Explore every episode of the podcast Inside the Business of Government

"It's so important to have operational people and operational experience writing policy because if you've never really done the operational work, you don't understand the reality of getting contracts awarded." Jennifer Johnson

In this episode of the Greg and Camille Baroni Center Podcast, host Mike Derrios speaks with Jennifer Johnson, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Acquisition and Senior Procurement Executive at HHS. Jennifer shares her career journey from private sector contracting to federal acquisition leadership. She discusses HHS's significant workforce reductions and rebuilding efforts, her vision for a strategic and mission-focused acquisition enterprise, and the implementation of FAR regulatory overhauls. Jennifer emphasizes the importance of leadership, calculated risk-taking, and transparent communication in driving cultural change within federal procurement.

In this episode of the Greg and Camille Baroni Center podcast, host Mike Derrios speaks with Trevor Wagner, Director of The LAB (Learn, Assess, Build) for Acquisition Innovation at the Department of Commerce. Wagner discusses how meaningful innovation in federal acquisition is rooted in culture and mindset change rather than technology. He highlights the Revolutionary FAR Overhaul's emphasis on professional judgment, the importance of early industry engagement, and leadership support for thoughtful risk-taking. Using NOAA's cloud transition as a success story, Wagner demonstrates how robust market research and streamlined processes drive competition and better outcomes. He also addresses protest mitigation, measuring innovation, and fostering open government-industry communication.

Food for Thought—There's so much more in the recording!

"If a person or a program wants to try something new to obtain some sort of value or benefit, then we think that they are innovating and we want to support them." [00:03:22]

"We must disabuse the notion that including industry throughout our market research and our requirements building is risky. On the inverse, not doing it is super risky." [00:24:04]

In this episode of "Inside the Business of Government," host Mike Derrios speaks with Soraya Correa, CEO of the National Industries for the Blind and former DHS Chief Procurement Officer.

They explore critical challenges facing the federal acquisition workforce, including historic attrition, heavy workloads, and the loss of experienced mentors:

• 00:03:46, 'What we've lost is a lot of experience and capability to help and mentor others.'

Soraya emphasizes the importance of leadership, strategic thinking, and industry engagement in procurement:

• 00:11:50, 'If it [the contract] doesn't work out, that's on me. If it works out well, you get to take all the credit.'
• 00:12:40, 'We're not going to work out of fear. We're going to focus on doing the right thing for the right reasons.'
• 00:15:35, 'I've been there. I lived that life. I came up as a contracting professional from contract specialist all the way up to contracting officer to become a CPO.'

The conversation also covers the FAR overhaul, AI's role in acquisition, and strategies for attracting new talent for the federal workforce:

• 00:29:00, 'What makes this job important is that we are sitting at the table helping deliver a mission that impacts the American people we serve.'
• 00:30:08, 'I love this country. I love my government, and I want to be a part of always making it better and more efficient.'

Soraya concludes with advice urging small businesses to proactively advocate for themselves rather than feeling undervalued:

• 00:40:02, 'Don't let someone else decide what your value proposition is. Find your own value.'

In this episode of the Greg and Camille Baroni Center podcast, host Mike Derrios speaks with Alexa Tsui, CEO of Forum, about evolving go-to-market strategies in government contracting. Alexa shares her unconventional journey from English teacher to BD and capture executive, then discusses how COVID and AI disrupted traditional business development approaches. She emphasizes the importance of integrated storytelling, founder-led growth, thought leadership, and outcome-based positioning over capability-focused pitching. Alexa also addresses relationship-building, event strategies, RFI responses, and the risks of remaining stagnant in a rapidly changing federal acquisition landscape.

Two quotes to pique your interest:

"All of those traditional GovCons that don't move and look alive and do things differently are going to be like Blockbuster in two years." ['00:16:58']

"'Go to market is a movement, and if you're not moving, you'll be left behind." ['00:25:43']