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GovCon Unscripted

GovCon Unscripted

Written by: Chelsea Roberts
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Welcome to GovCon Unscripted, where we dive into the unfiltered stories and strategies from all around the world of government contracting. Join host Chelsea Roberts as she explores how to navigate, thrive, and win in this complex but rewarding industry.

All rights reserved. Economics Management Management & Leadership Political Science Politics & Government
Episodes
  • $30 Million, One-to-One Match, Five Agencies: Inside the Strategic Breakthrough Award | Jerry Hollister

    $30 Million, One-to-One Match, Five Agencies: Inside the Strategic Breakthrough Award | Jerry Hollister
    May 26 2026

    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 contracting officer with three decades in the SBIR/STTR space. Jerry walks through the actual mechanics of what changed in the reauthorization, what didn't, and where the program quietly shifted in ways most companies haven't internalized yet.

    The conversation covers Strategic Breakthrough Awards (up to $30M, five agencies, 1:1 match, must come from existing SBIR budget). The sole source training mandate for contracting officers, an authority that has existed since Reagan but that most KOs are afraid to use. The new foreign influence disclosure regime and the eight-list cross-check that agencies must now run. The shift to monthly topic releases at DoD. And the multiple award winner debate, where the senator from Massachusetts and the SBIR mill problem held up the entire bill for two months.

    Jerry also discusses BBCetc's pricing model (hourly, no success fees, no equity), the FAST Program network across 42 states, and his recommendation for any company sitting on the edge of the program.

    Timestamps:

    00:00 Cold open

    00:30 Welcome and introductions

    01:00 What BBCetc does and the SBIR/STTR consulting model

    01:40 The reauthorization fight and Public Law 119-83

    03:20 SBIR program mechanics. Phase one, phase two, phase three

    07:30 The phase two to phase three valley of death

    08:50 Why DoD acquisition timelines kill SBIR transitions

    12:30 What the reauthorization actually changed

    13:00 Sole source training for contracting officers

    14:00 The Strategic Breakthrough Award explained

    16:00 Where the match dollars can come from

    17:30 Why a $30M award is unlikely in practice

    19:00 No new money. Just new authority.

    20:00 DoD's shift to monthly topic releases

    21:30 Why the cycle changed and whether it sticks

    24:00 Pre-solicitation, DSIP, and the FAR-based dialogue rules

    29:00 Foreign influence disclosures and the eight-list check

    33:30 The SBIR mill debate and the multiple award winner question

    36:00 The benchmark proposal that didn't pass

    38:30 What the new topic limits will look like starting October 1

    40:30 BBCetc's pricing model and the FAST Program network

    43:30 How to reach Jerry

    Resources:

    • Jerry's LinkedIn Profile
    • Chelsea's LinkedIn profile
    • BBCetc Website


    Additional Resources:

    • Public Law 119-83 DSIP (Defense SBIR/STTR Innovation Portal): https://www.congress.gov/119/plaws/publ83/PLAW-119publ83.pdf
    • SBA FAST Program: https://www.sbir.gov/community/fast


    🎧 Listen now on:

    🔹 Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/govcon-unscripted/id1766384482

    🔹 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1NL0kFAvmgECLTJpUZYNHy

    Like and follow us:

    🔹 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@GovConUnscriptedUS

    🔹 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/govconunscriptedpodcast/

    🔹 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/govcon-unscripted/posts/

    Join our #govcon #community

    https://www.linkedin.com/groups/14618490/
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    46 mins
  • The Proposal Doesn't Win the Contract | David Stearman

