“ WIRED” By Garrett M. Graff “To make sense of Mueller, you have to revisit some of the bloodiest battles of Vietnam.“Although seriously wounded during the fire­fight, he resolutely maintained his position and, ably directing the fire of his platoon, was instrumental in defeating the North Vietnamese Army force,” reads the Navy Commendation that Mueller received for his action that day. He went on to hold high positions in five presidential administrations. He led the Crimina

“ According to Jennifer Kavanagh, Senior Fellow & Director of Military Analysis at Defense Priorities, the U.S. has spent at least $3.4 trillion countering China militarily since 2012. This figure, an average of $260 billion a year, is more than total U.S. spending on 20 years of war in Afghanistan ($2.3 trillion). “ _______________________________________________________________________________ “This report provides the first estimate of the amount the U.S. has spent competi

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“FEDSPEND” “ Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business contracts hit $28.6B in FY2025. Here’s the agency-by-agency, NAICS-by-NAICS breakdown — and why 35% of those dollars went sole-source. “ _________________________________________________________________________________ “ $28.6 Billion. The Veteran Advantage Is Real — If You Know Where to Look. The federal government’s SDVOSB (Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business) program is the second-largest set-aside catego

“MILITARY TIMES” By Jerry McGinn and Jeff Kojac “Better measurement of Agile Acquisition Vehicles is critical if we are to understand the value of our national investments and rely on them as engines of innovation. Incentives are the true drivers of innovation. Put the “non” back in nontraditional defense contractors.” _______________________________________________________________________________ “Technological innovation is a core means for societies to defend themselves a

“BREAKING DEFENSE” By CDR Adam Stein “If you start with a solving a problem, build the right relationships, use the tools to get funded, and plan ahead to stay relevant, you can make a real difference — fast.” __________________________________________________________________________________ “Breaking into the defense industrial base can be tedious. The process is slow, opaque, and often seems to favor legacy systems and established vendors. But that’s beginning to change —

“EXECUTIVEGOV” By KRISTEN SMITH “The Small Business Administration has launched termination proceedings against 628 companies in the 8(a) Business Development Program for failing to provide requested financial records”. ________________________________________________________________________________ “Why Is SBA Removing 8(a) Contractors? SBA said Wednesday the firms, which received nearly $850 million in 8(a) contracts between fiscal years 2021 and 2024, refused to submit

“SMALLTOFEDS” By Ken Larson “The federal government generally recognizes 6 principal categories of acquisitions. Below is an extract from the FAR for each. It is possible for a product to go through, or be supported by, all 6 acquisition categories during its life cycle.” ________________________________________________________________________________ FAR 34.005-3 – CONCEPT EXPLORATIONS Whenever practicable, contracts to be performed during the concept exploration phase are f

“WASHINGTON TECHNOLOGY ” By Patrick Tucker, Science and Technology Editor “Even as the Pentagon was noisily ejecting Anthropic from its good graces a new class of AI startups run by people with military experience is dedicated to help the service ‘to tackle real operational problems’—that is, designed specifically to help soldiers do their jobs.” “The battle between AI model builder Anthropic and the Pentagon has exposed a huge gap between what AI tools the military want

“FOREIGN POLICY” By Rosa Brooks “ Asking warriors to do everything poses great dangers for our country — and the military. Our armed services have become the one-stop shop for America’s policymakers. If Your only tool is a hammer then everything looks like a nail “ ________________________________________________________________________________ “When my mother came for lunch at the Pentagon, I shepherded her through the visitor’s entrance, maneuvered her onto the escalator

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U.S. SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION “Contracting opportunities for veterans Every year, the federal government awards a portion of contracting dollars specifically to businesses owned by veterans. Also, small businesses owned by veterans may be eligible to purchase surplus property from the federal government. Veteran Small Business Certification (VetCert) program Apply now: Visit MySBA Certifications . Certification with SBA allows service-disabled veteran-owned small busine

You may download the book, Small Business Federal Government Contracting and its supplement, as well as the other titles listed above from the “Box” in the right margin of Small Business Federal Government Contracting (Smalltofeds) . Use the links below to access more recent articles at Small Business Federal Government Contracting since the publication of the book and the supplement. SMALL BUSINESS COMPANY TRAINING MANAGING INDUSTRY TEAMING RELATIONSHIPS UTILIZING THE FR

” WASHINGTON TECHNOLOGY” By Scott Lee “Smaller players and the larger contractors work together in a new model of agile programs. With successful mentorship and partnership programs, larger contractors gain access to contracts for which they would otherwise be ineligible.” _______________________________________________________________________________ “Conversely, smaller contractors that lack the resources for federal procurements can break into this competitive marketplace

Image: Defense Acquisition University (DAU) Contracting Cone (PLEASE CLICK IMAGE TO ENLARGE) GSA is working with the FAR Council and other stakeholders on major changes to the Federal Acquisition Regulation. “WASHINGTON TECHNOLOGY” – ” FAR overhaul: The challenges in tackling federal procurement’s 5,000-page beast” Examine the Defense Acquisition University (DAU) “Contracting Cone” as a utility in understanding changes by the Federal Government to the FAR and associated acqui

“WASHINGTON TECHNOLOGY” By Nick Wakeman, Editor In Chief “Changing the compliance mindset of acquisition professionals will determine whether the wholesale changes to the Federal Acquisition Regulation lives up to the promise .” ________________________________________________________________________________ “The Revolutionary FAR Overhaul’s goal was to strip down the government’s acquisition regulations to their bare essentials and create a framework designed for flexibility

“ SMALLTOFEDS” By Ken Larson “If you are the prime contractor on a multiple company program by virtue of a teaming agreement, the challenge may involve issuing purchase orders to independent contractors as individuals and negotiating fully executed subcontracts with firms subcontracting to you.“ ______________________________________________________________________________ “ The techniques in managing each of these partner types are distinct . The contractual and regulatory

In the last 25 years the US has reacted to the 911 tragedy by creating a behemoth machine that knows only killing, demonstrating little understanding of foreign cultural factors in nation building, spawning new versions of our old enemies, creating a dangerous outgrowth of technology in the military industrial complex, then exporting it for profit while defying financial control and resulting dire consequences for the nation’s economic future. Our warfare realities today can

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“U.S. VETERANS MAGAZINE.COM ” “VBOC is designed to provide services such as business training, counseling and resource partner referrals to Service Members, Veterans, National Guard and Reserve Members, and Military Spouses.” _______________________________________________________________________________ “28 organizations participate in this cooperative agreement and serve VBOCs. How can the VBOC program help my small business? SBA’s VBOCs offer workshops, training, counselin