Substance Over Glitter: What Makes the HUBZone Conference Worth the Trip | Eric Coffie

You Don't Control Innovation. You Manage It. | Harlan Bennett & Rick Fernandez

Kodak's own engineers built the first digital camera, and its executives shelved it to protect film. The gap between having ideas and managing innovation is where organizations quietly die. In this special episode of GovCon Unscripted [https://www.youtube.com/@GovConUnscriptedUS], Chelsea Roberts [https://www.linkedin.com/in/chelseadroberts/] sits down with two of the people writing the international playbook for innovation management. Rick Fernandez is President of the American Network for Innovation [https://americannetwork4innovation.org], chairman of the US technical advisory group to ISO TC 279, and a veteran of Florida Power & Light's Deming Prize win, the first awarded outside Japan. Harlan Bennett [https://www.linkedin.com/in/harlan-bennett/] is CEO of Ever Evolving, Inc [https://everevolving.biz]., VP of the American Network for Innovation [https://americannetwork4innovation.org], and vice chair of the same US advisory group.   Together they take apart the most common misreads in federal innovation: that innovation equals technology, that more ideas mean more innovation, and that a standard is just another compliance flow-down. Rick contrasts idea-driven programs (14,000 employee ideas collected, roughly 100 developed, 13,900 contributors alienated) with value-driven innovation that starts from strategic intent. Harlan shows SBIR performers how to escape the one-lane trap by validating adjacent customers before the build starts. And both make the case that ISO 56001, built on the same harmonized structure as ISO 9001, is a management system, not a control system.   They also preview what's next: innovation ecosystem management, IP-sharing contracts between primes and subs, and why innovation is no longer an individual game.   TIMESTAMPS 00:00 Welcome and guest introductions 01:00 Harlan Bennett: Ever Evolving, Inc. and the American Network for Innovation 02:30 Rick Fernandez: from FPL's Deming Prize to ISO TC 279 04:00 Why innovation needs standards now: the three S's 07:00 Innovation is not a technology: something new that creates value 09:30 The garage tinkerer problem and the one hit wonder 11:00 Managing innovation vs controlling it 12:00 Idea-driven vs value-driven innovation: the 14,000 ideas story 14:30 Innovation portfolio management 18:45 SBIR: escaping the one-lane trap 23:30 The recipe: maximize value, minimize risk, resources, and time 24:45 Ambidextrous organizations: innovating without dropping daily operations 25:30 Case study: an innovation management office, 100 projects narrowed to 3 29:00 Ecosystems: innovation is no longer an individual game 31:00 Primes, flow-downs, CMMC, and fair negotiations 37:45 Standards as enablers, not regulations 39:30 The harmonized structure: why ISO 9001 shops are halfway there 42:15 Where to find Harlan and Rick Resources: Harlan Bennett's LinkedIn Profile [https://www.linkedin.com/in/harlan-bennett/] Rick Fernandez's LinkedIn Profile [https://www.linkedin.com/in/rick-fernandez-b66a123/] Chelsea Roberts' LinkedIn Profile [https://americannetwork4innovation.org]   Other resources: Ever Evolving Inc. Website [https://everevolving.biz] 2020 Innovation Website [https://2020-innovation.com] American Network For Innovation Website [https://americannetwork4innovation.org]   🎧 Listen now on: 🔹 Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/govcon-unscripted/id1766384482 [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/govcon-unscripted/id1766384482] 🔹 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1NL0kFAvmgECLTJpUZYNHy [https://open.spotify.com/show/1NL0kFAvmgECLTJpUZYNHy]   Like and follow us: 🔹 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@GovConUnscriptedUS [https://www.youtube.com/@GovConUnscriptedUS] 🔹 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/govconunscriptedpodcast/ [https://www.facebook.com/govconunscriptedpodcast/] 🔹 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/govcon-unscripted/posts/ [https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/govcon-unscripted/posts/] 🔹 Join our #govcon community: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/14618490/

Manufacturing Is Not a Dirty Word: Reframing the Jobs Rural Communities Need | Chrissy Marrucci

