TWIG-C™ – May 18, 2026

May 19, 2026 | TWIG-C™

GOVCON INSIGHTS AND INFORMATION:

Former DOJ Contractor Charged with Conspiracy to Defraud the United States – On April 17, 2026, a former DOJ Contractor was sentenced to 3 years of probation and ordered to pay a fine of $8,000 for one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States. Christy Evereklian was sentenced in the Central District of California. Evereklian and her brother, Jeffrey Spencer, who was an FBI Lead Electronics Technician, were charged by Information in July 2025. Both subsequently enter guilty pleas. According to the factual statement in support of the guilty plea, from no later than 2015 through at least August 2020, Evereklian conspired and agreed with Spencer to suppress and restrain competition by rigging bids to obtain electronic equipment contracts offered by the FBI and concealing the true ownership of multiple related companies. Evereklian’s companies won at least $350,000 in FBI contracts. The investigation is being conducted by the OIG’s Fraud Detection Office with assistance from the OIG’s Western Region and Cyber Investigations Office.

New DFARS rule would expand FOCI requirements beyond classified contracts – The Defense Department is proposing a sweeping new rule that would significantly expand the government’s scrutiny of foreign ownership and influence across the defense industrial base, requiring tens of thousands of uncleared contractors to comply with security requirements historically applied only to companies handling classified information. The proposed Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement rule released last week would require many more contractors and subcontractors seeking to do business with DoD to disclose to the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency their beneficial ownership information and report whether they are under foreign ownership, control or influence, known as FOCI.

OASIS+ BPA toolkit for ordering agencies – This toolkit is designed to provide Contracting Officers (COs) and stakeholders with practical guidance for establishing and administering Blanket Purchase Agreements (BPAs) against General Services Administration (GSA) OASIS+ contracts. Its purpose is to ensure consistent acquisition practices and alignment with the relevant federal regulations (RFO-2025-16 FAR Subpart 16.5) and the OASIS+ contract terms.

FedRAMP Director Details New Cybersecurity Service, 20x Expansion – The Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP) is expanding its push to modernize federal cloud security with a new FedRAMP Cybersecurity Service designed to speed cloud authorizations while bringing rotating technical experts into the program. In an interview with MeriTalk, FedRAMP Director Pete Waterman said the initiative is part of the broader FedRAMP 20x effort to move the program toward automated, continuous security validation. At the center of the effort is the newly announced FedRAMP Cybersecurity Service (FRCS), which Waterman said will help FedRAMP scale technical expertise across agencies and industry.

Everything you know about contracting has changed – This guide is based on more than 10 hours of direct interviews with senior federal procurement leaders across civilian, defense and oversight agencies. Participants included heads of contracting activity, chief information officers, IT directors, cybersecurity leads and acquisition executives from organizations such as the such as the Defense Department, Air Force, the Department of Health and Human Services, the National Institutes of Health and the Government Accountability Office. These conversations focused on how buying decisions are being made in today’s federal environment, the constraints shaping those decisions and where contractors are gaining or losing traction.

Army MAPS Protests – There are now 10 protests of the Army’s Marketplace for Acquisition of Professional Services (MAPS) and the expectation is more are on the way. The multiple award contract with a $50 billion ceiling is quickly heading into a state of disrepair. Four vendors filed protests with the Government Accountability Office on May 8 and two others on May 7, bringing the total to 10. GAO has until mid-August to decide the cases. But one could imagine the Army taking corrective action well before August. Contractors have been vocal with their concerns about the Army’s strategy for MAPS, writing letters and posting on LinkedIn. The latest protests come as the Army released its sixth amendment and extended the proposal due date for a second time on May 8. Bids are now due May 20. It will be interesting to see how the Army pulls this solicitation back from the brink of being one of those acquisitions that collapses under its own weight.

Fixed‑price contracts assume stable requirements, a rarity in federal missions – Federal execution increasingly turns on how risk is managed across contracts and capabilities. Recent policy signals are testing whether existing structures can absorb that pressure.

RFP Response Time: How Short Is Too Short? – The GAO recently sustained a bid protest where the agency imposed unreasonably short deadlines to respond to the agency’s amended requirements—deadlines that gave the protester, in one instance, less than 30 minutes to respond. The GAO’s decision makes sense from a practical perspective, but it raises a bigger-picture question: just how long do offerors have to respond to federal government solicitations, anyway? Are there any specific, bright-line rules that agencies must follow, or are solicitation response times always subject to a case-by-case reasonableness analysis?

House Committee to Consider Legislation Codifying the Rule of Two for Small Business Set-Asides – On Wednesday, May 20, the House Committee on Small Business is scheduled to consider legislation that would codify the Rule of Two into federal law. Stakeholders have a near-term opportunity to show support by filling out this form to sign onto an industry letter urging the Committee to advance H.R. 2804, the Protecting Small Business Competitions Act of 2025, ahead of the Full Committee Markup.

OPPORTUNITIES:

NGA RFP: ASTREA.
FBI RFI: CJIS Decentralized Info Sharing.
TREAS RFI: FOIA and eDiscovery Mgmt. System, Support Services.
DOE RFI: Scientifically Relevant Fault-Tolerant Quantum Computing Systems.
USN RFI: Research and Administrative Support Services.
DLA RFI: Distribution Professional Analytical Services (DDPAS) ID/IQ.
DHS RFI: 2026 SAVER Technology Research.
DOL RFI: AI Enabled Accessibility Tooling.
USAF RFI: Aircraft O&M, Logistics Support.
Army RFI: Low-cost Interceptors.
NATO RFI: Accelerated Development of the Second Generation Anti-Jam Tactical UHF Radio.
USCG RFI: Program Management Support Services, Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction (CWMD/CBRN Programs).