

The three-decade defense veteran will work with CEO Bill Bailey on implementing strategies and growth pursuits, while also overseeing internal processes and efficiency initiatives.

Hammett most recently held the role of executive vice president of Radiance’s defense sector. He is also a 24-year Air Force veteran whose career includes service as military assistant to the assistant defense secretary for acquisition.

Shift5

Jason Hall has joined the venture-backed operational technology and cyber company as vice president of mission delivery, a role he brings three decades of defense experience to.

“I’ll be focused on delivering mission-critical solutions that enhance cybersecurity, predictive maintenance, and compliance across operational technology environments,” Hall wrote in a LinkedIn post on his new role.

Hall most recently worked as a general manager at L3Harris Technologies, where Shift5’s CEO Toby Magsig also came from. Hall is also a 27-year Navy veteran.

Two Six Technologies

The Carlyle Group-owned national security tech integrator has elevated three executives to its C-level leadership team to help shape the next phase of the strategy.

As president, Young Bang will oversee Two Six Technologies’ performance on programs and efforts to expand its pipeline across the defense and intelligence communities. He joined the Two Six team in 2025 after a stint as an operating executive at Carlyle.

In the chief operating officer role, Amy Dalton will lead all of Two Six’s corporate enablement functions and the corporate strategic initiatives group. She has been a member of Two Six’s leadership group since its 2021 inception and most recently was its chief performance officer.

Okla

Mark Peters, chief executive of Mitre Corp. since the fall of 2024, has joined the board of directors at this developer of fast fission power plants that is pushing to convert nuclear fuel into clean energy.

Oklo’s efforts also include development work on advanced fuel recycling technologies in collaboration with the Energy Department and national laboratories.

Peters is one of four new members joining Okla’s board.

Xcelerate Solutions

Jerry Howe, a 35-year GovCon and legal veteran, has joined the board of directors at the McNally Capital-owned secure IT services provider.

Howe most recently worked as general counsel at Leidos from 2017 to 2024, then formally retired from the company in March 2025.

Before Leidos, Howe was a partner at the law firm Fried Frank. His career also includes stints in the general counsel roles at both TASC and Veridian Corp.

York Space Systems

Janine Davidson, Navy undersecretary from 2016 to 2017 and also a former deputy assistant defense secretary for plans, has joined the board of directors at the now-publicly traded small satellite maker.

York Space Systems’ board of directors grows from seven members to eight with the appointment of Davidson, who also becomes a member of the audit committee. She is a nominee of AE Industrial Partners, the private equity firm and controlling shareholder of York.

Davidson has been president of the Metropolitan State University of Denver since 2017.

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WT 360: Noblis and its next 30 years

Ross Wilkers — Mon, 20 Apr 2026 06:00:00 -0400

Noblis was stood up in 1996 as a science, technology and strategy organization that works with federal agencies on creating and rolling out solutions for some of their most complex problems.

Mile Corrigan, chief executive of Noblis, joins for this episode to go over the firm’s blueprint for its future beyond this milestone year of celebrating its 30th anniversary and how technology transition efforts are at the heart of that vision.

The government wants tech to get from lab to field much quicker than before. In talking with our Ross Wilkers, Corrigan explains some of the keys to making that happen from an industry point-of-view.

Corrigan also lays out how Noblis looks at applied science, the firm’s venture investment activity since starting out on that in 2023 and what it means to be a nonprofit in today’s landscape.

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The GovCon uncertainty principle: Navigating the 2026 market collision

Mark Amtower — Fri, 17 Apr 2026 15:10:17 -0400

In quantum physics, the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle states a fundamental limit to what we can know about a particle. The formula suggests that the more precisely you measure a particle's position, the less precisely you can know its momentum, and vice-versa.

In the last 15 months, the federal contracting landscape has reached its own "Heisenberg Point." As the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) slashed the workforce and the FAR Revolution accelerates procurement, contractors are finding that traditional ways of "measuring" the market are failing.

If you focus too much on where the government was (position), you lose the speed required to keep up with where it is going (momentum).

Yesterday’s tactics went into a black hole.

At the recent Visible Thread April Optimize conference, I sat down with Lyle Peterson of VisibleThread to discuss how to survive this quantum shift.

1. The Momentum of the "Commercial-First" Revolution

For decades, the position of a successful contractor was defined by their ability to build custom, "Government-Unique" solutions under FAR Part 15. In 2026, that position is probably a liability. Their win rate was predicated on their relationships and often, incumbency.

The momentum has shifted entirely toward FAR Part 12. Current mandates dictate that if a commercial product meets 80% of a requirement, the agency must buy it.

The "Easy Button": Remaining Contracting Officers (COs)—exhausted by a 40% reduction in staff—are looking for the path of least resistance.
The Amtower Insight: I noted that while commercial-first is a win for speed, it creates a who-you-know vacuum. If you have a great product but no high-trust network, you’re just noise in a very crowded channel. To strike federal gold, you must position your service as a commercial product or risk choosing the hardest path to revenue.

