Summary
- The Chertoff Group hosted a June 2026 webinar with GovCon Wire on the changing Federal market.
- Agencies now demand speed, awarding multi-year, fixed-price contracts to firms that deliver outcomes fast.
- Contractors win by understanding agency missions and delivering exactly what they promised.
Recent changes have structurally rewired the federal defense market. OB3 funding and the January Executive Order accelerated a shift already underway. How the Department of War defines needs, awards contracts, and holds contractors accountable has permanently changed, and the companies that understand the new rules are already pulling ahead.
The Chertoff Group recently hosted a strategic briefing with GovCon Wire to map what winning looks like in this environment. Aaron Roth, principal and head of Federal Strategy, led the conversation. He was joined by former GSA Administrator Emily Murphy and Greg Little, Senior Counselor at Palantir Technologies and former DOW civilian executive in data transformation. Their collective view was direct: the federal government is not shrinking. It is spending urgently, and it is buying differently.
Speed is now a performance threshold
Roth opened with a scene-setter that framed everything that followed. The United States finds itself in a near-peer competitive environment, still managing asymmetric threats from terrorism, cyber, and supply chain vulnerabilities, while simultaneously preparing for great power conflict. That context is driving buying behavior. Agencies want outcomes faster, and they want contractors accountable for delivering them. Major defense programs once averaged roughly 11 years from award to deployment. Leadership is now pushing to compress that timeline to a year or less.
Portfolio Acquisition Executives (PAE) have become the center of gravity in defense business development. They hold real authority to deliver speed and scale to the warfighter, and they are using it. The shift from program-by-program management to portfolio management means PAEs can consolidate budget lines, kill underperforming programs, and free resources for firms that deliver. They favor multiyear contracts, firm fixed price structures, and clear consequences for missed deliveries. For contractors, the path to relevance runs through them.
Murphy advised firms to think about how they help a contracting officer move faster. Find the path of least resistance. Help structure a requirement as commercial. Help frame it as firm fixed price. Anticipate agency needs before they surface in a solicitation, because the contracting workforce is under serious strain. Regulatory changes, workforce reductions, and new acquisition systems are all hitting simultaneously, and the contractors who reduce friction for government earn trust that translates directly into opportunity.
This applies beyond DOW
The civilian agency landscape deserves equal attention. Coast Guard has emerged as a clear administration priority within DHS. GSA recently reorganized its entire IDIQ portfolio under a single structure to streamline delivery and is targeting a doubling of assisted acquisition volume with roughly a third fewer staff. Agencies across the fed-civ space are compressed on time, budget, and headcount, which means contractors who show up with clear solutions and a credible delivery record will stand out in a field where many competitors are still leading with capability brochures.
Understand the mission before you pitch
Little described a pattern he lived through during 14 years in government. Vendors filled his calendar selling generic commodities, rarely connecting their pitch to the specific problems his office faced. The contractors who won were different. They had read the strategic plan, the budget justifications, and the oversight reports. They arrived knowing what the agency was trying to accomplish and ready to help solve a specific problem.
Murphy put the payoff plainly. A contractor who demonstrates genuine understanding of the mission earns goodwill immediately. The conversation shifts from the government explaining its problem to the government solving it alongside the contractor. That is a fundamentally different relationship, and it is the one that leads to awards.
Commercial pathways open the door, but first principles close the deal
The traditional on-ramps are narrowing. Solutions for Enterprise-Wide Procurement (SEWP) is delayed, Chief Information Officers-Solutions and Partners 3 (CIO-SP3) ends next April, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) killed CIO-SP4, and the 8(a) on-ramp has slowed as the Small Business Administration (SBA) tightens oversight of the program. Commercial Solutions Openings, Other Transaction Authority, and SBIR awards are filling that gap and reaching non-traditional contractors who could not get through the old doors.
Both panelists were clear that a vehicle alone guarantees nothing. Little put it in terms of first principles: know what you are buying, know why you are buying it, know how you will measure success, and build the right incentives into the structure. A strong requirement framed around outcomes matters more than the contract type chosen to execute it.
Deliver what you said you would deliver
Little offered the clearest measure of success in the new environment. Delivering what you said you would deliver is the best business development available. Teams that perform win the next award. Performance compounds over time in ways that no proposal or pitch can replicate.
The FY2027 defense budget represents a $1.5 trillion opportunity. It rewards firms that connect their capabilities to agency missions, show up with clarity about the problem they are solving, and then actually solve it. The companies positioning to win today are building that discipline now.
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Watch the full conversation here.
Davi Hayes is a senior director with the Federal Strategy team. They lead growth strategy, market entry, and go-to-market engagements for companies operating in or entering the federal marketplace, with a focus on practical, executable strategies that translate mission priorities, budgets, and acquisition pathways into sustained revenue growth.
