Name: The Q4 Federal Contracting Playbook 2025
Uploaded: 2025-09-10T16:18:05.734Z
Duration: 55 min 21 s
Description: The Q4 Federal Contracting Playbook 2025

Transcript for "The Q4 Federal Contracting Playbook 2025": morning, everyone. While we're waiting for everyone to come in, I'm just gonna get started right at the top of the hour. So good morning. I just wanna first thank everyone here for being here, taking the time to attend this live GovDash webinar, and we're gonna get started right away. Before that, I just wanna introduce myself. I'm Britney Winkler. I'm the senior go to market enablement and programs manager here at GovDash, and I am the one behind all of the industry reports. And today, the industry report that we're gonna be going through is the one that just dropped this Monday, a few days ago. It's titled quarter four federal contracting playbook for 2025, strategies at Intel to maximize wins. So a little bit of why, you know, I made this report when I was thinking about, you know, what do people really care about right now in quarter four for the end of the year. Right? So with that, it's, you know, what is happening right now and how you can position yourself better from lessons learned in quarter four for the next upcoming year, and this one is gonna be 2026. And, you know, this report, if you haven't already read it, there's gonna be a link in our chat right here with Sam, a link to download this report. It's completely free. And this is, you know, what I'm gonna be talking about today and what I'm gonna be diving into a little bit deeper. If you guys know my background, I know I'm very data driven, data heavy. I love research, everything like that. So I'm not gonna get too, deep into the data and the report itself, but I'm going to be giving, you know, a very great, high level, overview of the report itself. Some key things that I think are very important and valuable to keep in mind as we're, you know, ending quarter four with the last few weeks of September, and also best practices to set yourself up for the next year if you haven't already been doing so. And I also did wanna remind you guys that, you know, GovDash is here to work with you and help. So if you would also like to get a demo sometime in the future, we can definitely set you up with that as well. And just stay tuned for regular webinars, next week. I'm speaking again with Brian Lindholm talking about best practices for market intel and, you know, how to use data for your advantage, and we also do have protein webinar insights as well. So let's dive right into this report. Let's set the stage. Right? As many of you guys know, quarter four is one of the busiest and most consequential times in federal contracting. According to the data in my report, and, you know, I love USA spending, FPDS, sam.gov, All the public databases for federal intel, that is what I'm talking about today, and all of those resources are detailed inside this report. So agencies obligate anywhere from 25 to 30% of their entire budgets during this quarter, And that's gonna be the time frame from July to September right before that October 1 date. So that volume of late year spending creates a huge opportunity. We all know this, but it's not unique. It requires strategy, readiness, and focus to capture near term dollars while positioning your teams for the next year to come. Agencies plan to obligate funds, and the only question is which contractors are prepared to capture them. This report we'll walk through today is both a map for capturing immediate quarter $4 and a blueprint for building next year's pipeline. We'll cover where the money is flowing. I detail all of that down to the dollar in this report, which technologies and policies are shaping demand, and I named exactly which policies and which technologies, makes PSC. I really get down to the details and how best in class vehicles factor in. Again, I name all of the best in class vehicles. I give you a very high level overview of what each one is doing right now and what you can expect in the future, and then what strategies you can be doing right now to set you apart. So my goal with this session is to give you a tactical playbook of, you know, strategies that you can be using right now to better yourself and get your team, your organization, and your company in the best case scenario for the next up incoming year. And I want you to leave away with today with specific actions that you can, you know, implement today. You know, the worst part is joining a webinar and just hearing all of these high level thoughts, insights. And then you get off and you're like, okay. What do I do now? Right? You want a game plan, and you want strategies that you can take away right now and start implementing today. Or else, you know, what is the purpose? So let's start with who's spending and where. This is gonna be the first section of my report. My report is broken down into five sections, and I'm just gonna kind of go through each one with you guys here today. So the first one, who's spending where and when. And, you know, if you haven't already downloaded it, please take the time after this webinar. There's a link in the chat here for you to get the free download, read it yourself, share it with, you know, anyone that you think, you know, would get value out of it. And let's just dive right in here. Alright. So section one. Before we talk about strategies or vehicles, we need to understand where the dollars are moving right. Quarter four isn't random. It follows clear patterns year after year. So let's start by looking at the agencies, regions, and market signals that define the surge. So right here, I have a graph of the top 10 obligating agencies for this year, specifically for quarter four. So as you can see here, you know, top obligators and late ones. What does this mean? So DOD right here, you know, through my data, I discovered and highlighted that they still have over 99% of their budget unspent for this year in quarter four, making it the number one near term target. HHS, similarly, has over 300,000,000,000 with over 82% of their spending unspent. VA, DHS, treasury, and SSA also show consistently spikes. And, you know, tracking these dollars is not just in tracking money, but looking at the speed of the obligation is key. Late obligators lean on trusty