2. The Observer Effect: Surviving the DOGE Ripple

In physics, the act of observation changes the state of the particle. In GovCon, the "Observers" (the feds) are disappearing. With 300,000+ feds gone, the human chokepoint has tightened. This includes the 30% reduction in the senior executive service (and increasing) and the 40% reduction in contracting officers.

The "Survivor" Hunt: How do you network when your primary contact has been DOGE-ed? And who do you network with?
Tactical Pivot: The remaining COs aren't looking for new friends; they are looking for safe bets. Networking in 2026 is no longer about showing up—it’s about identifying the survivors who still hold the checkbook and proving you can help them "close tickets" faster with automated or consolidated solutions.

3. The Certification Wall: CMMC 2.0 & Neo Primes

The Uncertainty Principle also applies to the "Barbell Effect" currently squeezing the market. On one end, we see massive tier-one primes; on the other, highly specialized niche firms. The middle is evaporating.

The Momentum of CMMC: Phase 1 is here and Phase 2 begins Nov. 10, 2026. This is no longer a theoretical exercise. If your status isn't visible in the Supplier Performance Risk System (SPRS), you are effectively invisible to the Defense Department. Your certs need to be visible anywhere you have a digital presence.
The Rise of the "Neo Prime": These agile, mid-tier firms are responding to OASIS+ expansion by behaving like Large Primes. For small businesses, the question is: Do you keep the small business brand, or do you pivot to become a "specialized expert" (SME) within a prime’s ecosystem? There is one correct answer…

4. The Digital Trace: LinkedIn as the New Vetting Tool

If a contracting 0fficer cannot find your "momentum" online, they assume you have no "position" in the market. In my annual Census of Feds on LinkedIn I track the 2.75 million Feds currently on LinkedIn. As the COs use AI tools for vetting, the "LinkedIn Background Check" is now a standard part of the award process.

The Credibility Gap: If the SME listed in your proposal looks inactive or unskilled on LinkedIn, trust is broken before the first meeting. You probably won’t get a meeting.
The 820-Page Map: With 820 federal company pages now active, SMEs must tag and engage with these entities to stay on the radar of a leaner workforce. LinkedIn isn't just social media; it’s a verified data source for a government that no longer has time for many face-to-face activities.

5. The "Go/No-Go" for 2026 Events

Finally, the "Big Hall" trade show is shrinking, replaced by high-density, micro-events, both virtual and live. To determine if an event is worth the booth fee, I offer a DOGE-Proof Checklist:

Survivor Density: Are there federal speakers or attenders with actual signatory authority?
SME/Resume Match: Can your technical leads drive the conversation, or is it just "booth and brochure" fluff?
RFP Pulse: Is the event aligned with a specific contract or "Commercial-First" mandate?

Embracing the Uncertainty- Differentiate of Die

In the 2026 federal market, you cannot stand still. The new normal demands that contractors balance their position (compliance, certifications, and past performance) with momentum (speed of commercial delivery and digital influence). You must be findable, vet-able, credible and your social media presence must match your company web site. Many companies simply won’t survive in this environment.

The goal is to be the SME in a room full of generalists. In a quantum market, the only way to be certain of your future is to move faster than both your competition and the bureaucracy trying to measure you.

This article was inspired by the Visible Thread Optimize Conference April 15.

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AEVEX fetches $320M in IPO proceeds

Ross Wilkers — Fri, 17 Apr 2026 14:37:16 -0400

AEVEX Corp. collected $320 million in its initial public offering that launched Friday after the drone manufacturer offered its shares at $20 each to start out.

The company sold 16 million shares within the previously-signaled price range of $18-to-$21 each, which means the stock hit the public markets at slightly above that range’s midpoint of $19.50.

Based on those figures, AEVEX has achieved a valuation of around $2.2 billion by making its stock available in the public markets. AEVEX is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol "AVEX".

Shares in AEVEX were up 21% to $24.28 at 2:30 p.m. Eastern time and were as high as $25 during Friday's trading day.

Madison Dearborn Partners, the private equity firm that acquired AEVEX in 2020, remains the controlling shareholder through its ownership of more than three-fourths of the combined voting power of its outstanding stock.

By undertaking this IPO, AEVEX and its main backer are looking to tap into rising investor interest in defense companies. Autonomy and space have especially captured the attention of investors amid expectations of spending increases in those areas.

Solana Beach, California-headquartered AEVEX also provides aircraft modification and engineering support in addition to its core business as an autonomous vehicle builder. The company was founded in 2017 by Brian Radunenz, who became executive chairman in the fall after he handed the CEO title over to Roger Wells.

AEVEX posted $432.9 million in revenue for 2025 on a net loss of $16.8 million, while U.S. government work represented about 78% of that sales mix. Funded backlog totaled around $503 million as of Dec. 31.

Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC, BofA Securities and Jefferies are acting as joint lead bookrunning managers for the proposed offering. J.P. Morgan, RBC Capital Markets and Baird are acting as bookrunning managers.

William Blair, Raymond James and Needham & Company are acting as bookrunners. Academy Securities, Capital One Securities and PNC Capital Markets LLC will serve as co-managers.

