Given recent world events and their attendant economic shocks, 2026 looks to be another year of supply chain gyration. Government contractors, besides having to cope with such shocks, must add semiconductors to the list of supply chain concerns. Semiconductors, as the U.S. Government states in a new proposed rule (2026-03065 (91 FR 7223)),
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Feature Comment: Flag on the Field: Artificial Intelligence and the State of Play in Federal Contracting
Organizations across industries are incorporating or evaluating AI to improve workflow, increase productivity, and reduce costs. The Federal Government is doing the same. The Department of Defense has taken an especially assertive approach, issuing an AI Strategy earlier this year that outlines seven “Pace-Setting Projects” to accelerate AI development and deployment in support of DoD…
Don’t Panic! How Federal Contractors Should Navigate the Anthropic Designation
In every crisis, half the room runs in circles while the other half picks up a clipboard and starts taking stock. The Anthropic-Pentagon dispute is that crisis, and defense contractors are deciding which half they want to be in.
The short version: The government designated a FedRAMP-authorized, facility-cleared American AI company a national security supply…
Orbiting A.I.-deraan? A Disturbance in the Force for the Defense Industrial Base
“I felt a great disturbance in the Force, as if millions of voices suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced.”
When Obi-Wan Kenobi says this in Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope, he senses that something profound just changed in the galaxy. A powerful presence has vanished. The balance of power…
Power Up: What the AI Action Plan Means for the Energy Sector
July’s “Winning the Race: America’s AI Action Plan,” released by the White House, contains helpful recommendations for the energy sector as the use of AI becomes more prevalent and, with it, the need for more energy. The plan recommends the use of an existing consultation and coordination process for expediting the federal permitting and…
FAR 2.0 Part 39 in Arcade Mode—How Federal IT Acquisition Just Hit Reset
For those who grew up gripping a joystick and dodging alien fire in Defender, riding ostriches through floating platforms in Joust, or crossing a hectic freeway in Frogger, winning wasn’t about memorizing rules; it was about adapting fast, reading the patterns, and leveling up. That same urgency now applies to federal information and communication technology…
Building the Cyber Fortress: New Cybersecurity Executive Order Targets Quantum, AI, and Supply Chain Security
On June 6, 2025, President Trump issued a new executive order, “Sustaining Select Efforts to Strengthen the Nation’s Cybersecurity and Amending Executive Order 13694 and Executive Order 14144” (EO), signaling the construction of a fortified cyber defense across federal operations. This directive updates the nation’s digital stronghold, modernizing risk management, defending against quantum…
The Need for Speed: DoD’s “Software Fast Track” Targets Bureaucracy at Mach 2
The Department of Defense (DoD) is revving its engines again—this time to rocket past its own software acquisition drag. Launched via an April 24 memo from Acting DoD CIO Katie Arrington, the DoD’s Software Fast Track (SWFT) Initiative entered a 90‑day sprint to redefine Accelerating the Authority to Operate (ATOs), aiming to replace the outdated Risk…
Mo’ Data, Mo’ Problems: Antitrust Risk in the Age of Big Data
New Hart-Scott-Rodino premerger notification rules, which took effect in February, require that companies now provide more information than ever before about their prospective mergers. Meanwhile, both federal and state antitrust enforcers continue to step up scrutiny of data-related antitrust harms such as information sharing, monopolization, and price coordination, and private litigants are also filing claims.…
Follow the Breadcrumbs: Where Does Consumer Data Go as 23andMe Goes Bankrupt?
23andMe, a pioneer in the DNA testing kit industry, announced that it has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and recently asked to select an independent customer data representative regarding any sale of user data. Its bankruptcy raises issues about data privacy and what companies must do to protect that data for the benefit of…