GovCon Unscripted

In federal contracting, most conferences give you a polished keynote you could have read in a press release. Eric Coffie goes to a lot of them, and he keeps coming back to HUBZone for a different reason. On this Special Episode of GovCon Unscripted , host Chelsea Roberts continues the #RoadtoHUBZone series with Eric Coffie , founder and CEO of GovCon Giants . Eric attends a lot of federal contract...

The SBA hasn't let a single new company into the 8(a) Program in over 250 days. Federal contracts attorney and educator Steven Koprince 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 before moving into education, wri...

In federal contracting, your network is your net worth, and most small businesses are working with one far too small to win what they are capable of winning. On this Special Episode of GovCon Unscripted , host Chelsea Roberts continues the #RoadtoHUBZone series with Tim Hagerty , founder and CEO of TeamingPro and a board member of the HUBZone Contractors National Council. Tim started TeamingPro af...

A federal workforce leader recently told a room of executives they would be the last generation to manage an all-human team. Paul Serotkin has spent 40 years watching this industry change, and he thinks that one line explains most of what is coming next. On today's episode of GovCon Unscripted , Paul Serotkin , CEO and founder of the Serotkin Group , joins Chelsea Roberts for a wide-ranging co...

Most people file HUBZone under “niche set-aside.” It was designed as an economic development engine for the communities America left behind, and it is sitting at an inflection point right now. On this Special Episode of GovCon Unscripted , host Chelsea Roberts opens the #RoadtoHUBZone series with Michelle Burnett , Vice Chair of the HUBZone Contractors National Council , ahead of the 2026 National...

Everyone has a CSO now. Almost nobody runs one the way the people who built the first ones did. Adam C. Grant was in the room when some of the first commercial ones went live, and he has thoughts on why the speed never matched the promise. Adam C. Grant went from enlisted Air Force to commissioned officer to contracting officer managing a large air and space portfolio at Patrick Space Force Base ,...

Landing a spot on a GSA schedule feels like the win. It is really just permission to start competing, and the clock starts the day you sign. Most small businesses treat a contract vehicle as the goal. Shenê Commodore , CPCM, founder and CEO of Commodore Consulting , has been on both sides of that assumption, as a former government contracts professional and now as the consultant companies call whe...

Twenty-four years in, retired as a sergeant major out of JSOC, and the hardest part of leaving wasn't the job market. It was turning in the badge and trusting the mission would carry forward without him. In this Success After Service episode of GovCon Unscripted , host Chelsea Roberts talks with Josh Brandt , Technology Director for C5 Systems at ManTech , about what military transition actual...

A cleared-defense billet drew 350 applications in 24 hours. Every resume looked perfect. Most of them weren't real. That's where the federal hiring market actually is right now, and it's the conversation Chelsea Roberts has with Richie Lampani in this episode of GovCon Unscripted . Richie is a Fractional Head of Talent who has built recruiting infrastructure from zero for EarthDaily Fe...

The SBIR reauthorization is done. Public Law 119-83, signed April 13, in force through September 30, 2031. The headlines focused on the $30 million Strategic Breakthrough Award. The real story is everything underneath it. In this episode of GovCon Unscripted , host Chelsea Roberts sits down with Jerry Hollister , Co-Owner of BBC Entrepreneurial Training & Consulting (BBCetc) and a former DoD c...

The proposal doesn't win the contract. The offer wins. And the offer is built on strategy, and strategy is built on relationships. By the time the RFP shows up on eBuy, the contract is usually already decided. That's the through-line of this week's conversation with David Stearman , Founder and CEO of Proposal Strategy and Development Consulting , who has spent 27 years inside federal...

Your runway isn't measured in dollars; it's measured in pivots. And in defense, every pivot takes forever. Geoff Orazem has spent 15 years inside the defense innovation machine as a Marine, a McKinsey alum, a founder of the Eastern Foundry incubator, a J2 Ventures advisor, and a current DARPA contractor working on acquisitions reform. In this new episode of GovCon Unscripted , he sits down...

Most government innovation never reaches the warfighter. Bryon Kroger has spent a decade explaining why and shipping software anyway. In this Success After Service Special Episode of GovCon Unscripted , host Chelsea Roberts sits down with Bryon Kroger , CEO and Founder of Rise8 and co-founder of Kessel Run , the DoD's first software factory. Bryon spent ten years on active duty in the Air Forc...