Say the word manufacturing and a lot of people picture something old and dirty. For rural communities, Chrissy Marucci argues, it is something else entirely: jobs and the federal dollars that come with them. On this Special Episode of GovCon Unscripted [https://www.youtube.com/@GovConUnscriptedUS], host Chelsea Roberts [https://www.linkedin.com/in/chelseadroberts/] continues the #RoadtoHUBZone series with Chrissy Marucci [https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrissy-marucci/], President and CEO of Elevated Consulting & Development.   Chrissy lives in an entire HUBZone county in the mountains of Appalachia and has spent years connecting rural residents to real federal contracting careers. She and Chelsea talks about what HUBZone was designed to do (bring federal spending back into the communities that need it), why the program is about the place and the people rather than the owner, how the 35% employee-residency rule actually works, and why manufacturing deserves a serious rethink as a source of rural jobs. She also lays out the community development corporation she is building to keep that money at home.   2026 National HUBZone Conference, July 21 and 22 (golf outing July 20) at the Westfields Marriott in Chantilly, Virginia.   Timestamps 00:00 Welcome and who Chrissy is 01:00 Elevated Consulting and Council back-office support 02:00 An entire HUBZone county in Appalachia 03:00 Building the HUBZone Workforce Program 05:00 What HUBZone does for rural areas 06:00 Manufacturing and construction in rural HUBZones 09:00 Advocacy, land use, and changing the narrative 10:00 Manufacturing is not a dirty word 15:30 Place-based and employee-based: the 35% rule 18:00 Remote work and unlocking rural talent 19:00 The community development corporation 21:00 Conference mode and see you in Chantilly Resources: * Chrissy Marucci's LinkedIn Profile [https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrissy-marucci/] * Chelsea Robert's LinkedIn Profile [https://www.linkedin.com/in/chelseadroberts/] * Elevated Consulting & Development's Website [https://theelevatedconsultant.com/] Other resources: * Holler to Hilltop (community development) [https://hollertohilltop.org/] * HUBZone Contractors National Council [https://www.hubzonecouncil.org/] * 2026 National HUBZone Conference (register) [https://www.hubzonecouncil.org/2026-National-HUBZone-Conference]   🎧 Listen now on: 🔹 Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/govcon-unscripted/id1766384482 [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/govcon-unscripted/id1766384482] 🔹 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1NL0kFAvmgECLTJpUZYNHy [https://open.spotify.com/show/1NL0kFAvmgECLTJpUZYNHy] Like and follow us: 🔹 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@GovConUnscriptedUS [https://www.youtube.com/@GovConUnscriptedUS] 🔹 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/govconunscriptedpodcast/ [https://www.facebook.com/govconunscriptedpodcast/] 🔹 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/govcon-unscripted/posts/ [https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/govcon-unscripted/posts/] 🔹 Join our #govcon community: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/14618490/ [https://www.linkedin.com/groups/14618490/]

Same Work, Different Words: Why Federal Contractors Misread State and Local | Jonathan Santana