Below are Wells, Raduenz and other AEVEX executive team members ringing the opening bell on Friday at the New York Stock Exchange.

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Transportation adds digital services to 1DOT initiative with possible $1.9B pact

Nick Wakeman — Fri, 17 Apr 2026 13:54:04 -0400

The Transportation Department is adding digital services to 1DOT, an initiative to modernize and unify its IT infrastructure.

In addition to that, the department is also planning a multiple-award blanket purchase agreement focused on 1DOT.

Secretary Sean Duffy announced 1DOT in August. Then in December, Transportation signed a contract with Google to adopt its cloud-based productivity and collaboration tools.

In this latest move, the department is focusing on software development in setting up the 1DOT Digital Services BPA. Transportation expects to release the final solicitation in August and a estimates a ceiling value of between $1 billion and $1.9 billion, according to a Thursday posting on AcquisitionGateway.gov.

The 1DOT Digital Services BPA will replace the Software Engineering Support 2.0 pact, which previously was under development. To bridge the gap, the department extended the SWES 1.0 BPAs until the end of September.

The new BPA will have a small business pool and an unrestricted pool. The small business pool will be default pool for most tasks with complex, cross-modal projects going to the unrestricted pool.

Transportation is setting up the BPA to acquire specialized software engineering, agile development, cloud-native architecture, artificial intelligence and machine learning solutions for both mission specific and department-wide applications.

Transportation expects the BPA to run from March 2027 through March 2035.

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Gruenbaum heading for the exit from GSA

Ross Wilkers — Fri, 17 Apr 2026 12:50:38 -0400

Josh Gruenbaum, head of the General Services Administration’s acquisition shop since January 2025, is leaving the government after a tenure marked by pushes for procurement reform and scrutiny on contract spending.

A GSA spokesperson confirmed Gruenbaum’s departure to Washington Technology on Friday. Laura Stanton, deputy commissioner of GSA’s Federal Acquisition Service, will lead the organization as acting commissioner until a permanent successor is appointed.

“GSA is confident that with Laura Stanton as acting FAS commissioner, we will continue to build upon the significant accomplishments achieved over the first 15 months of President Trump’s administration,” a GSA spokesperson said in the statement to WT.

Under Gruenbaum’s leadership, FAS conducted several reviews of federal contracts with particular emphasis on looking at the government’s work with consulting firms and technology resellers.

GSA and FAS also became a focal point for the Trump administration’s efforts to reform government acquisition. This included the implementation of President Trump’s executive order to make GSA the central clearinghouse for the government’s purchases of common goods and services, including IT.

Federal News Network first reported Gruenbaum’s departure.

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GSA drops 'disadvantaged' from small business office name

Nick Wakeman — Fri, 17 Apr 2026 10:00:00 -0400

The General Services Administration is changing the name of its Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization to the Office of Small Business.

A blog post to announce the change by Greg Justice, associate administrator for the renamed office, says that GSA wants to take a “more holistic, consultative approach to our support for America’s small businesses.”

By dropping the emphasis on disadvantaged businesses, the change also reflects the Trump administration’s efforts to roll back policies focused on diversity, equity and inclusion.

Justics also writes that the statutory authorities under the Small Business Act remain unchanged. Only an act of Congress can change those authorities, which include set-aside goals for 8(a) small businesses.

Justice called the new name a “new secondary title,” which also tracks back to the Small Business Act. This law created the Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization.

The change is similar to how the Trump administration now calls the Defense Department the Department of War. The legal entity is still the Defense Department because changing the name would require Congress to approve the change.

Justice also ties the name change to the Revolutionary FAR Overhaul, which also has de-emphasized the use of 8(a) firms and other categories of economically disadvantaged businesses.

“Small businesses are not only the backbone of our economy, they are also an important source of innovation, creativity, and agility for GSA and our partner agencies,” Justice wrote.

Justice said the Office of Small Business will ensure compliance with small business requirements ans act as a consultant to acquisition professionals and industry to bring capable small businesses into the market.

“Our role is to make sure those businesses have a clear path to compete, grow, and help shape the future of federal procurement, ensuring agencies get the best products and services at the best value,” he wrote.

The blog leaves several questions unanswered, including whether all federal agencies will change their OSDBU to Office of Small Business. It is also an open question of whether more resources including personnel will flow to these offices now that “disadvantaged” has been de-emphasized.

GSA officials did not respond to our request for comment as we published this story.

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Pentagon announces senior appointments to CIO’s office

Edward Graham — Thu, 16 Apr 2026 14:18:00 -0400

The Pentagon formally announced on Wednesday that five officials received new appointments within the Office of the Chief Information Officer to help manage the department’s sprawling technology landscape.

The personnel will help fill out the senior leadership team for Defense Department CIO Kirsten Davies, who was sworn into her role in December.

"Their collective expertise in cybersecurity, defense innovation, and enterprise-level strategy is exactly what we need to accelerate our mission,” she said in a statement. “Their leadership will drive transformation across the entire CIO enterprise, cutting through bureaucracy to deliver secure, cutting-edge technology to our warfighters.”

