WT 360: The market from all angles

In typical times, there is no going back after an agency tells a company their contract is being terminated for convenience of the government, which starts a settlement process cycle. But this episode featuring Jeff Shapiro, government contracting advisory and regulatory assurance partner at CohnReznick, serves as a reminder that these are not typical times in GovCon. As Shapiro explains to our Ross Wilkers, contractors have a Yes/No question of whether or not to go back to work after a termination reversal. If the answer is Yes, a new cycle begins that Shapiro talks through in detail. The General Services Administration’s push to centralize much of civilian procurement under its roof features in part two of their discussion. Trump orders structural changes to rules covering $1T in federal spending [https://www.washingtontechnology.com/contracts/2025/04/trump-orders-major-changes-rules-covering-1t-federal-spending/404591/?oref=wt-related-article] GSA to ‘quadruple' in size to centralize procurement across the government [https://www.washingtontechnology.com/contracts/2025/04/trump-orders-major-changes-rules-covering-1t-federal-spending/404591/?oref=wt-related-article] Proactive responses to termination for convenience or stop-work orders [https://www.washingtontechnology.com/contracts/2025/04/trump-orders-major-changes-rules-covering-1t-federal-spending/404591/?oref=wt-related-article] Your contract termination has been reversed. Now what? [https://www.washingtontechnology.com/contracts/2025/04/trump-orders-major-changes-rules-covering-1t-federal-spending/404591/?oref=wt-related-article]

Google set off quite the reaction when the tech giant’s offer to discount its cloud-based productivity suite at 71% for all federal agencies was accepted by the General Services Administration, on behalf of those agencies [https://www.nextgov.com/acquisition/2025/04/google-gsa-agree-major-governmentwide-software-discount/404450/]. Frank Konkel, editor-in-chief for all GovExec publications including WT, went under the hood of that agreement and joins our Ross Wilkers for this episode to take listeners there as well. As Frank explains: this pact unique because it essentially treats the federal government as a single whole customer. The agreement also foreshadows more like it to make certain commercial technologies more accessible for federal agencies. Naturally, Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency [http://www.fcw.com/acquisition/2025/04/googles-government-deal-first-many-come-doge-says/404508/] also feature in the conversation between Frank and Ross.

The nature of mergers and acquisitions in the government market is changing and our 2024 roundup of closed transactions [https://www.washingtontechnology.com/rankings/m-a-round-up/2024/] further illustrates that evolution toward technology-enabled capabilities, which are largely driven by software. Jean Stack and John Song, co-managing directors of the defense and government practice at the investment bank Baird & Co., join for this episode to discuss what drove transactions over the past year and what they expect in the year ahead. A new administration in the White House means there is plenty of change and uncertainty in the market. But as Stack and Song told Editor Nick Wakeman, these fundamentals of M&A activity will not change: * Artificial intelligence, cloud and software-defined solutions are in hot demand * Private equity buyers will continue to drive volume * Strategic buyers, including the public companies, will remain picky Also listen out for their predictions on how the coming year will shake out.

Public company acquirers (unicorns [https://washingtontechnology.com/companies/2025/04/public-company-acquirer-remains-unicorn-m-action/404229/]) certainly get everyone’s attention, but our 2024 M&A Roundup [https://www.washingtontechnology.com/rankings/m-a-round-up/2024/] shows how the private equity collective continues to be the majority buyer and builder of midsized GovCon businesses over the years. Greg Nossaman and Greg Woodford, co-founders and managing directors at their investment bank G Squared Capital Partners, join this episode to review PE’s past and present activity in the market. The Gregs’ conversation with our Ross Wilkers then shifts to the future of private equity in GovCon and the questions on many business leaders’ minds highlighted by these two: How do I go about searching for a PE firm to back my company? What does PE look for in its investments?

Few companies have closed as many acquisitions as CACI International. CACI has three acquisitions on our 2024 M&A Roundup [https://www.washingtontechnology.com/rankings/m-a-round-up/2024/]: Azure Technologies, Applied Insight and Quandrint. Those moves brought to CACI a suite of offerings in cloud migration, radio frequency and electronic warfare, and digital application modernization. In this episode, CACI's chief financial officer Jeff MacLauchlan explains how the company’s strategy focuses on gaps. These gaps can include capabilities, customer footprint, technology, past performance, or some combination of the above. “We don’t buy scale or to bulk up,” he told WT Editor Nick Wakeman. CACI views acquisitions as a critical part of its philosophy to invest ahead of customer needs. That also includes partnering, internal research and holding demonstrations. The change in administration has brought some uncertainty to the market and caused a slowdown in deals, but he adds that “opportunities will come." How CACI's $1.2B Azure Summit acquisition expands its overseas strategy [https://www.washingtontechnology.com/companies/2024/10/where-caci-sees-azure-summit-overseas-strategy/400523/?oref=wt-related-article] CACI acquires Applied Insight to build up cloud migration offerings [https://www.washingtontechnology.com/companies/2024/10/where-caci-sees-azure-summit-overseas-strategy/400523/?oref=wt-related-article] CACI's international push is a slow and steady race [https://www.washingtontechnology.com/companies/2024/10/where-caci-sees-azure-summit-overseas-strategy/400523/?oref=wt-related-article] Better tools for analysts drove CACI to buy Bluestone Analytics [https://www.washingtontechnology.com/companies/2024/10/where-caci-sees-azure-summit-overseas-strategy/400523/?oref=wt-related-article] CACI to acquire laser communication tech maker for $275M [https://www.washingtontechnology.com/companies/2024/10/where-caci-sees-azure-summit-overseas-strategy/400523/?oref=wt-related-article]