In this episode of Game Changers for Government Contractors, host Michael LeJeune welcomes back Lori Revely, CEO of Cavalry Consulting and chair of SAME’s Small Business Council, to preview the upcoming SAME Small Business Conference in Phoenix, AZ. With more than 6,000 attendees last year, SAME SBC has become the premier government contracting event for...
CMMC is officially here. The DoD finalized the DFARS rule on September 10, with CMMC clauses eligible in solicitations by November 10 and a three-year phase-in through November 10, 2028. We break down Level 1, Level 2, and Level 3, the 180-day conditional grace period, prime flowdowns, and COTS exemptions. The headline: Level 2 can...
Non-traditional contracting is exploding in government contracting, and small businesses can win faster by learning the rules. In this episode, Michael LeJeune and guest expert Angela Webb break down BAAs, CSOs, OTAs, and SBIR/STTR, when to use each, and where to find them on SAM.gov. You will learn the typical cadence from five-page white paper...
The FAR Part 19 deviation is here, and the world is not on fire. In this episode, I break down why “small business first” largely formalizes how agencies already operate, and why overreliance on 8(a), WOSB, and SDVOSB status is a risky strategy going forward. We talk about legal headwinds to socioeconomic programs, the SBA’s...
In this solo episode of Game Changers for Government Contractors, Michael LeJeune dismantles the “invincible leader” myth and makes the case for sustainable leadership. Your real job isn’t doing everything, it’s setting the temperature (be a thermostat, not a thermometer), building systems that work without you, and modeling healthy boundaries. Hear a candid client story:...
In this episode of Game Changers for Government Contractors, Michael LeJeune is joined by Jenny Karn and Rhi Ruff of Lumino to explore the surprising role Wikipedia plays in your government contracting success. Far from being “just an online encyclopedia,” Wikipedia feeds into Google, Siri, Alexa, social media verification, and even AI tools like ChatGPT....
If your results are flat, it might be time to look in the mirror. In this episode, Michael breaks down “radical ownership” for GovCon leaders and shows how to fix what’s left of the equal sign, and the behaviors that drive outcomes. We unpack common scapegoats like politics, FAR changes, and slow agencies, and replace...
In this episode of Game Changers for Government Contractors, Michael LeJeune talks with Kim Ali of Kim Ali Consulting about her remarkable comeback after losing 80% of her revenue in early 2025 due to sweeping executive orders. Kim shares how she used equitable adjustments to create a financial cushion, analyzed shifting federal priorities, and rebuilt...
Ep 385: How to Write Emails Government Buyers Actually Answer by RSM Federal
Struggling to hire the right people, especially before a contract award? In this episode of Game Changers for Government Contractors, host Michael LeJeune talks with recruiting expert Al Vega about what it really takes to build a talent pipeline in GovCon. From cleared candidates to proposal recruiting, Al shares why “hypothetical recruiting” is critical to...