If you're waiting until the RFP drops…you're already too late. The real influence happens before the budget is written. In this new episode of GovCon Unscripted , Chelsea Roberts sits down with Nic Adams , Director of Government Relations at Overland AI , to break down what most contractors get wrong about Capitol Hill. Spoiler: It’s not about hiring a lobbyist and magically landing approp...

You can’t market to SLED the way you market to the Fed. And assuming you can is draining budgets fast. In this new episode of GovCon Unscripted, Chelsea Roberts sits down with Lisa Sherwin Wulf , Founder of LSW Marketing , to break down the strategic marketing gaps hindering GovCon growth, especially as companies expand from federal to state and local markets. From unrealistic ROI timelines…to per...

Defense innovation is no longer a slow, deliberate process, it’s a race against time. Discover how AI, venture capital, and emerging technologies are accelerating the future of warfare and government contracting. In this new episode of GovCon Unscripted , Chelsea Roberts sits down with defense technology consultant Graham Plaster to explore the rapidly evolving defense innovation ecosystem. From t...

This Success After Service (SAS) episode features Daniel Gomez , Founder & CEO of First Person Xperience and 23-year Army veteran, returning to GovCon Unscripted for a high-level discussion on modern warfare, doctrine, AI disruption, and the power of simulation-based training. From EFP innovation in Iraq to drone warfare in Ukraine and generative AI shaping perception in real time, Danny break...

In this episode of GovCon Unscripted , Chelsea Roberts sits down with Guy Timberlake , Co-Founder of The American Small Business Coalition , to talk about the myths, misunderstandings, and bad habits that keep government contractors stuck in the messy middle. Guy shares lessons from nearly four decades in federal contracting, including why most companies chase the wrong opportunities, why RFIs are...

In this Success After Service (SAS) episode of GovCon Unscripted , Chelsea Roberts sits down with Matt MacGregor , Founder and COO of Creative Defense Network , to talk about the real tension inside defense acquisition moving fast vs staying compliant. Matt shares lessons from 20+ years inside the Pentagon, working acquisition reform, policy, software pathway rollout, OTAs, and Middle Tier of Acqu...

In this episode of GovCon Unscripted , Chelsea Roberts sits down with Dr. David Bray to discuss why modern threats are moving faster than government acquisition cycles and what that means for contractors, policy makers, and the defense industrial base. They explore the growing gap between policy and implementation, the risks of long procurement timelines, why agility matters more than ever, and ho...

In this episode of GovCon Unscripted , Chelsea Roberts interviews Eric Coffie , Founder of GovCon Giants , about authority-building in federal contracting, 8(a) strategy shifts, content positioning, and why proximity to DC changes everything. If you're navigating government contracting in 2025 and beyond, this episode covers: • 8(a) program strategy • Federal market contraction & opportuni...

What happens when a Special Operations veteran decides the future of national defense depends on creativity? In this  Success After Service (SAS) Special Episode of  GovCon Unscripted , Chelsea Roberts sits down with Daniel Gomez , Founder & CEO of First Person Xperience , to explore why creativity is rewarded on the battlefield, but punished in garrison. And why that mindset gap may be costin...

In this episode of GovCon Unscripted , Chelsea Roberts sits down with Rebecca Link , Chief Growth Officer at OneGlobe , to unpack what is changing and what is not in modern government contracting. From proposal management to orals coaching, Rebecca shares how personality, ownership, and execution are becoming even more critical in an AI-enabled GovCon environment. This episode is a masterclass in...

In this episode of GovCon Unscripted , Chelsea Roberts sits down with Jeff Shapiro , Partner at CohnReznick , to unpack what DCAA audits actually focus on and what contractors often get wrong. Jeff explains why materiality matters more than penny-level perfection, how audit risk really shows up in cost-reimbursable contracts, and why “follow the funding” is one of the most dangerous habits in gove...

In this episode of GovCon Unscripted , Chelsea Roberts sits down with Michelle Burnett , President and Founder of Rooted in Resilience Wellness and newly appointed Vice Chair of the HUBZone Contractors National Council , for a deep conversation on what the HUBZone program was truly designed to do and where execution has gone off course. Michelle explains why HUBZone was never meant to be a complia...