Awards, rule changes, bid protests, and new opportunities — written so you don't need a compliance team to understand them.
The Army's 10-year $10B Palantir enterprise agreement plus expanding Maven AI adoption across the services signals an inflection point — commercial data platforms are becoming the integration backbone for DoD operations.
Read the story →Second-round FY2026 National Security Space Launch assignments under Phase 3 Lane 2 — SpaceX captures the majority, ULA wins GPS IIIF and a classified NRO payload. FY27-FY32 launch windows.
Alliant 3 runs March 2026 through March 2036 with a 5-year option. 43 Phase 1 awardees — including Booz Allen, SAIC, and Peraton — share the no-ceiling vehicle. Services cover AI, cloud, quantum, and zero-trust.
Leidos (via subsidiary Dynetics) lands $617M Army contract for Indirect Fire Protection Capability Inc 2 launchers. Combined with prior $356M awards in July and September 2025, Leidos now has $1.2B in production contracts for IFPC.
Q1 2026 revenue hit $9.9B as Northrop's two highest-profile DoD programs accelerate. B-21 production capacity expanding 25% (backed by $4.5B in reconciliation-bill funding and $2.5B company investment); Sentinel restructure wraps this year with first test launch in 2027.
A final rule effective November 22 dramatically expanded mandatory GIDEP reporting for counterfeit or suspect-counterfeit parts. 60-day reporting window, supply-chain flowdown to all tiers, False Claims Act exposure for non-compliance.
The Department of Labor finalized the first major Davis-Bacon regulatory overhaul in nearly 40 years. Updated WH-347 certified payroll form (January 2025), civil penalties increased to $13,508 per violation. $217B in annual federal construction and 12,000+ active projects now subject to the tightened framework.
On January 8, 2026, CISA announced the retirement of 10 emergency directives issued between 2019-2024. The retirement signals a shift toward targeted, threat-specific guidance over sweeping standing directives — with implications for how contractors respond to future cybersecurity requirements.
The Trump administration's OMB memorandum on federal AI procurement applies to any AI solicitation issued after September 30, 2025. Three big themes: a competitive American AI marketplace, taxpayer-dollar safeguards via AI performance tracking, and cross-functional procurement engagement.
As of mid-2025, Commerce has awarded $30.9B direct + $5.5B loans across 19 semiconductor companies and 40 projects. The Advanced Manufacturing Investment Tax Credit (Section 48D) sunsets for construction starts after December 31, 2026.
The federal civilian workforce declined by 249,000-271,000 (9%) between January and November 2025 — the largest peacetime reduction on record. RIF moratorium expired January 30; implementation plans due April 14. Contractors absorb workload by default.
The March 13, 2026 executive order directs the FTC to prioritize enforcement against false 'Made in America' claims and requires federal agencies to verify Made-in-USA and Buy American Act claims at the contract level. Online marketplace verification rule forthcoming.
The Joint Warfighting Cloud Capability has moved over $3.9 billion in task orders since December 2022. The Pentagon is now preparing a follow-on solicitation with explicit emphasis on 'greater visibility into cloud spending.'
GSA launched OASIS+ Phase II on January 12, 2026 — a continuously-open on-ramp solicitation model for the $60B services GWAC. 1,300+ small businesses already on the vehicle. No more 5-year wait between onramps.
DHS won't recompete the $22 billion EAGLE II IT contract. Instead, EAGLE Next Gen routes IT procurement through GSA's Alliant 2, Alliant 2 SB, 8(a) STARS II, VETS 2, plus NIH's CIO-SP3. Small-business commitment continues.
After nearly five years of delays, corrective actions, and 350+ protests, NITAAC formally canceled the $50B CIO-SP4 Government-Wide Acquisition Contract in January 2026. CIO-SP3 extended to April 2027, moving to GSA.
GAO's January 2026 sustain of Amentum and SOSi's protests of a Defense Intelligence Agency contract award to GDIT centered on evaluation documentation failures. The decision reinforces that agencies must both explain why proposals got credit and avoid downgrading offerors for claims the proposals didn't make.
The GAO Annual Report to Congress for FY2025 shows a 14% sustain rate on merit decisions, with three evaluation categories accounting for the bulk of wins. A practical guide to where protests succeed and where they don't.
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