vehicles, and I'll talk a lot about this more later on in the webinar. But contractors without access to these vehicles are often shut out even if their capabilities fit in the best way possible for their requirements. Alright. Let's talk about the competitive landscape. This is also within the first section of my report. So I really do a great detailed dive into, you know, incumbents, large businesses, small JVs, emerging, you know, AAs, women owned small business, you know, every single set aside out there. And I really drill down into who is making the most impact for this year in the last previous years. So within my data and my report, you know, there's big winners, you know, the GTITs, the Booz Allen's. I showed that they have always dominated for, you know, the last previous five years, especially this year. But I also detail how small businesses are breaking through with their set aside designations. So quarter four is a breakout moment for small firms. Agencies under pressure to hit small business goals often favor quick awards to proven but, you know, nimble players in the space. There's more to come on this. I have a whole section detailed within my report about small businesses and, you know, if they're making their goals, you know, what kind of industries they're breaking out in, which JVs are the breakout stars. Just really great insights into the whole small business sector because it is so different from, you know, the way large businesses do their business. So, you know, we all know there are small business goals. Right? But our agency is meeting them. And if they are, where is the money truly going? I detail all of this within my report. The next section here I wanna highlight is region geography. So within my data, you know, I cover a lot. The really great key insights that I was able to, you know, determine with the data is Virginia, California, Texas, and Florida were driving disproportionate shares of their late September spend. So this shapes where staffing and clearances need to be in place. Geography isn't just numbers. It's about cleared labor pools and subcontracting availability. And if you can't staff in those states, you risk losing fast moving work. And here's a really great map. You know, I detail from anywhere from, you know, 90 to 82% of who is obligating the most versus the least of quarter four. And, you know, looking at the raw data in the way that I do, I, you know, really highlight patterns that I've noticed, especially within the last three to five years. And, you know, just kind of discussing how that relates to what is happening right now with 2025 and what's, you know, explicitly happening right now with quarter four. So you're able to use those numbers to predict and forecast, you know, what are the next years to come going to look like potentially, and what are the next you know, what's the next quarter four gonna look like? So NAICS codes, small businesses, and protests is is, you know, still within section one of my report here. So when I was doing, you know, my hard data analysis, I noticed that engineering, facility support, IT, research, and development carry the highest q four dependence. This is gonna be all of your five zero one NAICS codes. I don't think this is a shock to anyone here today. Those are traditionally the NAICS that do, you know, the highest obligations, the highest revenue, and those are definitely NAICS that you want to be aware of when you're looking to break out into a specific industry or support, you know, specific services. Small business landscape. So small businesses, this last year, actually, they captured over a $183,000,000,000 in spending, which is a huge number. But reliance on set asides creates risk if policy changes, and we all know that policy is changing day to day. So I also noticed that AAs are proving that they can compete in full and open competition. And, you know, this is where I really take the time in my report to encourage small firms to diversify. Don't rely on set asides. Prove you can compete outside of them, and you'll protect your pipeline against all of these policy shifts. Protests. You know, we all know that protest creates delays, but rarely reverse outcomes. This was one of the most interesting sections, I think, in my report. It really shocked me personally. You know, when I was doing the research looking at g a GAO for the protest, I noticed that the VA this year, year to date, had over 200 protests, but none of them were sustained. So while protests rarely change outcomes, they do affect timelines, and we all know this very well. Right? So small, smart contractors account for these delays in revenue forecasting and staffing plans. So now that we know where the money is flowing, we just got out of section one. The next question is what tech and priorities are driving agency decisions? This is gonna be section two of my report. And this one is titled what's hot, what's not, shifting priorities and tech spend. So we all know that technology priorities are never static in q four. But this year, agencies didn't spend dollars evenly across lanes. They follow urgency and policy. So let's take a look at how you know, what's surging now and what's setting up for the next year to come of 2026. And when I was doing this data research, I noticed that there was three categories, cybersecurity, cloud, AI, machine learning that were just way beyond what anyone else was obligating for this year. So taking a look at those three, I thought it was really important to section them out. The first one, cybersecurity. This was the immediate play. Looking in sand.gov alone, there was over 52,000, 5,200,000 opportunities this year. And agencies were skipping, you know, the initial RFI request for information and moving straight into solicitations. So zero trust endpoint and identity are the fastest moving buyers In cyber speed wins, it was really clear by this data. Again, check out the report. I detail everything down to the dollar here. Agencies are rewarding vendors who can move from solicitation to compliance submission in days, not weeks. And this was really interesting. You know, it shows that industry knows exactly what they want out of cybersecurity, and they're totally skipping over the initial requesting for info. Right? They already have an idea of who they wanna buy from, what