Although we’ve seen some budget cuts and trimming of contracts over the past few months, we can expect to see some increased funding in certain areas with the new Reconciliation Bill. The Reconciliation Bill, also called the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), was signed into law last week outlining a number of funding provisions, including substantial increases for technology and defense. Let’s review the specific areas the OBBA has targeted, and what contracting opportunities we anticipate coming out of this bill, especially for GSA Multiple Award Schedule (MAS) contractors.
Unsurprisingly, the main areas for increased investment include cybersecurity, Artificial Intelligence (AI), defense, and law enforcement spending. But what kinds of projects will the spending go toward? We’ll dive into the specific missions the OBBBA intends to accomplish with these investments.
Section 20006 of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, “Improving the Efficiency and Cybersecurity of the Department of Defense” allocates investments for cybersecurity. These include:
Section 2005, “Enhancement of DOD Resources for Scaling Low-Cost Weapons into Production”, outlines several areas to increase funding for cybersecurity and AI. Here’s a few examples:
In both the Biden and Trump Administrations, AI has become a priority, but they differ in their plans for AI development. The Trump Administration is focused on rapidly developing AI and creating infrastructure investments rather than creating regulations and guardrails, which is what the Biden Administration was working on.
Here’s what the OBBA has in store for AI:
In addition to the Department of Defense (DoD) getting a load of the funding, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is expected to get an influx of funds from the reconciliation bill. Here are some of the highlights from the bill:
We can definitely expect to see an increase in opportunities related to the spending categories above: cybersecurity, AI, and law enforcement. We also anticipate more spending in auxiliary areas such as construction, security services, technology, defense manufacturing, etc. If you offer solutions in these industries, it’s important you are preparing for the influx of opportunities, especially now that we are in the federal government Q4 spending spree.
Of course, with increases in budget, there must be a balance somewhere. Within the One Big Beautiful Bill, there will be cuts to social assistance programs such as Medicaid and SNAP, and cuts to clean energy incentives. So, we can expect to see less spending on clean energy, Electric Vehicles, and social support services.
Along with the OBBA are several Executive Orders promoting efficiency in the government. One of these initiatives is consolidating most procurement of common goods and services under the General Services Administration (GSA). This includes moving Governmentwide Acquisition Contracts (GWACs) under GSA. With this transition, a lot of the opportunities above are anticipated to flow through the GSA MAS Program.
If you’re currently a contractor, we suggest you prepare your contract for future opportunities. No matter what you offer to the government, it’s important now more than ever to keep your GSA Multiple Award Schedule (MAS) compliant. The Trump Administration is looking to trim down, and they are looking for contracts that are not meeting compliance standards or performing well.
If you are looking to get a GSA Schedule, we suggest you start soon. With these changes and a smaller federal workforce, the lead times to get a contract are lengthening. If you have questions about your GSA Schedule or are interested in getting one, we are here to help.