Kayla Huthoefer Nelson was named OCIO’s new chief of staff, where she will be responsible for managing the office’s operations. The department noted that she has held senior positions at BAE Systems and Clarity Innovations, and previously served as a defense advisor to the Colorado Aerospace and Defense Economic Council.

DOD said Nelson will be taking over the position held by Vishal Aswani, who is transitioning to a new temporary role as special advisor for transformation within the office, where he “will guide the OCIO’s large-scale organizational change and business process re-engineering efforts.”

Marci McCarthy, who previously served as the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency’s director of public affairs, was also appointed as the DOD CIO office’s director of external engagements.

OCIO also announced the appointment of two officials who will have a more targeted focus on leveraging new technologies, such as artificial intelligence.

Ryan McArthur, a retired Army signal chief warrant officer, is joining the office as the special advisor to the CIO for capability development and operational excellence. DOD said he previously led the Defense Information Systems Agency’s Joint Warfighting Cloud Capability program at the Defense Information Systems Agency — a roughly $9 billion contract to enhance and streamline the department’s cloud capabilities.

In his new role, the Pentagon said McArthur “will provide critical counsel on emerging technologies and guide the Department’s most complex technical initiatives.”

Finally, DOD said that David Vaughn has been named OCIO’s technical advisor for data infrastructure, where he will provide “expertise on data and AI initiatives.” Vaughn has served for nearly three decades in the U.S. Army Reserves, attaining the title of chief warrant officer 4 in its cyber branch. He also worked in the private sector at Equinix and Cyber Defense Technologies, and held senior advisory roles at the 75th Innovation Command and with DISA.

“We are accelerating our work to bring innovative technologies to the fight, support the IT requirements of AI, and engage meaningfully with our allies, partners, and the DIB,” Davies said in a statement. “This team's mission is to ensure America’s fighting force has the decisive digital advantage on any battlefield, and they will make that a reality."

Davies first shared the appointments in a series of X posts on Friday, prior to the department’s Wednesday announcement.

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AI finds the bugs. Humans still have to fix everything else.

A. Stryker — Thu, 16 Apr 2026 14:14:11 -0400

Assume Anthropic's much-discussed Mythos AI model scales perfectly. Assume the economics solve themselves.

Assume every organization that needs Mythos-class vulnerability discovery eventually gets access to it, at a price they can afford, in time to matter. Walk me through your plan.

I'm not being dismissive—I'm being serious. Because that thought experiment is where the AI vulnerability discovery conversation breaks down, and it's where the actually useful work begins.

The Cloud Security Alliance, SANS, OWASP, and a coalition of practitioners who clearly did not sleep last week pulled together a real, rigorous rapid-response brief on Mythos and Glasswing in roughly 48 hours. It's worth reading—not just for the defensive recommendations, which are solid, but for what it admits in the appendix almost as an aside.

The historical collapse in time-to-exploit has not yet produced a proportional increase in the impact of exploitation.

That is, most of the most consequential incidents of recent years involved credential abuse, social engineering, or supply-chain compromise rather than zero-day exploitation exemplified by the Mythos experiment.

The people who wrote the Mythos panic brief included that sentence in the same report that’s being shared widely and quoted breathlessly by headlines… it’s just in the footnotes.

Now, that concession is not a reason to dismiss the genuine capability shift. It's real. Anthropic’s team found a 17-year-old FreeBSD vulnerability—with no human involvement after the initial prompt—and did it fairly accurately, scoring 93.9% on SWE-bench Verified and 83.1% on CyberGym.

I salute and applaud every individual involved for taking the hard road instead of the profitable one.

But back to the thought experiment. Let's say it works. Let's say AI finds everything.

You still need a person to tell the open-source maintainer—the one running a critical project on volunteer time, with no security budget—that there's a critical flaw in their code, and to make them believe it's real and not another hallucinated AI slop report. (The Linux kernel team went from two bug reports a week to ten, initially mostly hallucinated, before the reports became verified—a shift that took time and human judgment to navigate.)

You still need a person to triage which of the 14,400-plus exploits VulnCheck tracked in 2025 actually applies to your environment this week, given your stack and your constraints.

And—more specifically for the Mythos / Glasswing discussion—fewer than 1% of the vulnerabilities Mythos found have been patched, for two main reasons:

Not every vulnerability is worth patching, or even able to be exploited. That triage takes time and expertise from highly trained humans while they correct the outputs from an overeager model presenting every imperfection as zero-day bugs.
Patching at scale is a human coordination problem and always has been.

And I fully predict that in the next few weeks, we’ll have open-source maintainers clicking phishing emails that look like they’re from Glasswing, notifying them about a major vulnerability that the Mythos project was kind enough to find for them.

Because the AI arms race—as real as it is—doesn't change what actually bites most organizations.

It’s the credential abuse. Spearphishing. Supply-chain compromise at the human layer, as the axios-NPM breach after a week-long social engineering exercise showed us recently.

The CSA brief says so. Business email compromise (BEC) attacks outperforming ransomware attacks in operational impact says so. The latest data breach analyses all say so.