they need, and, you know, they know how to get it in the fastest way possible, which is a solicitation. So the second one here, cloud, there was over ninety hundred thousand opportunities in sam.gov, which is almost doubled in cybersecurity. Right? So cloud modernization is being driven by zero trust, FedRAMP, and shared services. Expect large bundled awards in the next year to come. And these bundled awards are long term commitments. So if you miss now, you risk being locked out for the years to come. Capture teams need to track these early and prepare your team if you're not already a prime. So there's also opportunities for subcontracting, and there's great resources out there on exactly how to, you know, find the best teaming partners and prepare your company to subcontract, which is a great way to open the doors to becoming a prime. The last one here, AI machine learning, There's over fifty hundred thousand opportunities in sam.gov. And, you know, it's very it's still very pilot heavy. AI is kind of new. It's only been in the space, I would say, maybe the last five years. We all know that industry has only just begun to pick up on, you know, the services for that within, I would say, maybe the last two years explicitly. So for, you know, physical year 2026, AI is moving from pilots into product contracts, especially within the DOD and health spaces. AI is moving from test mission critical, and, you know, I really suggest that contractors should invest now in aligning AI opportunities, to, you know, have the best chance of succeeding in that agency mission. You always wanna set yourself up for success here. Alright. Policy drivers behind the spends. This is still within section two of my report. So this is a very, very detailed section. I think I list over a dozen policies, mandates that have happened last year and this year, and I detail exactly, you know, the impact they had when that mandate or policy was first implemented, and also the lasting impact that it's had for this year and what I'm forecasting the impact to be in the future of this next year. So when I was looking at this data, I noticed that agencies, need to show measurable progress on these mandates. They are all held to very high standards in this industry, And contractors who tie solutions directly to compliance requirements become the lowest risk partners. You know, you always wanna make sure you're being compliant. You're meeting the standards. If it is, you know, getting a new accreditation certificate, those are things you wanna start thinking of right now, and you don't wanna wait until the last minute. And, you know, you always wanna start off the next quarter strong, and this one is gonna be really impactful because it's the first one of the new year. Right? So just transitioning out, understanding these tech lanes are critical, but agencies can execute them without contract vehicles. And that's where we're gonna look at next. Alright. Let me just make sure that chat is looking good. Alright. Yeah. Again, if you guys have questions about, you know, what exactly I'm talking about, I'm speaking in reference to my industry report that I just put out Monday. There is a link in this chat here to download it. That way, you know, if you wanna follow along today or just, you know, keep in mind what I'm speaking about right now and look at it when you get a chance later on today, that is what I would suggest here. So section three of my report is all about best in class vehicles. These are gonna be, you know, your top GWACs, your, top spending easy access vehicles here. And in my report, I detail all of them, and I give you, you know, just every data point you can think of with these I mean, it's really useful if you don't get anything else out of this report. I would say this section is very valuable to no matter who is reading it. So when the clock is ticking in September, agencies lean on vehicles they trust. It's gonna be these best in class GWACs, and these are the backbone of year end obligations. That's something I noticed when I was looking at the data. You know, not only do they dominate year round, but especially in quarter four do these come into play. So why do these GWACs dominate? That's a huge question when I also had as well. So, you know, they offer speed. They reduce protest risk and pre priced labor categories. So GWACs are about predictability. They have a lower risk of contracting officers, under deadline pressure, which is why, you know, they exactly dominate in quarter four. They're easier to get on. They have lower risk of being protested against. You know, if you have a seat on one right now, it's easier to get a seat on another. And it's also easier to keep your seat once you're already on it. And one thing I would suggest here, if you're not on GSA MAS already, I would totally suggest to get on that. There are so many resources out there on exactly how to do that. Great ones I can think of right now are from GDPRANTS. She has a whole, you know, webinar series on it, reports written on how exactly to do that, downloadable books. So those, you know, everyone out there has their own take on how to do that. And then, you know, transitioning out of this section, we've covered a lot. Right now, we've covered where the dollars are, where they're going, top spenders, late obligators, tech policies, vehicles, and agencies. So now the question is, how are contractors responding? Right? What are you doing right now to prepare yourself for not only the end of the year, but the next year to come? And that's where what I call the GovDash strategy framework comes in. And, you know, it's just our take, my take, my perspective on, you know, the go to market strategy you should be doing as a contractor in GovCon, to not only use, you know, data that you're finding in this report, but also just other things you're seeing. Right? Everyone posts on LinkedIn. There's so much news out there. What are you doing with that? You know, are you turning it into something tactical that you can use right now, or is it just kind of getting, you know, lost in the back of your head? So this is, you know, what I came up in my report. This is a snapshot of what the takeaway go to market road map looks like. And I just really want to cover, six topics that I detail directly in here that you can