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

Episode 75: 20 Years of GovCon Pricing Secrets with Chris Wicke

Chris Wicke has spent 20+ years pricing government contracts. In this episode, he breaks down the biggest mistakes small businesses make when pricing proposals, why pricing during capture is non-negotiable, and how to build a price-to-win analysis that actually tells you something. He also shares his take on the new executive order pushing the market back toward firm fixed price — and what that means for vendors competing right now. 

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.