Blog
Guides, analysis, and product updates for federal and SLED contractors. For monthly market briefings see Insights, and for company announcements see News.
Highlights
Analysis · Sep 16, 2026 · 4 min
Gemini found four SLED cyber bids. The boards did not.
A cybersecurity MSSP sent a Gemini bid table: Tacoma, Denver, Cheyenne, Fairfax. We opened the boards. Four rows were not live RFPs. The nearest real Denver PCI pen-test was already in Scout. Empty on a one-day brief can be the right answer.
Analysis · Sep 15, 2026 · 5 min
Task-Order Consolidation: Where the Federal Dollars Are Concentrating, by Agency and Code
Federal task-order buying is consolidating into fewer, larger orders. See where DHS, DOE, and HHS dollars concentrate by NAICS and PSC, and what capture teams should do.
Analysis · Sep 7, 2026 · 3 min
The Budget Writes the Requirement Before It Reaches SAM.gov
The FY2027 defense budget shows where federal requirements form, in the gap between authorization and appropriations, months before any solicitation reaches SAM.gov. SCOUT Policy Intelligence found and analyzed the data.
Analysis · Aug 31, 2026 · 4 min
SEWP VI Has 10x the Holders, Making Task Orders More Competitive
SEWP VI seats about 1,490 holders across three categories and shifts the vehicle from product to services. Here is where capture leaders win the task-order competition.
Analysis · Aug 25, 2026 · 5 min
Small Business Set-Aside Math Just Changed. Do You Know Who You Compete Against?
The SBA's August 2026 proposed rule pushes the IT small-business ceiling from $34M to $531M and adds about 114,500 firms to the small pool. Here's how to see your new competitive field before comments close September 21.
Analysis · Aug 22, 2026 · 5 min
Four of the first five were the right work
August 2026 quarterly replay of the first five open-contract hits. SCOUT: 0.840 P@5, 0.806 P@10, on-topic hit in the first five on all 15 searches. GovDash Discover about 1 of 3. HigherGov about 1 of 4.
Product · Aug 20, 2026 · 5 min
Put AI to Work on GovCon Intelligence in One Step
Adopting AI for market intelligence usually means a project. A skill collapses it to one step inside the AI client you already use, and turns a scatter of sources into one you can trust.
Thought Leadership · Aug 3, 2026 · 5 min
PSC-First Targeting: Find the Federal Markets Your Competitors Overlook
NAICS labels your industry, while PSC shows what the government buys. A PSC-first targeting approach surfaces large, winnable federal markets your competitors miss.
Thought Leadership · Jul 22, 2026 · 5 min
Five years of building it. Then we proved it.
Why we published a slice of SCOUT publicly — before anyone pays a dime — and what happened when we did. Federal agencies and Fortune 500 companies consuming the intelligence in the past 30 days are the proof the foundation is real.
Analysis · Jul 21, 2026 · 6 min
The NITAAC Era Is Ending. Here Is How to Protect Your Federal IT Pipeline.
HHS will sunset every NITAAC governmentwide acquisition contract on October 29, 2026, and federal IT buying moves to GSA. Here is what happened, why, and the moves that keep your pipeline alive.
Opinion · Jul 7, 2026 · 3 min
The AI App Store Has a Federal Bar. Here Is How GovCon Clears It.
Federal capture teams cannot connect any tool they want to an AI assistant. The Model Context Protocol becomes GovCon infrastructure when the intelligence rides on public data and carries governance a federal team can defend.
Analysis · Jul 4, 2026 · 12 min
America at 250: 250 Companies Winning Their First Federal Contracts
As the U.S. turns 250, we celebrate 250 companies — 50 each across five categories — that won new federal prime contract since 2024: $9.5B in combined first-award value across 44 states and 16 agencies.