start, you know, focusing on right now. So data alone doesn't win contracts. We all know that. If that was the case, you know, I don't I would have won the lottery. You guys would have never seen me again. So what matters here is how you turn it into a go to market strategy. So I broke this down into six moves that you can position your team into for this year and beyond. This is a road map that turns intel into execution. That is a huge thing that I'm really big on. You know, not just providing data, but giving you actionable insights. So if you remember nothing else today, remember these six steps here. First one, focus on the right buyers. Prioritize agencies that obligate late and align with next year's drivers. I detail all of this in my report. The ones I found that were, you know, hitting this right on the head here with the VA, DHS, and DOD. Again, very different agencies, very different services, but it is possible to, you know, focus on those at the same time. Resources spread is the biggest risk. Double down where your solutions advance the mission, you know, from the agencies and not everywhere you see a solicitation. So what I mean by this is not just, you know, responding to every solicitation you see out there. Picking a few that you know for sure you are in the best space possible to provide services for and, you know, target specific agencies and niche fields if you can. Second one, route through vehicles. This is where the best in class vehicles come in. Right? So always plan at least two vehicles per agencies plus a backup. This is something no doubt everyone has already been hearing, you know, from industry leaders, in GovCon. So vehicle access defines whether you were a prime or a subcontractor. Plan for the unexpected. Policies changing day to day. If your main vehicle gets delayed or hits a ceiling or, you know, the extended timeline doesn't happen the way you see it, maps is a great example that maps was supposed to happen this year. It hasn't. Right? It might not ever happen. We have no idea. So make sure that your pipeline is in the best place possible so you don't lose out if something happens to a specific vehicle or a specific, you know, service area. Third one here, team where it matters. Incumbents dominate. We all know this. The data shows it, but small firms are making inroads, and they're becoming breakout stars. Smart teaming gives you coverage. Teaming is not about filling check boxes. It's about strategic extension, intermissions, or regions, or services you can't cover alone. Let's see. Number four here. Move at q four speed. High demand makes like IT and cyber, again, those five four one makes codes, obligate the most dollars in quarter four. Proposals and pricing must already be in advance. If you're not doing this, you're in the wrong. By August, which is, you know, last month here, for example, proposals should already exist in modular form. If you're waiting for the solicitation to build your proposal from scratch, you're already losing. As AI, you know, continues to dominate this space, you wanna make sure you're in the right place possible using tools. A great one is GovDash, for example. Using tools like that that are gonna help you match those key dominators in the space and just propel you forward, you know, as more tools become available that people are using to get this stuff done. Right? Last one here, measure and adapt. Track market signals weekly. This is something I include in every single one of my tables and sections within the report is, you know, I give you the data, but and then, you know, what what's the use of that if you don't have the market signal? What does it mean to you? Right? So track market signals weekly and anticipate delays, anticipate, you know, changes, unforeseen things, and agility, especially in quarter four and September is so important. So with this road map, you know, you're ready to move beyond short term wins and set your team up for sustained success. And, you know, we've covered a lot today. Quarter four is not just the end of your sprint. It's the opening move for next year twenty twenty six largest comp competitions. You know, if you were looking at this webinar today and you're like, what the heck is she talking about? You know, download the report yourself. Discover, you know, very detailed insights. I track exactly, you know, to the dollar for agencies, competitors, obligators, NAICS, best in class vehicles, GWACs. I really, you know, I I love data. I love research. So I really dive really deeply into these things. So, you know, if you wanna get a better overview of everything I highlighted today, you can download that and also subscribe to our GovDash intel monthly brief where I, you know, am the one behind that as well. So I'm kind of updating you guys every month with what you need to know exactly when it's happening. And you have, you know, a great list of news and insights to look back at from the previous month. And, you know, behalf of Govdash, I wanna thank all of you guys for joining me here today. Treat this playbook as a living tool, not just a one time report. Again, you know, the worst thing is attending a webinar and hearing all of these high level insights, but not having anything to walk away with. Within this report, you know, I detail those market signals, meaning, you know, what you can take away now from the data to forecast for, you know, not only quarter four because there's only, you know, two or three weeks left of the physical year for GovCon, but what you can take away from the data, to forecast for the next year to come. That's especially important. You know, data, is a very great thing to rely on because, you know, I always say policy changes every day. You don't know what the next day in GovCon is gonna look like. But the data from previous years and even the data from today is not gonna change. It's something that you can use to your advantage. And if you know how to do it correctly, how to do this market intel analysis, you can really use it to get anywhere you want in this space, whether it is, you know, defense, FEDSIG agencies, health agencies. If you're looking to target a specific agency, a specific, you know, niche NAICS code, even if it isn't five four one, you know, you wanna drill down on something even more niche. It is possible to use the