BEST8A Podcast

Episode 74: Power Plants, Government Freezes, and the Road to $10 Million with Curtis Porter

Curtis Porter, President of Innovative Works, went from $5-an-hour electrician helper to building an automation and controls firm serving NIH, the State Department, and private energy companies across the country. In this episode he traces the full journey: the early career detour that gave him hands-on skills most engineers never develop, the years at GE commissioning power plants he had no business being alone at, and what it actually felt like to win a federal contract, order the equipment, hire the people, and then watch the government freeze all spending for six months. He closes with where he is taking Innovative Works next and the one problem every small firm eventually runs into.

Episode 73: Burnout, Service, and the Future of GovCon with Indira Rice Donegan

Indira Rice Donegan is a Signal Corps veteran, CEO of RIDO technology consulting, and board leader across some of the most influential organizations in the federal space, including AFCEA, and the Albert J. Meyer Signal Corps Regimental Association. In this episode, she shares her take on burnout and why she doesn't subscribe to it, how service organizations build real relationships in GovCon, and what the current administration's priorities around DOGE cuts and AI mean for the future of federal contracting.

Episode 72: Warrants, Missions, and the Revolutionary FAR Overhaul: A Contracting Officer's View of GovCon Today with Tracy Marcinowski

Tracy Marcinowski, Managing Partner of Strategic Acquisition Solutions and former Assistant Commissioner for Acquisitions at GSA's Public Building Service, joins the podcast for a candid look at what it actually takes to navigate federal acquisitions from both sides of the table. Tracy traces her career from contingency contracting in the Air Force to overseeing a multi-billion dollar leased and owned property portfolio at GSA, sharing what she learned along the way about the relationship between contracting offices and program offices, and why collaboration almost always beats the silo. The conversation covers the upheaval of 2025. paused RFPs, workforce reductions, centralization under GSA, and the Revolutionary FAR Overhaul. and what those changes mean for companies trying to compete today. Tracy breaks down how outcome-based acquisitions are reshaping what government actually asks industry for, why shorter solicitation timelines are already showing up in the market, and how companies that connect their work to the agency's mission consistently outperform the ones that don't.

Episode 71: Why Relentless Beats Resourced: One CEO's 30-Year Playbook for Winning Government Contracts with Leslie Steele

Leslie Steele has been running InterImage for 30 years. She started it on a dare from her husband and never went back to corporate America. In this episode, she talks about what it actually takes to get in front of the right people in federal — and why relentlessness is the only strategy that has ever worked for her. She also gets into how she thinks about priming versus subbing, competing full and open against large businesses, and navigating a market where government contacts are disappearing faster than you can replace them.

Episode 70: Compliance Isn't enough in Government Cybersecurity with Lonye Ford, CEO of Arlo Solutions

Lonye Ford started at the Air Force at 19. Today she is the CEO of Arlo solutions, a DC-based government contracting firm specializing in cyber, governance, risk, and compliance. In this episode, she breaks down why so many federal agencies are still confusing compliance with actual risk management, what it really takes to go from practitioner to CEO, and the one hiring decision that made building her company possible.