The Wolverine Group

The CAS threshold will be increasing from $2.5 million to $35 million tomorrow. Maintain your discipline in cost accounting. The final rule issued by the Cost Accounting Standards Board, which appeared in the Federal Register on September 1, will come into effect on October 1; it increases the basic CAS applicability threshold from $2.5 million to $35 million, gets rid of the $7.5 million trigger contract, and raises both the requirement for full coverage and the need for a Disclosure Statement from $50 million to $100 million. We believe this will be a real blessing for medium-sized contractors. Small businesses have been exempt all along, and the companies just above the small category felt the impact most; these were the ones operating compliance systems designed for much larger companies but only on contracts worth under $35 million. The danger lies in interpreting the rule as giving you the right to relax the books. The cost principles in FAR Part 31 still determine what you can bill on a cost-type contract, and a contract negotiated and awarded for over $35 million can trigger CAS. Before altering any accounting practice, make a list of all the contracts that currently have CAS clauses and then ask your contracting officer how the new thresholds apply in each case. With respect to multiple-award IDIQs, the rule checks the exemptions at the time each order is awarded, so a single large order can result in a contract that you originally thought was exempt being covered. Federal acquisition is one of the two fields in which we operate, and changes in the threshold can lead to costly errors in either direction. Some firms keep paying for compliance even though it is no longer required, while others break down the controls the next major award will need. Make sure the plan is written up before the first proposals of the new fiscal year are issued. #GovCon #CostAccountingStandards #GovConFinance #DefenseAcquisition

GSA's half-price ChatGPT offer is due October 1. Who trains the people using it? On September 10, GSA announced a 27-month OneGov agreement with OpenAI, expected to take effect October 1. Agencies get half off token-based usage across ChatGPT models, with no platform fee, no minimum order, and no spend commitment. GSA says the deal includes training and enablement resources. The price is the easy part. Vendor enablement is built to teach the tool. A contract specialist also needs to know what must never go into a prompt, and how an AI-assisted draft gets reviewed and documented before it reaches the contract file. Those answers live in procurement rules and agency policy. If your office is about to switch on ChatGPT access, schedule procurement-specific training before the first solicitation gets drafted with it, and name who reviews AI-assisted work. Cheap access moves faster than policy does. We built Commercial GenAI for Public Sector Procurement for the people doing the buying. Its through-line, and in our live trainings to agencies on AI use in procurement, is the rule we'd hold any office to when new AI tools go live: AI assists. Humans decide. Module 1, Using GenAI Safely in Government Procurement, is now open for enrollment. It runs for about 3.5 contact hours at $395. If your office is planning training for a rollout like this one, we're glad to talk it through. The link is in the first comment. #GovAI #OneGov #AcquisitionWorkforce

Our Chief Innovation Officer was just named an Engage honoree. Congratulations to Jaime Gracia, Chief Innovation Officer at The Wolverine Group, on being named to OrangeSlices AI's 2027 Engage National Security 150. Peers and the broader national security community select honorees. The recognition isn't about titles. It's about how leaders engage: sharing knowledge openly, showing up for the community, seeking out other perspectives, and challenging the status quo. That's the work Jaime does every day, whether he is helping acquisition professionals navigate the Revolutionary FAR Overhaul, teaching digital IT acquisition, or pushing for better communication between government and industry. In Jaime's words: "I'm grateful and genuinely humbled to be included. The honoree list is incredible, with leaders from DHS, State, the FBI, the Coast Guard, and across industry whose work I have long respected. It is an honor to be counted among them. None of this happens alone. Our team at The Wolverine Group makes this work possible every day, and this recognition belongs to them as much as it does to me. Thank you to OrangeSlices National Security for continuing to spotlight the people who are #doingitright, and to everyone who took the time to nominate and review." Congratulations to all 2027 Engage National Security 150 honorees. We're proud to be in such good company. The full honoree list is in the first comment. #GovCon #FederalAcquisition #NationalSecurity #doingitright #engagefedgov

A truck is bringing the SCIF you can't afford, and your opportunity screen is out of date. On the third of September, the Pentagon put into operation the Secure Space Network, a plan involving the construction of about fifty mobile SCIFs which can be deployed to installations and to sites in the industrial sector. Opportunities cannot be re-scored if they have never been logged; companies automatically remove themselves, and any work skipped because of a lack of cleared space never gets into the pipeline. Here is the prompt to run; only metadata. "The following are the opportunities that we have looked at and failed to submit bids for over the past 24 months: the agency, the title, the estimated value, and the reason for recording no bid. Find all the entries in which the no-bid reason refers to facility access, cleared space, classified handling, or physical security, and for each of these, state what would have to be the case if we were to bid now." Remember, the prompt is only a starting point, not a substitute for your own judgment. Compare what it provides with your own bid files, and take responsibility for the call that bears your name. When used properly, it recovers hours a small BD office doesn't have; but if you rely on it as autopilot, it can get you wrong faster. We've dealt with the problems of classified access, not just read about them. We help contractors determine which classified-adjacent requirements are achievable and which ones need a partner who already has that clearance. The result is generally specific and unglamorous. If you've previously dismissed cleared work as being out of reach, the Secure Space Network alters that calculation, and it's worth twenty minutes to find out by how much. Check out the twenty no-bids you had recently—how many of them provide a reason that you can take action on today? #CaptureManagement #IndustrialBase #GovCon