data to get there. And I'm just, you know, really excited to see how you guys all respond to this. Excited to see how you apply this playbook, not only into quarter form because, again, you know, there's only a few weeks left. Most of the time, if you're not already implementing these, you know, market signals and suggestions, strategies, I detail in this report. And what I just talked about today, you know, the outlook might not be exactly what you want it to be, but you can always take those lessons, and, you know, turn it into actionable strategies you can use for the next year to come, especially if you're just breaking into this space, and, you know, maybe you're subcontracting and looking to get on a prime, especially next year. Because as I detail in this report, 2026 budgets, are looking really different from what they've been this year, previous five years. So there is just so much opportunity, maybe more opportunity that, you know, we've never seen before, especially within, you know, defense, health, federal agencies. So, you know, just take a deeper dive into this report, see where you can use it to pursue, you know, future pipelines. And if you wanna learn more about how to exactly do that, that is also in here as well. Alright. So we did wanna save a little bit of time here just to kind of, answer any questions that we have. Looking at the chat right now. If you guys have any questions about this report, anything I've talked about today, if you've downloaded the report, you know, since Monday and just came out a few days ago, if you saw something in there that you want more coverage on, if you have questions about a specific, you know, point I made in the report or anything I just spoke about today, if you wanna learn more about anything like that, please shout it out here in the chat, and I will be more than willing and happy to expand on that. Alright. Let's see. Sam, do we have any questions, any really great questions I can answer right now? Alright. I'm gonna look at the q and a. Yeah. Again, the PowerPoint slides are just reference to the report that you have to download. The link is in the chat for that. Alright. So I see David Sales here. He said, looking forward, wouldn't Oasis Plus, both small business and unrestricted be in the best in class vehicle mix? Yes. Of course it is. That is one of the top vehicles. And, you know, there's so much news going on with the Oasis Plus. Right? That is one of the vehicles that I do have in this report on my slides. You know, I might not have mentioned it, but, if it's a best in class vehicle, if it's a GWAC, it's in this report. I detail, you know, again, what is happening right now with Oasis plus, recent winners, forecasting for it, what happened last year, what's happening now, and, you know, just really great resources in there, at a really high level. A lot of data points that you can use now in the future. But it is absolutely, David, a best in class vehicle, and it is one of the biggest ones and one of the ones that has the most kind of news and talking going around it right now. Alright. Alright. We got Samantha Reed out here. So if if I'm trying to generate a proposal for solicitation, but I don't see that specific oh, this is big. Okay. Specific solicitation on my opportunity pipeline. Do I have to upload all solicitation documents manually? Is there a way to do this in GovDash? Yes. So I would love to connect you with Sam and a few other our teammates at GovDash. There is a 100% a way to do this, generate a proposal from a solicitation, upload multiple documents at once. We also have a shred feature, way for you to, you know, combine your past performance to respond to solicitation the best way possible. So I will connect someone with you directly after that to, you know, figure out exactly where your pain points are and make sure we answer every single question that you have here today. Let's see. Al here. We got do you have any data as far as the percentage that actually gets reversed overall in GovCon or agency by agency? So do you have any data, the percentage, get reversed? So I have a lot of different data points in here actually get reversed. So I, you know, speak a lot about percentages and exact dollar amounts of unspent, totals and obligations per each agency, covering all of, you know, the DOD agencies, federal civilian agencies, and health care as well. So, you know, I would really suggest look into that data a little bit deeper. And if you don't see exactly what you're looking to get out of this report, I'm happy to meet, you know, one on one and kind of, drill down on some higher level insights as well. But, yeah, I mean, I detail straight to the dollar, exact percentages year to date. Again, we only have, you know, two or three weeks left in September. So now is the time to be looking at that data, because, you know, right before October 1, it's gonna change so much. Alright. So we got a little bit more time here. Let me make sure we can see this. Alright. And this is the report, and it's, you know, what it looks like exactly when you're gonna download it. It it's huge. You know? It's 35 pages, you know, 30 plus pages of just deep intel that, you know, is completely free. It's, you know, written by, you know, an expert in the field. I've been in the industry for a while. I've been doing data and research for a number of years. This is a passion. This is what I love. So, you know, I I make it really easy. Keep it section by section just looking at, you know, again, where's the dollars moving right now, late obligators, competitive landscape, regions, makes small business layout, protest. Looking at tech, you know, what I spoke about earlier, AI cloud cybersecurity is a huge one. Contract vehicles, this is where Oasis plus is gonna be in here, David. And then the last one, just, you know, getting a really great go to market strategy that you can use in the future. So, you know, a few things if you haven't already lifted it. You know, just mentioning really quickly, you know, what exactly you're gonna get out of this report. So I I have a really detailed, quarter four federal heat map, which shows everything that I just, you know, highlighted in this webinar, but on a very deep level. Small business and risk landscape, you know, small business the way they conduct, you know, with