A multimillion-dollar services contract, awarded in two weeks, with every I dotted and every T crossed. It was not federal, and that is exactly the point. This week on GovCon Unscripted [https://www.youtube.com/@GovConUnscriptedUS], Chelsea Roberts [https://www.linkedin.com/in/chelseadroberts/?skipRedirect=true] sits down with Jonathan Santana [https://www.linkedin.com/in/jsantana/], founder and lead consultant of Excelsior Consulting Services, LLC [https://excelsiorcs.com], an SBA HUBZone and Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned small business supporting federal, state, local, nonprofit, and commercial clients. Jonathan earned his contracting warrant in the Air Force in 2003, bought through hurricane prep at Langley Air Force Base, deployed to Balad Air Base in Iraq in 2005 as a contingency contracting officer, and later worked procurement at Miami-Dade County before founding his own firm.   The conversation covers the translation problem between federal, state, and local buying (acquisition becomes procurement becomes purchasing, while the terms and conditions stay nearly one to one), how NASPO ValuePoint [https://www.naspovaluepoint.org/] works as a state-level analog to a GWAC or federal supply schedule, what it means to compete with Big Four consultancies that have pivoted to state and local, creative contracting inside the FAR [https://www.acquisition.gov/browse/index/far] (performance work statements over statements of work, FAR 13.5 procedures), why state and local can award in weeks when the incentive exists, and forensic governance, Jonathan's discipline of getting adversarial with program data before leadership bets on it.   Chapters: 00:00 Intro and Excelsior Consulting Services 00:02 The verbiage gap: federal vs state and local 00:03 NASPO ValuePoint and entering state markets through a multi-contractor alliance 00:07 Competing with the Big Four at the state and local level 00:10 A contracting warrant at Langley: hurricane prep on the clock 00:11 Deployed at Balad Air Base: contingency contracting in Iraq 00:14 SF-44s, purchase cards, and buying under pressure 00:19 Creative contracting inside the FAR: PWS vs SOW, FAR 13.5 00:23 How fast state, local, and nonprofit buying really moves 00:27 What is forensic governance? 00:31 AI, governance, and decision risk 00:35 Where to find Jonathan Resources: * Jonathan Santana's LinkedIn Profile [https://www.linkedin.com/in/jsantana/] * Chelsea Roberts' LinkedIn Profile [https://www.linkedin.com/in/chelseadroberts/?skipRedirect=true] Other resources: * Excelsior Consulting Services' Website [https://excelsiorcs.com] * Excelsior Consulting Services' Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/excelsior_cs] * Excelsior Consulting Services' Company LinkedIn Profile [https://www.linkedin.com/company/excelsior-consulting-services]   🎧 Listen now on: 🔹 Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/govcon-unscripted/id1766384482 [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/govcon-unscripted/id1766384482] 🔹 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1NL0kFAvmgECLTJpUZYNHy [https://open.spotify.com/show/1NL0kFAvmgECLTJpUZYNHy]   Like and follow us: 🔹 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@GovConUnscriptedUS [https://www.youtube.com/@GovConUnscriptedUS] 🔹 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/govconunscriptedpodcast/ [https://www.facebook.com/govconunscriptedpodcast/] 🔹 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/govcon-unscripted/posts/ [https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/govcon-unscripted/posts/] 🔹 Join our #govcon community: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/14618490/ [https://www.linkedin.com/groups/14618490/]

Substance Over Glitter: What Makes the HUBZone Conference Worth the Trip | Eric Coffie

In federal contracting, most conferences give you a polished keynote you could have read in a press release. Eric Coffie [https://www.linkedin.com/in/ecoffie/] goes to a lot of them, and he keeps coming back to HUBZone for a different reason. On this Special Episode of GovCon Unscripted [https://www.youtube.com/@GovConUnscriptedUS], host Chelsea Roberts [https://www.linkedin.com/in/chelseadroberts/] continues the #RoadtoHUBZone series with Eric Coffie [https://www.linkedin.com/in/ecoffie/], founder and CEO of GovCon Giants [https://govcongiants.com/]. Eric attends a lot of federal contracting events, and his read on this one is blunt: most conferences are more glitter than substance, and HUBZone is where he actually gets the real deal. He and Chelsea talk about keeping perspective when set-aside programs come under scrutiny, why the value of a conference is in the room rather than the brochure, and the funding and scale panel he is hosting. The conversation lands on a simple message for anyone weighing the trip: come prepared, extract everything, and make the connections that carry the rest of your year. 2026 National HUBZone Conference [https://www.hubzonecouncil.org/2026-National-HUBZone-Conference], July 21 and 22 (golf outing July 20) at the Westfields Marriott in Chantilly, Virginia.   Timestamps 00:00 Welcome and who Eric is 01:00 Nothing new under the sun: perspective on program challenges 03:00 Why HUBZone weathers the discourse 08:00 Substance over glitter: what makes HUBZone different 11:00 The exhibitors and primes in the room 12:00 The Building for Scale funding panel 16:00 Extract everything: prep and make the most of it 18:00 Boots on the ground, fourth quarter, and connections 18:30 Manufacturing and made in USA 19:00 See you in Chantilly   🎧 Listen now on: 🔹 Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/govcon-unscripted/id1766384482 [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/govcon-unscripted/id1766384482] 🔹 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1NL0kFAvmgECLTJpUZYNHy [https://open.spotify.com/show/1NL0kFAvmgECLTJpUZYNHy] Like and follow us: 🔹 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@GovConUnscriptedUS [https://www.youtube.com/@GovConUnscriptedUS] 🔹 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/govconunscriptedpodcast/ [https://www.facebook.com/govconunscriptedpodcast/] 🔹 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/govcon-unscripted/posts/ [https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/govcon-unscripted/posts/] 🔹 Join our #govcon community: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/14618490/ [https://www.linkedin.com/groups/14618490/] Eric Coffie's LinkedIn Profile [https://www.linkedin.com/in/ecoffie/] Chelsea Robert's Linkedin Profile [https://www.linkedin.com/in/chelseadroberts/] 2026 National HUBZone Conference (register) [https://www.hubzonecouncil.org/2026-National-HUBZone-Conference] Other resources: Eric Coffie's YouTube Account [https://www.youtube.com/@EricCoffie] Eric Coffie's Twitter Account [https://x.com/ecoffie] GovCon Giants' Website [https://govcongiants.com/] GovCon Giant's Instagram Account [https://www.instagram.com/govcongiants/]

