You probably clicked on this article because you’re worried about the future of your GSA Schedule contract, or maybe you’re looking to get a contract soon but aren’t sure if you should. We know the last month or so has been full of changes within the federal government, and you may have heard about contract terminations and federal workforce cuts. These things can’t be completely avoided, but what we need to focus on is the fact that the government is still and will always be buying. Priorities and spending habits will change, but the government can’t source the pens to sign those Executive Orders (EOs) from just anywhere. There are rules and regulations in place before agencies can acquire essential goods and services.

With the new administration in full swing now, we are all navigating a slew of changes from Executive Orders, to new regulations, and spending habits. One change we are seeing affecting contractors right away is the government terminating a specific task or delivery order through GSA Multiple Award Schedules (MAS) and other contract vehicles, as part of the Department of Government Efficiency's (DOGE) initiative to cut spending. Why does this happen and when could it happen to you? It’s important to plan for all different types of scenarios with your federal contracts so you aren’t caught off guard and know how to handle each situation. Here’s what you need to know about order terminations and settlements.

In the past year, we’ve seen several changes to government contracting regulations that affect small businesses specifically, including updates from the Small Business Administration (SBA) and amendments to the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) and Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS). Many of these changes benefit small business government contractors by increasing their government contracting opportunities and streamlining the acquisition processes.

Picture this scenario: you have applied for a GSA Multiple Award Schedule (MAS) contract and submitted all the required documents, a process that may have taken months. You’ve waited anxiously for GSA to review your proposal. Now, a Contracting Specialist (CS) has emailed you requesting you make major changes to your contract proposal to be considered compliant, and the only way to still be considered for Schedule award is to do this. These types of roadblocks are not always avoidable, but there are steps you can take to minimize the chances of this happening, and methods to best prepare a response when it does.

Contractors in the IT space, especially those offering cloud services, may be familiar with the Federal Risk and Authorization Management program, also known as FedRAMP. FedRAMP underwent a major change recently as the Emerging Technology Prioritization Framework was eliminated as part of an executive action from the Trump Administration. In this blog, we’ll go over what the framework was, why it was eliminated, and what this means for contractors going forward.

There are a lot of burning questions surrounding the buyout Trump offered to the federal workforce, like: how many employees will accept, or will we see major dips in retention? While there’s still more change to come, let’s focus on what we’ve seen with federal workforce attrition rates in the past, and what it looks like so far under the Trump Administration.