100 Top GovCon Intel Sources to Keep You Updated

Professionals who keep their GovCon intel sources up to date gain a measurable edge over those who do not. The federal marketplace moves fast: procurement regulations shift, agency priorities realign, and contract vehicles evolve on timelines that reward those who track changes early. The professionals who arrive on bid day better informed than their competitors didn’t get there by accident—they built intelligence habits around reliable sources.

Two years ago, Lohfeld Consulting published curated lists of government websites, news sources, and social media accounts that business development, capture, and proposal professionals should follow, but a great deal has changed since then: the Revolutionary FAR Overhaul (RFO) is reshaping the regulatory landscape; artificial intelligence tools have moved from novelty to standard practice; and the community of GovCon practitioners sharing expertise on LinkedIn has grown substantially. This updated guide reflects all of that, with 100 sources organized into seven sections. Each section serves a distinct intelligence need, from foundational procurement data to the deep learning available in books written by practitioners for practitioners:

• 24 Free Government Websites provide the essential data and tools every business development (BD), capture, and proposal professional must have at hand.
• 12 Books go deeper, offering frameworks, strategies, and field-tested experience you can apply immediately.
• 12 GovCon News Sources keep you current on awards, policy changes, and agency priorities.
• 12 LinkedIn Groups connect you to the communities where GovCon professionals exchange ideas and opportunities.
• 16 Individual LinkedIn Contributors offer practitioner-to-practitioner insight from some of the sharpest voices in the federal market.
• 12 LinkedIn Newsletters provide tailored, ongoing contentto keep you informed of the latest GovCon events.
• 12 Podcasts, Radio Broadcasts, and YouTube Channels deliver ongoing learning in the formats that fit how you work.

No single source covers everything; the professionals who win consistently build habits across all six categories. Use this guide to audit your current sources, fill the gaps, and build an intelligence practice that compounds over time.

24 Free Government Websites

The federal government publishes an enormous amount of actionable procurement data, and most of it is free. The 24 websites listed below are core reference points for BD, capture, and proposal professionals. They provide everything from live contract opportunity feeds and wage determinations to competitor award histories and regulatory updates. Many practitioners are familiar with the most prominent sites, such as SAM.gov and USASpending.gov, but the full list contains several that are underused despite being essential. Bookmark these sites in a dedicated browser folder and make it a habit to check them as part of your routine market intelligence work.

1. Acquisition.gov: The authoritative source for the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR), acquisition policy, and Revolutionary FAR Overhaul (RFO) resources.
2. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) – Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics: Contains market wage data used to validate labor rates in cost proposals and competitive pricing models.
3. Census Business Builder (CBB): Provides access to demographic and economic data to help understand your market and develop more targeted proposals.
4. CPARS.gov: Use the Contractor Performance Assessment Reporting System to review your contractor performance records, identify improvement areas, and use ratings to support self-scoring proposals.
5. Defense Pricing, Contracting, and Acquisition Policy: Describes DOD acquisition policy, Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS) resources, and guidance that is essential for defense contractors tracking DFARS changes.
6. Department of Labor Wage Determinations: Access Service Contract Act and Davis-Bacon wage determinations needed for accurate pricing in competitive bids.
7. eCFR (Electronic Code of Federal Regulations):  The live, searchable version of the CFR. Practitioners who track DFARS, agency supplements, and labor regulations rely on this site.
8. Federal Register: The official daily publication for federal rules, proposed rules, and agency notices. Monitor regulatory changes that affect your bids.
9. GAO Protest Docket: The official record and tracking system for all bid protests filed with the U.S. Government Accountability Office. It serves as the central repository for information on each case, including its status, filing details, and decision outcomes.
10. Grants.gov: Find and apply for federal grants on this site. Search opportunities, download application packages, and submit proposals electronically.
11. GSA Advantage!: An online shopping and ordering platform that connects pre-approved vendors with government buyers for streamlined procurement.
12. GSA eBuy: This is the site where agencies post RFQs against GSA Schedule contracts. Any GSA Schedule holder should be actively monitoring this.
13. GSA eLibrary: Access GSA schedule contract award information and research competitors and potential teaming partners here.
14. GSA Per Diem Rates: GSA per diem rates are required for travel cost proposals. Proposal managers reference this constantly, but it rarely appears on these lists.
15. HHS Office of Grants: Use this site to find grant funding from the Department of Health and Human Services across health, research, and social services programs.
16. NAICS Association: Look up North American Industry Classification System codes for your business lines and research which codes align with your target contract vehicles.
17. Revolutionary FAR Overhaul: Learn about the latest changes to the Federal Acquisition Regulations on this site.
18. SAM.gov: Register for federal business, search contract opportunities, and access entity registrations. Essential for pipeline management.
19. SBIR/STTR Programs: Access innovation funding from the Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technology Transfer programs.
20. Small Business Administration (SBA): Access guidance on certifications, set-asides, loan programs, and resources for every stage of small business growth.
21. Small Business Administration – Size Standards Tool: Determine small-business eligibility under industry-specific size standards. Critical for set-aside opportunities.
22. UEI Entity Validation: If you want to apply for federal awards as a prime awardee, you need a registration. This site enables you to register for a Unique Entity ID.
23. USASpending.gov: Track government spending and awards across all federal agencies to identify funding trends and opportunities.
24. White House Executive Orders: Read about new executive orders and how they can affect your bid and operations.