The 8(a) Program Isn't Being Killed. It's Being Starved. | Steven Koprince

The SBA [https://www.sba.gov/] hasn't let a single new company into the 8(a) Program [https://www.sba.gov/federal-contracting/contracting-assistance-programs/8a-business-development-program] in over 250 days. Federal contracts attorney and educator Steven Koprince [https://www.linkedin.com/in/stevenkoprince/] explains what that means for the program's future and for the small businesses waiting at the door. Steven Koprince spent more than 20 years as a federal government contracts attorney, founding Koprince McCall Pottroff LLC [https://www.koprince.com/] before moving into education, writing, and board service. In this conversation with Chelsea Roberts [https://www.linkedin.com/in/chelseadroberts/], Steven walks through the Revolutionary FAR [https://www.acquisition.gov/browse/index/far]Overhaul, the shifting culture around contracting officer discretion and bid protests, why AI-drafted GAO protests keep getting thrown out for hallucinated case law, and the slow-motion contraction of the 8(a) Program: SBA has approved only a fraction of its usual annual admissions and has not processed a new application since August 2025. Koprince also breaks down a common and costly SAM [https://sam.gov/] self-certification misconception that catches contractors off guard. Timestamps: * 00:03:00 — Legal environment shifts and the Revolutionary FAR Overhaul * 00:07:00 – 00:13:00 — Contracting officer discretion, bid protest strategy, and relationships with agencies * 00:15:00 – 00:19:00 — AI-drafted protests and hallucinated case law at GAO * 00:20:00 – 00:25:00 — The 8(a) Program's admissions freeze and sole-source pressure * 00:25:00 – 00:31:00 — Small business self-certification, affiliation rules, and the SAM misconception Resource Links: * Steven Koprince's LinkedIn profile [https://www.linkedin.com/in/stevenkoprince/] * Chelsea's LinkedIn Profile [https://www.linkedin.com/in/chelseadroberts/] * The FedLift Launchpad [https://fedlift.substack.com/] 🎧 Listen now on: 🔹 Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/govcon-unscripted/id1766384482 [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/govcon-unscripted/id1766384482] 🔹 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1NL0kFAvmgECLTJpUZYNHy [https://open.spotify.com/show/1NL0kFAvmgECLTJpUZYNHy] Like and follow us: 🔹 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@GovConUnscriptedUS [https://www.youtube.com/@GovConUnscriptedUS] 🔹 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/govconunscriptedpodcast/ [https://www.facebook.com/govconunscriptedpodcast/] 🔹 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/govcon-unscripted/posts/ [https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/govcon-unscripted/posts/] 🔹 Join our #govcon community: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/14618490/ [https://www.linkedin.com/groups/14618490/]