Federal acquisition policy has turned decisively toward commercial capability. In April 2025, an executive order on defense acquisition directed the Department of Defense to prefer commercial solutions, other transaction agreements and rapid capabilities mechanisms, and a second order set out to rewrite the Federal Acquisition Regulation. In December, the FY2026 National Defense Authorization Act carried much of that direction into law.
For a company with a capability the government needs, these are real openings. They are not, by themselves, a route. A commercial solutions opening, an other transaction agreement, a subcontract under an established prime and a traditional FAR-based award each ask different things of a company. The right one depends on the offer, the buyer and the stage the buyer is in.
Access creates questions
Companies entering through new pathways tend to face the same three questions, in the same order.
A published requirement explains the request. It rarely explains the mission context, the office’s priorities or the practical setting in which a capability would be used. That gap is where experienced advice earns its place. Specialists who know an office and its buying patterns can help a company connect a request to the mission behind it, and decide whether a credible next step exists at all.
Advice does not replace the company’s own judgment. The company confirms its facts, approves its offer and owns delivery, and the government evaluates every offer on its merits. Good advice makes the offer worth evaluating.
Prime or subcontract
Reform has widened the set of routes into government, but the oldest choice still comes first. A company can pursue a prime contract, in which it owns the offer and the relationship, or perform a defined part of another contractor’s work. The choice should rest on qualifications, delivery control and the share of the work the company can credibly own.
Separate the capability from the market label
The most durable growth often comes from a proven capability finding a second mission. A method developed for one agency may solve a problem in another, or inside a prime contractor’s program. Search tools make these connections easier to find. They do not make them true.
The test is whether the new mission values the same result and accepts the experience the company can show. Differences in operating conditions, qualifications or buying routes change the cost and time needed to enter, and they are easier to discover before a company invests than after.
What this means
Reform has lowered the barriers to entry. It has not lowered the bar. The companies that convert new pathways into durable government businesses will be those that pick their route deliberately, understand the office behind each request, and treat every new market as a hypothesis to test rather than a category to claim.
Sources
Executive order, Modernizing Defense Acquisitions and Spurring Innovation in the Defense Industrial Base, April 9, 2025.
Executive order, Restoring Common Sense to Federal Procurement, April 15, 2025.
National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2026, Public Law 119-60, December 18, 2025.