12 Books

Books offer something that no news feed, newsletter, or podcast can fully replicate: the sustained, structured thinking of a practitioner who has spent years distilling hard-won experience into a coherent framework. The 12 books below were written by people who have done the work, and each one addresses a distinct dimension of the GovCon profession. Several of these authors have written multiple books worth investigating beyond what is listed here, so use this list as a starting point. Practitioners who build a reading practice around works like these develop sharper analytical frameworks, better proposal instincts, and a deeper understanding of how federal buyers think.

1. An Insider’s Guide to Winning Government Contracts: Real-World Strategies, Lessons, and Recommendations: (Joshua Frank of RSM Federal, 2019). Mr. Frank provides a practical, field-tested BD playbook covering pipeline development, opportunity qualification, teaming, and proposal strategy.
2. APMP Body of Knowledge: (Association of Proposal Management Professionals). The Body of Knowledge is free to APMP members from its website and contains best practices for performing a wide array of tasks across the business development lifecycle.
3. Do-It-Yourself Billion Dollar Graphics: 3 Fast and Easy Steps to Turn Your Text and Ideas into Persuasive Graphics: (Mike Parkinson of 24 Hour Company and Billion Dollar Graphics, 2010). This book is an evergreen classic to help you produce more visually appealing proposals and engage evaluators.
4. Findable: The B2G Professional’s Guide to Building a Thought Leadership Position: (Mark Amtower and Adam Palmer, 2026).Roughly 42,000 companies are registered on the SAM.gov database, and most of them are invisible. This book provides guidance for solving that problem.
5. From Prompts to Proposals: An AI Maturity Model: (Brenda Crist and Beth Wingate of Lohfeld Consulting Group, 2026). A step-by-step guide for capture and proposal teams building AI maturity across the full bid lifecycle, paired with a self-assessment tool that benchmarks current capability and identifies exactly where to focus next. Click the link to get a free copy.
6. How to Win in the Government Market – Second Edition: (Mark Amtower and Michael Lisagor, 2024). Drawing on decades of combined experience, Mark Amtower and Michael Lisagor deliver hundreds of practical tips covering pipeline development, positioning, relationship-building, and BD strategy across the full federal market.
7. Insights, Volume 6 – Winning Tomorrow: Future-Proof Strategies for Proposal Success Today: (Edited by Beth Wingate of Lohfeld Consulting Group, 2025). Written for capture and proposal professionals navigating rapid changes in the bid and proposal industry, from AI adoption and evolving technology to talent shortages and market shifts. Click the link to get a free copy.
8. Secrets of Strategic Pricing for Government Contractors: (Marsha Lindquist, 2022). This book covers price-to-win strategy, cost structures, Defense Contract Audit Agency (DCAA) compliance, and competitive pricing tactics for federal proposals.
9. Solution Engineering: Winning Proposals are Engineered, Not Just Written: (Peter Lierni, 2019). The author introduces his Solution Engineering Framework™, which is a repeatable, logic-driven approach to capture and proposal development that equips teams to answer the essential question, “Why your company?” with defensible, customer-focused evidence.
10. Stop Chasing, Start Shaping: The New Playbook for Federal Growth: (Tonya Alston, 2026). This book gives small business owners, GovCon consultants, and corporate leaders a proven strategic framework for winning more government contracts by shaping the acquisition strategy before the opportunity is ever published.
11. Successful Proposal Strategies for Small Businesses: Using Knowledge Management to Win Government, Private-Sector, and International Contracts – Sixth Edition: (Dr. Robert Frey, 2012). Provides a practical, field-proven resource for small- and mid-sized GovCon firms covering every stage of the proposal lifecycle, from knowledge management and rapid prototyping to past performance and compliance, backed by Dr. Frey’s 35-plus years of federal proposal experience.
12. Successful Proposal Strategies On-the-go!: (Dr. Robert Frey, 2023). Delivers concise observations and business-driven recommendations covering various dimensions of proposal development, including human dynamics, business decisions, proposal writing, metrics, reviews, and integration. It also extends to academic, public-sector, and international private-sector proposals.

