We live in a time of disruption within the Federal Government and GovCon, but the reverberations of this disruption are being felt throughout our great nation, no matter your party affiliation. I will not dwell on my personal feelings and beliefs at what the new administration has done and plans to do. I have longed for greater efficiency in our Federal Government as we have gotten too large, complex, and sometimes complacent in our approach to how goods and services are acquired and provided to the warfighter and civilian agencies.

Mark Amtower, whom I greatly respect and appreciate his tremendous insights into the Federal Government, recently posted an article in LinkedIn called: “Rethinking Business-as-Usual in the Age of Trump 2.0”. This is an article we all should read and understand.

What is key is how we all approach this disruption. Life itself, whether at work or on a personal level, is constantly full of change and challenges. How we handle the changes and challenges can make all the difference in our lives and those around us. It is difficult to have a positive outlook when we see so many negative things happening to Government employees and agencies and the impacts to families and communities across the country. We each can take a stand as an individual and do things, even the smallest of things to support these people and communities being impacted.

  • Volunteer to support federal employees through coaching and resume reviews, editing and rewriting.
  • Make job referrals where you can. If you see a post in social media that is helping displaced workers, re-post it for coverage within your network.
  • If you can offer training to the displaced so they can re-skill and change careers, do so.
  • Find ways to support communities in your area that are being impacted by displaced Federal workers.

It may seem like all doom and gloom but try not to be the anchor that further drags people down. Find ways to be a shining example for others that walk away from even a quick encounter with you that somehow lifts their spirits and gives them some hope. Being a positive, optimistic person is critical to counter all the negative and pessimistic things we see and read in the news all day and evening.

With change, opportunities are created. Only time will tell if the changes being made truly bring the much-needed efficiency to the Federal Government. I do think those that can help their companies strengthen the human-to-human relationships with the surviving federal acquisition and program workforce will be more highly sought after. We may see less opportunities to pursue but nonetheless, there will still be opportunities to pursue. We must focus on the critical relationships and being smart about how we apply the tools and technologies, such as AI. We need to be prepared for changes to the acquisition lifecycle and processes and how we can apply these tools and technologies across all phases of the acquisition lifecycle.

As the federal workforce shrinks, there could also be opportunities to directly support those agencies via professional, acquisition and administrative support contracts and helping the government apply innovation to the acquisition processes and support of ongoing contract efforts. Again, technology can assist here, but now is the time to create and strengthen human-to-human relationships to increase or gain the trust of the federal agencies as they chart a new course in supporting our nation.

Len Miller is an executive with 39+ years leading organizations in winning business by developing and applying compelling capture and proposal strategies.

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