📣 The first issue of The Wolverine Brief is now available! One question for each issue, nothing else. This month is a response to the question: What may you safely enter into commercial GenAI when doing the year-end closing? This is not a summary of a policy, but a detailed account of the process by which a real requirements package is divided into three categories: the copy-paste gap-check prompt that carried out the task, the guardrail that went with it, and the verification stage, which almost no one publishes. It also includes the mistakes the prompt made when it was used—including the fact that it failed to identify the missing equipment inventory and incorrectly identified a contradiction that, in fact, was not a contradiction. That's the whole point. It eliminates the bad habit of publishing a prompt without stating its failure modes. Each issue has the same structure: a single question, a field walk-through using actual figures, one complete prompt together with a guardrail and verification. The failure modes identified for this month's task are data safety, automation bias, and records exposure. Three items are dated for the month, and each is verified before inclusion. We also focus on all levels of public procurement: federal, state, local, and also the relevance for industry. Other topics we are covering: ✅ October is the time for market research, specifically regarding where the week is spent and which sections a commercial tool can cover. ✅ November is regulatory changes. ✅ December is measurement. Our site features each issue as a free-to-read page, and the email is a brief message letting you know it's available. The newsletter is in the first comment below. #FederalAcquisition #ContractingOfficer #GenAI #MarketResearch #AcquisitionWorkforce

Happy Labor Day from The Wolverine Group. Today is set aside to honor the people whose work keeps this country moving. We want to use it to recognize ours. TWG's work in information operations, OSINT, data analytics, geolocation, and federal acquisition rests entirely on the people who do it. The analysts who chase down the hard answer instead of the easy one. The acquisition professionals who make government buying smarter. The teammates who show up for each other and for our clients, mission after mission. To every member of the TWG team: thank you. What we deliver directly reflects the standard you set. Enjoy the day off. You earned it. #LaborDay #TheWolverineGroup #WOSB #FederalContracting #NationalSecurity

DHS forecasts a $100M OSINT buy as a small business set-aside. The award is more than a year out. That's the point.   USCIS has an entry in the DHS Acquisition Planning Forecast System for enterprise open-source intelligence software. Estimated $50M to $100M, solicitation targeted for December 15, 2026, small business set-aside under NASA's SEWP V, award expected in the second quarter of FY2027, firm-fixed-price running to March 31, 2032. Performance at Camp Springs.   We read forecast entries differently than most people do. The dollar figure is the least useful field on the page. The useful fields are the vehicle and the date, because together they tell you whether you can compete at all, and how long you have to fix it if you can't.   If that requirement comes out on SEWP V and you don't hold SEWP V, no amount of capability closes the gap in fifteen months. Teaming is the answer, and the time to find the teammate is now, while the thing is still a forecast entry and nobody has picked sides. Firms that wait for the draft RFP negotiate from a much worse position, and they usually know it.   One caution. Forecast entries move, split, and disappear. Treat the December date as a planning assumption rather than a commitment, and check APFS again in November before you spend real money.   Open-source intelligence and research is one of the two things this firm does, alongside federal acquisition. If you're looking at this requirement and working out whom you'd need beside you on a SEWP V team, that's a conversation we're open to now, rather than in December when everyone else is having it. www.wolverine-group.com   #OSINT #CapturePlanning 💡 If you want to pull the record yourself rather than take our word for it, it is in the DHS Acquisition Planning Forecast System at apfs-cloud.dhs.gov, which is public and searchable. GovConWire and Govly have both covered it. Forecast records get revised, so what you see in November may not match what is described above, and that is the normal behavior of a forecast rather than a problem with it.

Our Chief Innovation Officer, Jaime Gracia, participated in an important discussion about the current rules being proposed by the Small Business Administration to change size standards for the small business community. Because The Wolverine Group is a WOSB, we are directly impacted by this proposed rule change, and all small businesses must have their voices heard and respond by the September 21 deadline. Mr. Gracia also wrote a post earlier in the week on this topic and how to use AI to help research, formulate, and create an impactful response. That post can be found here: https://lnkd.in/eqR2Qqh3 https://lnkd.in/eRspdXzP

This Fourth of July, The Wolverine Group honors the men and women who dedicate themselves to protecting our nation's security. As a team committed to supporting the national security and intelligence community, we don't take the meaning of this day lightly. The independence we celebrate is defended every day by those who serve — often without recognition. To our clients, partners, and the professionals safeguarding this country: thank you for your service and your trust. Happy Independence Day from all of us at TWG. 🇺🇸

🎨 We're Hiring: Graphics/Multimedia Specialist 🎨 The Wolverine Group (TWG) is seeking a talented Graphics/Multimedia Specialist to support a large federal government agency. If you blend traditional artistic skill with cutting-edge digital design, we want to hear from you. What you'll do: ✅ Design and develop multimedia applications, systems, and products for internet-based and social media platforms using current technologies. ✅ Create computer graphics and interactive computing products, from PC-based systems to multimedia applications. ✅ Integrate graphics, animation, text, and sound across multiple technology media. ✅ Develop concepts and storyboards, gain approvals, and select the most effective production medium to bring ideas to life. What we're looking for: ✅ Proficiency in traditional fine arts skills, including free-hand drawing and painting, with a solid grasp of art fundamentals (lighting, color, form, and 3D shapes). ✅ Familiarity with emerging AI design software and working knowledge of 3D software. ✅ Bachelor's degree required (relevant experience may be substituted in lieu of a degree). ✅ 5+ years of experience. ✅ Active Secret clearance required. A few details: ✅ This is an on-site position (not remote) ✅ Some travel may be required ✅ Ability to work nonstandard hours and on-call status may be required TWG is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. We are committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability, gender identity, or Veteran status. Ready to bring your creative vision to mission-critical work? Apply here: https://lnkd.in/eJrHNeDW — or tag someone who'd be a great fit. 👇 #Hiring #GraphicDesign #MultimediaDesign #TSSCIjobs #ClearedJobs #FederalContracting #CreativeJobs #NowHiring