The most sophisticated threat actors in the world are not waiting on Mythos-class exploit discovery when a well-crafted pretexting campaign gets them further, faster, cheaper.

Security is only as strong as the people who have to make real-time decisions in its name, every single day—usually without enough context and often under pressure.

I push back on the instinct to respond to AI-accelerated offense with AI-accelerated defense and call it a strategy. Not because AI defense tools aren't valuable—they are—but because "AI vs. AI" is an answer to the wrong question. It leaves that critical human layer not just unaddressed, but actively deprioritized.

And when the AI bill eventually comes due—and it will—organizations that hollowed out their human programs to chase the arms race are going to find out they bought one layer of defense and abandoned another.

The same AI capabilities that make Mythos impressive are already very good at something less dramatic but more universally applicable: getting the right security information to the right person. AI can do that at scale, right now, without a slot in the Glasswing partner program.

Mythos is impressive. Glasswing is serious work. But the organizations that come out ahead of this moment won't be the ones that reacted fastest to the announcement. They'll be the ones that used it to ask a better question: not "how do we match the AI on the other side," but "how do we make sure every person in this organization is equipped to be part of the defense?"

People are the patch. AI helps—when you use it to empower your people, not just replace them.

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Optum's federal arm wins $1.6B military care contract

Ross Wilkers — Thu, 16 Apr 2026 13:19:43 -0400

Optum's federal-facing subsidiary has won the recompete of a massive Defense Health Agency contract covering a wide range of care services to support military readiness.

The Remote Health Reserve Program-4th Generation Support Services contract has a $1.6 billion ceiling value over up to 10 years, DHA said in its Thursday award notice that indicates four proposals were submitted.

DHA has tasked OptumServe Health Services to aid in health readiness efforts by active duty, reserve and National Guard components that are responsible for maintaining a deployable force. This includes ensuring uniformed personnel meet medical, dental and other physical health standards.

Solicitation documents issued in February 2025 outline how DHA set up the RHRP-4 effort to also incorporate civilian employees of the Defense and Homeland Security departments.

OptumServe Health Services’ scope of work will include periodic physical health assessments, mental health assessments, vaccines, lab services, vision screenings, and physical and dental exams.

Leidos’ QTC Medical Services subsidiary is the incumbent for RHRP-3, which DHA awarded in 2020. The agency has obligated $378 million in task order volume against that contract ahead of its May 27 sunset date, according to GovTribe data.

Work under the RHRP-4 contract will take place over one initial base year and up to nine individual option years.

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State embarks on search for new content management software platform

Ross Wilkers — Thu, 16 Apr 2026 13:17:00 -0400

The State Department has embarked on its search for a secure software platform to manage digital content that employees can share with each other from anywhere in the world.

State’s global mission of diplomacy and business processes require it to use a cloud-based offering that helps personnel create, collaborate, share store and manage digital content at the physical and digital edges.

One sentence in State’s sources sought notice issued Tuesday on this requirement makes clear what the department does not want: “Custom-built or unproven solutions will not be considered.”

Third-party overlays or separate add-on functions to the platform are also not welcome, a theme in keeping with this Trump administration’s push to prioritize commercial tech acquisitions.

State is instead requiring the solution to be an enterprise grade, commercial-off-the-shelf cloud platform that provides “substantial out-of-the-box functionality” in a no-code configuration to enable workflow automation, document processing and content portal features.

In fact, the department is requiring the solution to support a large catalog of at least 1,500 pre‑built integrations with other cloud-based products to minimize custom integration development. State cites Salesforce, ServiceNow, Microsoft Office and Google Workspace as examples of what the content platform should work with.

All core capabilities should be delivered through the native configuration of the platform, which must possess a FedRAMP High authorization and be certified at the Defense Department’s Impact Level 4 for controlled unclassified information.

Examples of capabilities State wants in the platform include elastic scalability across users without storage limits, archival tiers or incremental storage costs. The provider cannot impose per-external-user or per-licensing prices that State believes would hinder mission operations.

State is also asking interested parties to detail their track record in the federal space by listing successful deployments at agencies within the last three years.

For either two or three of those example projects, companies must also explain how those efforts relate to State’s requirements for a content management solution with a global footprint.

Responses to the request for information are due by 12 p.m. Eastern time on April 24.

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Amentum secures INDOPACOM supply contract after incumbent's protest denied

Nick Wakeman — Thu, 16 Apr 2026 13:14:28 -0400

SupplyCore has lost its attempt hang onto an incumbent contract it has held for five years for logistics support to U.S. military installations in Japan.

Amentum won the $77.8 million contract in January, then SupplyCore filed a protest to challenge the evaluation and best-value decision.

The General Services Administration ran the procurement for the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command.

SupplyCore said its proposals received certain weaknesses that it should not have and that evaluators failed to recognize its strengths.

The Government Accountability Office has not yet released the April 9 decision as it is still undergoing a protective order review, but GAO has rejected all of SupplyCore's challenges.

Amentum is now cleared cto start work on the contract. Requirements include maintaining a warehouse in Japan and being able to deliver items within three-to-five business days in mainland Japan and five-to-seven days in Okinawa.