    The Proposal Doesn't Win the Contract | David Stearman
    May 19 2026
    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 proposals at firms like Booz Allen and on the consulting side serving small and midsize GovCons. David walks Chelsea through the structural problems facing small businesses in the current environment, the bid/no-bid discipline most smalls lack, why PWin above 70 percent is almost always a fiction, and where AI fits (and doesn't) in proposal work.David Stearman founded Proposal Strategy and Development Consulting in February 2015 after a career that took him from freelance academic editor to senior director of proposals at large GovCons. His firm provides full-spectrum proposal support to small and midsize federal contractors, including direct support, staff augmentation, training, coaching, mentoring, and consulting. The firm's stated values are relationships over transactions and radical honesty, and David's idea of value to a client often includes telling them not to pursue an opportunity, even when that costs him consulting hours.In this episode, David and Chelsea cover the past year's impact on small GovCons from DOGE, the FAR overhaul, and reorienting priorities. They get into why the smalls who marketed themselves as nimble were often the ones caught flat-footed, particularly narrow-banded firms in PMO support that lost contracts and now have nothing to sell in an M&A. David argues that the real path to success on GSA Schedules and large IDIQs is not winning task orders, it is creating them: shaping opportunities, marketing the vehicle to customers, and building relationships long before the RFP drops.The conversation goes deep on bid/no-bid discipline. David presents his three-circle Venn diagram for pursuit decisions (can we do it, can we win it, can we make money doing it), explains why PWin is a "made-up number," and makes the case that win rate and capture rate together tell a very different story than either does alone. He also unpacks why the proposal field has a structural burnout problem and how owners who hand RFPs to proposal pros without upstream work are part of the cause.On AI, David is neither an evangelist nor a Luddite. He breaks down where AI tools (RFP shredders, outline generators, gate-review prep) have given him a net-negative ROI because the quality-check time exceeded the original task. His framing: AI is a tool, the implementation matters more than the tool, and "more and faster is not the same as better."The episode closes on relationships and the principle David calls the three degrees of Kevin Bacon. 95 percent of his business has come through referrals, including a client he met after spending the first 20 minutes of a discovery call playing Jewish geography rather than talking shop. David's standing offer: he will always take a conversation.Timestamps00:00 — Welcome and David's introduction01:00 — How a philosophy degree leads to federal proposals04:00 — The love-hate relationship with the industry07:00 — The past year: DOGE, FAR overhaul, and small business impact10:00 — The perfect storm: NAICS graduation, PMO cancellations, no M&A assets13:00 — GSA strategy: don't win task orders, create them15:00 — The proposal is not what wins, the offer is17:00 — Why proposal professionals burn out at a structural level20:00 — Bid/no-bid as growth strategy and the three-circle Venn diagram22:00 — Why PWin is a made-up number and what to measure instead24:00 — AI in proposals: the cautious case29:00 — When AI use cases backfire34:00 — Where AI actually works in proposal workflows40:00 — Contact and how to reach David42:00 — Three degrees of Kevin Bacon and why every conversation mattersResources:Follow David on LinkedInProposal Strategy and Development Consulting WebsiteDavid's email: dstearman@proposal-strategy-consulting.comChelsea's LinkedIn profile🎧 Listen now on:🔹 Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/govcon-unscripted/id1766384482🔹 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1NL0kFAvmgECLTJpUZYNHyLike and follow us:🔹 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@GovConUnscriptedUS🔹 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/govconunscriptedpodcast/🔹 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/govcon-unscripted/posts/Join our #govcon #community:https://www.linkedin.com/groups/14618490/
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    50 mins
  • Why Defense Sales Cycles Kill Startups: A Venture Insider's Diagnosis | Geoff Orazem

    Why Defense Sales Cycles Kill Startups: A Venture Insider's Diagnosis | Geoff Orazem
    May 12 2026

    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 with Chelsea Roberts to unpack why so many promising startups stall when they try to sell to DOD first, why a commercial revenue stream is almost always the smarter on-ramp, and what's actually changing (and what isn't) in software acquisition, OTs, IDIQs, CMMC, and the ATO process. Geoff also previews a Day Zero angel fund concept aimed at the part of the market he says is most underserved: the founders who haven't even hit seed yet.

    Timestamps:

    00:00 — Cold open

    00:30 — Meet Geoff: Marine, McKinsey, Eastern Foundry, J2, DARPA

    02:30 — What an incubator actually is (and the Sam's Club model)

    04:30 — Competitor or teammate? Inside the incubator dynamic

    07:50 — Dual-use vs. defense-only: where the bright line lives

    10:30 — Why commercial revenue is the better door into GovCon

    14:30 — Software acquisition: what's improving, what's still broken

    17:00 — The CMMC perception problem and the cheat sheet DOD should write

    22:00 — 670 FAR clauses and the "first contract in a box" idea

    25:30 — How venture got into defense, and why J2 is different

    29:30 — Where J2 is investing: comms, cyber, medical, HR tech

    34:30 — The Day Zero angel fund thesis

    37:30 — Final thoughts and how to reach Geoff


    Resource Links:

    🔗 Geoff Orazem on LinkedIn

    🔗 J2 Ventures

    🔗 DARPA


    🎧 Listen now on:

    🔹 Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/govcon-unscripted/id1766384482

    🔹 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1NL0kFAvmgECLTJpUZYNHy


    Like and follow us:

    🔹 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@GovConUnscriptedUS

    🔹 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/govconunscriptedpodcast/

    🔹 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/govcon-unscripted/posts/


    Join our #govcon #community: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/14618490/

    New to GovCon? Here's a guide: https://share.hsforms.com/288nO18bsRCCmdJZL66pClwbzmvx

    21 AI Prompts to Supercharge Your GovCon BD Engine: https://collaborativecompositions.com/21-ai-prompts-to-supercharge-your-govcon-bd-engine/

    AI Prompt Guide for Federal Contractor Marketing: https://collaborativecompositions.com/ai-prompt-guide-for-federal-contractor-marketing/

    18 AI Prompts to Build Your GovCon Growth Strategy: https://collaborativecompositions.com/18-ai-prompts-for-govcon-growth-strategy/
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    40 mins
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