their actions in this industry are so different from those dominating, large business key players that, you know, dominated from for the last twenty years. The way, you know, they do business is so different. So I think it's really important to understand that. What it go what, you know, really encompasses that and, you know, how we can use data to get a better idea of what's going on. Tech and policy signals. Again, I mentioned I have at least 12, policies and mandates that, you know, took place last year, this year, especially regarding AI. And best in class vehicles again, SEWP, Alliance, CIO, Oasis. There's, you know, a really great detailed view on all of those. And, you know, I think we have time here. I can kinda go through that and show you guys on a little bit clearer picture of it. So, you know, these are some of the tables you're gonna find inside my report. So this is the top 10 quarter four obligators. You know, I list the top 10 agencies that have historically, obligated the most in quarter four. This is for 2025. And then I also do a percentage, you know, of what they've done year after year, the median spending. So that also translates into a market signal here as I mentioned. You know, this is what you're gonna walk away with right now, how you're gonna apply that to, you know, what kind of business you're doing right now. Incumbents, new entrants, teaming signals. Yeah. This is, let's see. This is still section one. This is where I detail AI, machine learning, cloud cybersecurity. I, you know, have key makes that we're all familiar with for each of these sectors here. And, you know, this was really interesting to look at. I have, I think, about 10 each. So leading historical, obligators for this year, year to date, but also right here, new ones. So this is gonna be your small businesses as you can see here. These are gonna be your JVs. But, you know, not only did they, you know, have the most obligated to them this year, they really were the breakout stars for a number of different reasons. And if you click on each one of them, it takes you directly to their USA spending account so you can get a more detailed view on, you know, what contracts they won, what kind of services they were providing, who they were subcontracting with, if anyone, kind of, you know, a really great detailed outline on how they got, you know, on specific contract vehicles or contracts. Now it's all always really great information to know. Right? Who is subcontracting with who. It it gives you a really good idea of who you can reach out to. This was also really, really cool. So state hotspot. So we all know, you know, there's sectors of The United States that do the most business historically. So just kind of getting a more detailed look of specifically quarter four, the median average spend, and then, you know, turning that into a market signal, was very interesting here. And I also break down CONUS and OCONUS. Right? What is The United States making obligating versus, you know, people overseas? So it is a crazy difference. And, you know, also in this report, I also detail exactly why. What are the primary drivers, you know, market signals for this, what you can expect for the last two or three months weeks of September, and what you can expect, you know, very early on next year. Top NAICS codes. You know, these, again, are mostly the five four one NAICS codes. But we do have, you know, facility support services breaking out, which was, you know, really interesting. So, you know, also, you know, even if you have contenders that have won over and over every year, you know, historically, top obligated makes there, you know, still are some changes, but you're not gonna know that until you look at the data. Right? So, you know, not only do I list makes, but I list key PSC codes. So you can drill down a little bit deeper into what that exactly means. Because a lot of the time, NAICS are very broad. If you add a PSC, you get a really, you know, great better idea of what exactly a a company is doing and what the services look like. So this is just really looking at, you know, quarter four, looking at the average here and looking at, you know, what is the median percent of, funds unspent for this year. And when you're looking at that column, it is, you know, really shocking. It's about 80% above 90% for these first two makes. So, you know, these numbers are gonna look drastically different by, you know, October 1. But it is this is just such great intel to have because, you know, if you go a whole year, and you're waiting for the last two or three weeks to actually obligate money, and you still have, like, 93% of it to spend. That is just a crazy number. And when I was looking at it, it was just I have to share this, you know, small businesses. This is a really huge section. I talked a lot about that today. You know, I detail women owned small businesses, service disabled, veteran owned small businesses, HUBZone, AA, the tribally owned, everything like that. Looking at, you know, what they were awarded last year, what they were awarded this year, and the percent that actually awarded to small business type. So there's a huge discussion with this right now. I mean, every agency is obligated to have, a specific goal in place. It is, you know, a few percentage points that each agency needs to award to specific small businesses listed here. But a lot of the times, you know, even if they set a standard of, like, 5%, For example, you know, how much of that 5% is actually going to that specific small business? If they say, you know, we're gonna obligate 5%, from the VA to women owned small business this year, you know, is a 100% of that five, you know, is that going to small business, women owned small business, or is it going to a different kind? So it's really interesting when you look at where exactly the dollars are flowing because a lot of the times, you know, companies have different set asides. They're classified under more than one. So, you know, when you really look at where the money is going here, it it tells a really nuanced story. Protest protest landscape. Yeah. So I, you know, I picked a variety of agencies, VA, Department of Defense, Treasury, Health. Just looking at how much, you know, what their, protest was, you know, their their numbers, looking at what percentage of