The U.S. has over 100 installations in Japan. The contract covers about 300 product categories including office supplies, tools, hardware and cleaning products, according to GovTribe.

The Global Supply OCONUS Logistics Operations Support Solutions contract for INDOPACOM has a one-year base and four one-year options.

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New research firm targets federal agencies, nonprofit firms with social policy focus

Nick Wakeman — Wed, 15 Apr 2026 16:14:23 -0400

EDITOR'S NOTE: This story has been corrected to clarify that Incevia was never a part of Abt Global.

A new research company targeting work with federal agencies and other organizations announced its launch on Wednesday (today).

Incevia Policy Partners LLC conducts research focused on advancing healthy families, thriving communities, and resilient social environments.

Dr. Hannah Thomas founded the Incevia organization in 2025, while she was an executive at Abt Global.

Incevia is working with Abt on a Department of Housing and Urban Development research effort, where they are looking for ways to retain and recruit more landlords for HUD’s House Choice Voucher program.

Incevia has offices in Boston and Washington, D.C. Incevia is also working with nonprofit firms such as Arts for Social Cohesion, Asset Funders Network, the Center for Guaranteed Income Research, and the National Endowment for Financial Education.

The Incevia team includes policy experts in key practice areas: housing, cash transfers and asset policies, workforce development, financial literacy, arts, social movements, place-based initiatives, and learning systems.

Thomas previously was the qualitative and mixed methods principal at Abt. Other key leaders at Incevia include Dr. Meryl Finkel, Dr. Andrea Anderson, Dr. Astrid Hendricks, Alicia Atkinson, and Cristina Booker. Paul Serotkin will oversee Incevia's operations.

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Kentro, Lynker elevate new CEOs from within

Ross Wilkers — Wed, 15 Apr 2026 15:55:07 -0400

Kentro

The federal IT modernization and cybersecurity company has put in place a new leadership structure that sees a pair of executives move up to the co-CEO ranks with different areas of responsibility.

Tom Swerdzewski was named co-chief executive of delivery and operations, where he will oversee how Kentro provides services to its customers and efforts at scaling across the portfolio. He first joined Kentro in 2014 and most recently worked as its chief operating officer.

Tom Fogarty is now co-chief executive of growth and technology, a role that involves business development strategy and innovation efforts. Fogarty first joined Kentro in 2019 as chief strategy officer.

Pinakin Patel, formerly CEO of Kentro since 2011, has moved over to chairperson of the board of directors.

Kentro rebranded to its current name and identity in the spring of 2025 from IT Concepts. The company touts a federal client base that includes the Social Security Administration, Veterans Affairs Department, Federal Aviation Administration, Special Operations Command and Defense Intelligence Agency.

McLean, Virginia-headquartered Kentro has posted roughly $249.9 million in unclassified prime contract revenue over the trailing 12 months. VA work represents the largest share of that spend at 66%, according to USASpending.gov data.

In addition to the co-CEO promotions, Bri Brodeur has moved up to chief alignment officer after four years as Kentro’s chief experience officer. She has been with the Kentro organization since 2019.

Lynker

Scott Rayder has moved up to chief executive at the environmental and scientific services provider, which he first joined in the fall of 2023 as president.

Rayder succeeds founder Joe Linza, who moves over to the executive chairman position after having started the company in 2007.

“Joe remains fully engaged, focusing on strategy, scaling, and M&A. As CEO, Scott will lead day-to-day operations and execution of Lynker’s strategic vision,” according to a LinkedIn post from the company.

Leesburg, Virginia-headquartered Lynker has posted roughly $94.3 million in unclassified prime contract revenue over the trailing 12 months. NOAA work represents 95% of that spend with the remainder coming from the National Science Foundation and Environmental Protection Agency, according to USASpending.gov data.

Prior to Lynker, Rayder worked as a vice president and division manager in Leidos’ climate business.

His career in government is highlighted by service as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s first-ever chief of staff.

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Leidos sheds security screening unit in agreement with Analogic

Nick Wakeman — Wed, 15 Apr 2026 14:13:48 -0400

Leidos is carving out its Security Enterprise Solutions unit to become part of another company that it will co-own with investment firm Altaris.

Altaris is the backer of Analogic and will own 58.5% of what Leidos calls a joint venture. Leidos will hold the remaining 41.5% and Analogic will operate and control the business, according to a regulatory filing.

Leidos is moving 1,500 employees and $625 million in revenue to Analogic, the companies said Wednesday.

The Leidos Security Enterprise Solutions business was created by Leidos after it paid $1 billion to acquire L3Harris Technologies security detection and automation business in 2020.

In creating the JV, the companies are seeking to combine Leidos’ screening technologies and industrial automation capabilities with Analogic’s specialized manufacturing and imaging technologies.

The JV will develop security screening and detection technologies used at airports, border crossings, and critical infrastructure worldwide. The combination will also increase research-and-development efforts around screening technologies and support a faster transition to artificial intelligence-native and 3D imaging solutions, Leidos said.

