Author Archive

Ross Wilkers

Senior Staff Reporter

Ross Wilkers
Ross Wilkers covers the business of government contracting, companies and trends that shape the market. He joined WT in 2017 and works with Editor-in-Chief Nick Wakeman to host and produce our WT 360 podcast that features discussions with the market's leading executives and voices. Ross is a native of Northern Virginia and is an alumnus of George Mason University.
Defense

Pentagon to become rare earth mining company's largest stockholder

The Defense Department will buy a 15% stake in MP Materials and fund the construction of a magnet-making facility, all with an eye toward breaking the U.S.' reliance on China for rare earths.

Acquisition

OPM schedules industry engagement event to talk HR modernization

The Office of Personnel Management, Office of Management and Budget, and General Services Administration are all involved in this discussion on how to get a new human resources system in place by the end of 2028.

Acquisition

GSA adds third set of companies to consulting contract review

The General Services Administration is asking six “traditional strategy consulting firms” for much of the same information it has previously asked of other companies: a breakdown of their federal businesses and ideas for savings.

Artificial Intelligence

OpenAI awarded $200M DOD prototype contract

The Defense Department is eyeing administrative operations, health care and cyber as areas with potential use cases for the company's technology.

Acquisition

The onus is on industry to explain commercial best practices

Assuming government leaders know what those practices are and how they work is not a good idea, according to the General Services Administration's chief acquisition officer.

Modernization

Omni Federal awarded $427M background check IT modernization contract

The Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency sought a managed service provider amid ongoing efforts to enroll all federal employees in continuous vetting.

Acquisition

GSA expands contract reviews to resellers

The General Services Administration is seeking price breakdowns and other information from 10 technology product suppliers as part of GSA's OneGov push to streamline procurement.

Acquisition

Pentagon heightens scrutiny on IT, management consulting contracts

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's newest directive for the department zeroes in on providers of “system IT integration, implementation, or advisory services."

Acquisition

The acquisition rule (re)writers really want you to have your say

Industry will get visibility into and be able to weigh in on efforts by the GSA, Defense Department and NASA to reform the Federal Acquisition Regulation.

Updated People

Booz Allen plans 7% workforce cut

The civil business is where Booz Allen will focus most of these layoffs as part of broader “resetting and restructuring” of that business, the company's CEO and finance chief told investors.

Acquisition

Adobe, GSA ink access and discount software pact

Agencies can now buy the company's document management software at a significantly lower price, which is similar to the General Services Administration's agreement with Google.

Acquisition

Trump orders major changes to rules covering $1T in federal spending

The Tuesday mandate — which aims to streamline the way government buys goods and services — was accompanied by a second order requiring agencies to predominantly use commercial products, rather than custom-built.

Breaking News Acquisition

Trump administration asks agencies to cull consultants

A memo dated Wednesday asks agencies to review their contracts with 10 of the “highest paid” companies.

People

OPM procurement processing fully halted following agency layoffs, internal email says

Sweeping terminations in OPM’s Office of Procurement Operations have fully halted agency contracting business and are likely to increase OPM’s operational risks, an internal email reads.

Modernization

PSI wins $156M Veterans Affairs testing recompete

Planned Systems International conducts tests and manages projects related to the rollout of the new Oracle Cerner electronic health record.

Policy

Where can GovCon find clarity in the Trump transition turbulence?

Contractors, their government customers, and pretty much everyone across the public sector ecosystem is trying their best. But here are some steps and action items that companies can follow.

Acquisition

IBM wins $930M federal employee travel system contract

The General Services Administration expects 124 civilian agencies to transition to the new system by June 2027.

Artificial Intelligence

DOD reveals first draft of $15B artificial intelligence contract

The Defense Department wants more companies in the fold for Advana, a multi-domain analytics and AI platform that DOD wants to further scale out.

Acquisition

GSA further details its plan for Ascend cloud program

Software-as-a-service vendors and providers of cloud-related IT professional services are who the General Services Administration wants to hear from now.

Acquisition

Army unveils draft for $10B software development competition

The Army has doubled the maximum number of awardees from its prior intent and shed some more light on how the downselect could work.