that was sustained. Again, zero for the VA. They had over 200% of it was sustained. I I mean, that that shows that, you know, there's a lot of pushback. There's a lot of, you know, delay. But, ultimately, what is happening with that? So I I I dive a lot deeper into that into this report here too. Then we go into tech, AI, cloud, cybersecurity, everything I mentioned previously. Looking at, you know, what is the focus for AI right now? How many opportunities are on SAM alone? Again, sam.gov is not the only way to find opportunities. There are so many more out there. You know, Evie is a great example. If you're on GSA MAS, that's where a majority of your opportunities are gonna live. And, you know, I detail top sub agencies driving demand for this specific makes specific category, which is, you know, again, also really interesting to see who's spending the most on AI right now. It's gonna be the air force, NASA, Navy, Army. This looks all DOD. Right? Who's spending the most on cloud? It gets a little bit more mixed up. Right? So VA, Air Force, there's CMS, health services, DOD again, a federal agency IRS. It gets more mix matched as you look at the numbers, which is, you know, really interesting to see. See. Let's see. Al, this is the protest data I was inquiring about. Awesome. Thank you. Alright. Glad I can help you out. Again, read this more in its entirety. I'm just kind of really doing a quick overview of the data and some really interesting key points. But, you know, maybe just look at this. There's tons to read. This is also, you know let's see. This is the second section. This is where I detail into policies and mandates. I list what it is, a link directly to it. What was the impact last year? What's the impact this year? What should I care about now? Right? What should I care about in 2026? And what were the primary agencies impacted by the specific mandate or policy? A huge thing you wanna know. If you're a VA, you know, service provider, you wanna know what's impacting you right now and what's gonna impact you in the future. Right? Again, policy changes day to day, but I included, you know, what I thought was the most important permanent, you know, valuable insights that you could you know, should be getting right now. And I'm covering, you know, every single agency, subagency out there. So there's a little bit of data out there for everyone. Alright. Best in class contracts. This is I think David had a, yeah, question about OASIS plus. This is exactly where you're gonna see it in the report section three here. So I talk about, you know, the main ones in focus, what that means for you in GovDash right now. You know, I hit on everyone out there. I mean, the the data is just really endless what you can do with it. You know, why agencies choose these specific vehicles again, what that means for you right now and in the future. And then this really nice table that gives you great overview of every single best in class vehicle, what makes, you know, they target, what are the top five agencies this year using them, and how much that was, what the ceiling is, you know, historically, the timeline for it. You know, stars three is, you know, projected to go through 2029. That is the current update. All of these are currently updated. You know, that could change tomorrow. So just, you know, keep that in mind. And I also do lead, have key leading incumbents. So this is people companies that have historically done very large, sums of money for a specific vehicle. But, you know, as I'm looking at these three, for example, right now, you know, there's JVs. There's small businesses. All of these are are not gonna be, you know, in in its entirety large businesses. It's a very great mix. So when you're looking at the data, it's really interesting to see. And then, you know, for the key incumbents right now, I do kind of give give you a head start on potential teaming partners. So each one of these incumbents, I do list, you know, a program manager, a contracting officer, someone that you can reach out today. These are their LinkedIn profiles. That's that's a huge thing. Right? It's you know, I have all the state of who do I talk to, where do I go to get this information. You know, LinkedIn is a great place to start. You know, if you see that someone, you know, post regularly, looks open to chat, you know, send them a message. Just, you know, make it really clear what your services are, what your mission is, and, you know, just, you know, try to be as successful as you can. But this is a great start. Potential team partners and I do that for every single contract vehicle and incumbent here. Last column is, you know, what is next year gonna look like? It's, you know, huge conversation. We, you know, don't have an exact timeline or we don't have a crystal ball. Right? But we're looking at data, historical analysis, market intel. It's really great starting point that we can make a forecast of what is potential to come. So, again, you know, I detail stars three, alliance two, that's two, which is if you're not on that's two right now, I mean, you need to get on it soon. Soup. You know, there's a huge discussion on what's to come with this one in the next few years. It's supposed to end next month, and there is supposed to have, you know, a a new iteration of SEWP, which I know, you know, there's a lot of companies out there that are only on SEWP. So, you know, that's where I say, you know, take that go to market strategy that I include in this report, and I just previously talked about. Now diversify yourself. Get on multiple vehicles. Don't leave it up to chance. You don't wanna, you know, be left with some unforeseen circumstances. Let's see. I'll see if I CIO SP three. I love that. That's crazy. I'll thank you. So CIO SP three. There's two iterations of that. There's the unrestricted and the small business. I detail each of these. And, yeah, more information within this section. So the last one here is what I, again, call the GovDash perspective. So this is just, you know, we had all these great data points. But what does it mean? What can I do now? You know, again, the worst thing you know, the thing I hate the most is attending a webinar or reading something, and it it has all these great data points. You know, it might be dense. It might be easy to read. That doesn't