“Our unified joint venture represents a focused step to strengthen U.S. capabilities in security detection at a time when global travel and trade continue to grow,” said Leidos CEO Tom Bell.

The transaction includes the assumption of some debt on the part of Analogic and is expected to close after standard regulator reviews in the second half of 2026.

The agreement is intended to let Analogic focus on growth in the global detection and imaging market, and for Leidos to continue investing in core growth areas identified in its NorthStar 2030 strategy.

Leidos retained PJT Partners as financial adviser. Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP and DLA Piper were legal advisers to Leidos. KPMG was the accounting adviser to Leidos.

Kirkland & Ellis LLP and Hinckley Allen & Snyder LLP acted as legal advisers to Analogic, whose accounting adviser was Ernst & Young.

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Citra, Turion detail their newest capital raises

Ross Wilkers — Wed, 15 Apr 2026 14:09:42 -0400

Citra Space

This developer of space object identification software has fetched $15 million in Series A capital to support the further development and deployment of the tools for government and commercial usage.

Citra Space was founded in 2024 by former Air Force and Space Force officers with the goal of removing uncertainties from identification missions. The company designs its software to create fingerprint-like profiles of objects by bringing together data from multiple sources into a single view.

At least 35,000 tracked objects are orbiting the Earth today but operators do not have enough context on roughly 10,000 of them to make decisions, according to Citra.

A bulk of the Series A proceeds will go toward efforts at expanding the software platform’s capability in understanding the behavioral patterns and intents of systems in space.

Washington Harbour Partners led the Series A round that also brought in Industrious Partners and Reliable Properties as new investors in Citra. Existing investors Scout VC, Squadra Ventures, Alumni Ventures and Flex Capital are continuing their involvement.

Turion Space

This builder of satellites and other spacecraft for tracking debris has collected $75 million in Series B capital to aid efforts at ramping up its manufacturing and supply chain capacities.

Turion Space was founded in 2021 by veterans from SpaceX and the advanced development arms of Lockheed Martin and Boeing. Turion’s touted government customer base includes NASA, Space Force, the Space Development Agency and the National Reconnaissance Office.

With this newfound investment, Turion will push to increase its production output to 40 spacecraft per year from the current rate of eight per year. Turion has launched two missions to date, Droid.001 and Droid.002.

Washington Harbour Partners led the Series B round, roughly one year after the investment firm first entered Turion’s network of backers.

Center15 Capital, Magnetar, HOF Capital and Industrious Ventures come in as new investors. Aurelia Foundry, Forward Deployed VC and FoundersX are continuing on as existing investors.

More on Washington Harbour Partners

Space has been an area of emphasis for the investment firm since it was founded in 2019 by Mina Faltas, who was previously the co-founder and co-managing director at Nokota Management.

Washington Harbour owns Groundswell, Raft and SixGen. The firm also is heavily involved in venture capital activity, as shown by its leadership of the new capital rounds at Citra and Turion.

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World needs to ‘get ready’ for more powerful AI, Anthropic co-founder says

Alexandra Kelley — Wed, 15 Apr 2026 10:50:00 -0400

Anthropic’s groundbreaking new large language model, Mythos, won’t be the last advanced — and extremely powerful — AI model to be created, Anthropic’s co-founder said.

Speaking on Monday at the Semafor World Economy, Jack Clark, Anthropic co-founder and head of Public Benefit, discussed Project Glasswing’s mission and how its central model, Mythos, was developed.

Clark said the work to develop Mythos began with the realization that existing AI models have the potential to be trained to focus on cybersecurity operations and were headed toward cybersecurity-specific development.

“What we saw made us realize: the next time we train a really big model, we should expect it to have these capabilities sort of inherent to it, rather than ones that we need to elicit,” Clark said.

Even in its early stages of development, Clark said Mythos surpassed every benchmark that researchers applied and could detect vulnerabilities in applications and operating systems.

Despite this early capability coming from Anthropic, Clark said more Mythos-like models will emerge from other developers.

“This is not a special model,” he said. “There will be other systems just like this in a few months from other companies, and then a year to a year and a half later, there'll be open-weight models from China that have these capabilities. So the world is going to have to get ready for more powerful systems that are going to exist within it.”

Project Glasswing, which grants certain companies selective access to Mythos for further safety and capability testing, will help reveal more about the AI’s capabilities, Clark added.

Clark’s comments come as the Pentagon and Anthropic remain locked in a legal dispute over the Defense Department labeling the company a supply chain risk following its decision to prevent the Pentagon from using its models for domestic surveillance and lethal autonomous weapons.

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Harmonia Holdings rebrands to Revolutional after 20 years

Nick Wakeman — Wed, 15 Apr 2026 08:00:00 -0400

Since its 2024 sale to private equity and bringing in new leadership, Harmonia Holdings has been building its business around several key pillars -- artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, cloud computing and data science.

Now it wants a name that more closely aligns with the company it has become.

On Wednesday morning (today), Harmonia announced that it has rebranded as Revolutional.

“The new name reflects the company’s evolution as a provider of advanced technology solutions and mission support to federal agencies across the civilian services, health, and national security landscape,” the company said in its release.