really matter. But, like, you know, when when you're done with it, it's like, what do I do now? You know, if if you don't have a game plan and set, it's it's like, why did I even listen to this webinar? Why did I read this? I don't know what to do next. Right? So I really wanted to be tactical, have, you know, something for everyone to take away. I go through all of these six points that I mentioned earlier live on this webinar, dive deeper into what exactly I mean by this. And, you know, hopefully, you know, the the outcome I I really truly want for everyone here today, not just listening to this webinar, not just reading this report, looking at these slides here, but it's, you know, being able to contact, connect to this intel. The tables I have, the data points, understanding where money sits, where the v which vehicles move it, who are the top incumbents, who are the breakout stars, where is small business, you know, where does that fit in this whole conversation? What are you doing now? What can you do better? What are some suggestions for strategies? How you can use market until we get there, to not only do well, you know, for the last remainder of this year, but, you know, have the best outlook you can for the next year to come. And this is also its own slide to go to market strategy. And, also, within the report is our link to more industry reports. I put out a report every month. It's gonna be the same style, very intensive, very deep, very long form content. If you're a fan of that kind of stuff, data research, I put out a report every month. This is the direct link to our blog page where you can find that tab and also subscribing to our GovDash monthly intel that, you know, is a very great monthly look back at that you can reference for that month. Looking at key insights, you know, what you need to know now, what's relevant, events that are happening this month, where you should be at networking, you know, preparing your fall calendar of events, top news policy, opportunities that are hitting, awards, you know, that are being talked about right now, just updates with vehicles, mandates. I mean, I I really include a little bit of everything for everyone in that, newsletter. So now we're gonna look at the q and a. Alright. So using GovWin tools, eBuy, there are three eighty six RFQs, active and inactive. Most are market research RFI's. Is there a way to see trends if Oasis plus actually use in a breakout by makes? So, yeah, I would say, you know, if you're looking at a variety of tools, which I totally suggest doing I mean, you know, there's yeah. Sam.gov. You mentioned eBuy. Most are market research RFIs. Yeah. If you're looking for a specific contract people, it's really easy to drill down and filter to find exactly what you're looking for. So if you're trying to see trends, market research, RFIs, if you wanna look just straight at solicitations, look at previous winners, previous obligators, historical analysis, there is a way to do that. You know, the GSA eBuy is very easy to use. It's very intuitive. You know, there are other tools out there, but I would say, you know, getting your data, just, you know, just raw data is, you know, the best way to get those insights. But actually using a breakout by NAICS. Yeah. I mean, the way I do that is going to USA spending, type it in OASIS plus, drilling down on NAICS, PSCs. I mean, you can really find out anything, and I I truly prefer you as a spending, versus FPDS. I mean, I don't think FPDS has been updated in the last twenty years. I mean, it it's really hard to use, but, you know, you make do what you have. Right? But I would I would really suggest you as a spending plug in, you know, any current incumbents on Oasis plus. I do have a link to all of those current winners and past winners in my report. You know, there's hundreds of them. Right? So if you wanna get a really detailed overview on who's won in the past, looking at previous RFIs, previous solicitations, looking at breakout by NAICS, PSC, all of that is directly linked in this report. And, you know, if you have a question that is not completely answered in my report, I'm very happy. You know, shoot me a DM on LinkedIn, and I can meet with you one on one and really, you know, get you where you need to be with specific questions about this topic today. Alright. Let's see. What are some publicly accessible tools that you recommend using when it comes to identifying good opportunities to go after? So yeah. Like what I just said, sam.gov, it's completely free, public. Sam.gov is where every provider of services to the United States government needs to register with a UEI. And, you know, they're all gonna be in there for you. So I would totally suggest, you know, sam dot gov for finding opportunities, g s a eBuy, if you're on mass. That is a great place to be. But, you know, there's dozens of more opportunity websites out there. GovDash, for example, you know, not only do we pull all of opportunities from every free, you know, or, you know, paid platform out there. You know, we do have a mix of all kinds of opportunities, but, you know, there is also a way to get that data, you know, just raw data from the direct source, and that's, you know, what I use every day, sam.gov, GSA eBuy, specific agency portals, specific state portals if you're doing SLED. I mean, the whole thing is very you know, you can really get out of it, just depending on what you put in. But I just wanna say, you know, thank you so much for everyone for attending here today. We've covered a lot. Remember, quarter four is not just the end of the year sprint. It's, you know, looking for an opening move to doing the best you can next year. Right? So get this report. Check it out. Share it with anyone, you know, if you find value from it. Friends, family, I would love that. Subscribe to GovDash, you know, Intel monthly brief for updates, for networking opportunities, everything you need to know in one place. And, you know, again, on behalf of GovDash, I just wanna thank you so much for attending this webinar. Treat this playbook and this report as a living tool, not just a onetime report. There's so many, you know, strategies in there to use today and in the future. And I'm excited to see how everyone is going to be using that, you know, in the future. So thank you so much again. Alright.