Revolutional works to help agencies with operational challenges and support modernization efforts, particularly around fraud and abuse. The company also focuses on efforts to protect veteran health information, secure the U.S.' food supply and defend critical infrastructure.

“Across government, agencies are being asked to modernize faster, defend critical systems against evolving threats, and make better use of data to support mission delivery,” said Damon Griggs, CEO of Revolutional. “The name Revolutional reflects the way we meet those demands, applying advanced technology solutions, including AI and cybersecurity, to improve operations, strengthen mission systems, and enable agencies to make faster, more informed decisions.”

Griggs became CEO of Harmonia in September 2024, when it was acquired by the private equity group Madison Dearborn Partners. The company grew to over 700 employees by purchasing Maveris in 2025.

The name change comes after 20 years and reflects what Revolutional says is its forward momentum.

Revolutional underscores a “focus on helping government agencies turn technology into mission progress,” the company said in its announcement.

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AI is expanding the federal attack surface. Here’s how agencies are responding.

Nick Wakeman — Tue, 14 Apr 2026 14:28:32 -0400

Federal agencies are racing to adopt artificial intelligence and multi-cloud architectures — and the security frameworks haven't kept pace. ATARC's Cloud Security Summit on April 16 brings together the practitioners who are figuring it out in real time.

The agenda kicks off with representatives from the U.S. Courts, Army, NASA and the General Services Administration. They will explore the strategies for strengthening cloud supply chain security, such as how to align supply chain risk management with federal cyber security frameworks.

Other panels at Thursday’s event include discussions of AI and data modernization, multi-cloud and hybrid cloud computing strategies, and a dive into the new federal security landscape.

The speaker lineup includes Anil Chaudhry, senior advisor for AI at the Transportation Department; Torreon Creekmore, senior cybersecurity engineer at the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency; and Joanne Woytek, program director of the NASA SEWP program.

The event is taking place at the Carahsoft Conference and Collaboration Center in Reston, Virginia. It kicks off with breakfast and networking at 8 a.m., then the program begins at 9:15.

Follow this link for more information and to register. ATARC is a business unit of GovExec, the parent company of Washington Technology.

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DISA starts to build recompete for DOD's Microsoft 365 support contract

Nick Wakeman — Tue, 14 Apr 2026 14:25:17 -0400

The Defense Information Systems Agency has started laying the groundwork for the next iteration of the Defense Enterprise Office Solution contract held by General Dynamics IT.

DISA awarded the contract in 2021 for operations and maintenance work in support of the Defense Department’s Microsoft 365 environment. This includes email, collaboration and other productivity tools.

DISA is also extending GDIT's current work through May 4, 2027 the follow-on contract is competed.

In a sources sought notice posted Tuesday, DISA says it wants the new contract to begin on April 3, 2027 with a one-year base. Four individual option years would follow to take the work to April 2, 2032.

GDIT has booked $94.8 million in task order volume under DEOS, according to GovTribe data. Dell Marketing LP and Minburn Technology Group are GDIT’s partners.

Responses to the sources sought notice are due April 29.

DEOS currently supports more than 487,000 users across two tenants — roughly 137,000 on a standard classification network, and about 350,000 on a secret-level network. DISA also operates tenants for the U.K. and Australia.

For the new contract, DISA wants to add more Top Secret capabilities to the DEOS environment.

Some of the skills DISA is looking for include engineering and operational expertise, cybersecurity and risk management, knowledge management and training, and staffing and transition management.

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Lockheed boosts its venture investment fund to $1B

Ross Wilkers — Tue, 14 Apr 2026 11:48:45 -0400

Lockheed Martin will grow the capacity of its venture capital fund for investing in startups from $400 million to roughly $1 billion as part of a push to accelerate efforts at getting technologies from lab to field.

The Lockheed Martin Ventures organization was stood up in 2007 with initial funding of $100 million and has since invested roughly $500 million in 120 companies. Around 60 of those firms have become suppliers to Lockheed, from which they received $750 million in contracts.

Lockheed said Tuesday it will primarily use the additional VC funds over time for efforts to mature technologies for national security efforts, including the transition of tech from research-and-development into availability and operational use.

"Our venture capital investments are a critical part of our overall strategy to develop and integrate the best technologies for national security now and in the future," Lockheed’s chief financial officer Evan Scott said in a release. "Our investments help create a pipeline of cutting-edge technologies that create a resilient industrial base, drive growth, and ultimately help the United States and its allies deter the most pressing emerging threats."

Quantum computing, autonomy, artificial intelligence, directed energy, advanced materials and computer chips represent some of the core focus areas for Lockheed’s VC activity. The ventures arm has invested in 25 companies over the past 12 years.

Lockheed, Booz Allen Hamilton, RTX, Boeing, Science Applications International Corp., L3 Harris Technologies, Northrop Grumman, Maximus and Noblis are examples of WT Top 100 contractors that have involved themselves in venture capital activity to varying degrees in the past decade.

For them, the idea is to invest in and work with emerging startups whose tech creations show promise of deployment and scalability for federal government missions.

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