12 GovCon News Sources

Staying informed about contract awards, regulatory shifts, and agency priorities is a competitive function, not an administrative one. The 12 news sources below provide free coverage of the GovCon market from multiple angles: daily award announcements, executive moves, defense technology policy, and federal workforce developments. Each serves a different slice of the market, and the most effective practitioners follow several simultaneously. Subscribe to their newsletters so current intelligence arrives in your inbox rather than requiring a separate browsing habit. For teams tracking a specific agency, program office, or technology domain, these outlets also serve as an early-warning system for shifts that could affect your pipeline.

1. Defense News: Global coverage of defense politics, business, and technology for senior military and industry decision-makers.
2. ExecutiveBiz: Executive-level coverage of GovCon political and business trends, contract news, and leadership moves.
3. ExecutiveGov: Federal government headlines covering cybersecurity policy, health IT, national security, and Gov 2.0 developments.
4. Federal News Network: Breaking news, analysis, and radio for federal agency managers, policymakers, and contractors.
5. Federal Times: News and information for federal managers on pay, benefits, and policy changes affecting the workforce.
6. G2Xchange: Competitive intelligence platform for federal contractors, workers, and entrepreneurs tracking federal contracting activity.
7. GovBrew: A newsletter delivering GovCon news, federal opportunities, merger and acquisition (M&A) activity, contract awards, and leadership updates in a fast, digestible format.
8. GovCIO Media & Research: Multi-platform coverage of technology’s impact on government for federal IT decision-makers, using video, podcasts, and special reports.
9. GovCon Wire: Concise, to-the-point stories on significant contract awards, executive moves, M&A activity, and financial results across GovCon.
10. Government Executive: News, analysis, and insight on government operations, procurement, and management for federal executives and contractors.
11. Orange Slices AI: GovCon contract award information, market intelligence, and teaming facilitation tools for growth professionals.
12. Washington Technology: In-depth coverage of the government IT market, contract awards, and industry trends. Home of the Top 100 Federal Contracts and Fast 50.

12 LinkedIn Groups

LinkedIn Groups are an often-overlooked resource for capture and proposal professionals. Unlike a feed full of algorithm-driven posts, groups bring together practitioners actively discussing the topics that matter most: solicitation strategy, AI adoption, pricing, BD tactics, and the day-to-day challenges of winning work. These 12 LinkedIn groups represent some of the most active and valuable communities on the platform.

1. APMP Official Discussion Group: (22,065 members). This community of the Association of Proposal Management Professionals focuses on industry trends, certification, events, and bid and proposal best practices. This is the primary professional home for APMP members on LinkedIn. Additionally, check out the APMP Chesapeake Chapter(498 members).An APMP Chapter that consistently provides outstanding original content on its website, LinkedIn page, and YouTube Channel, spanning capture, proposal management, writing, legal, pricing, and employee well-being topics.
2. Artificial Intelligence: (374,667 members). One of LinkedIn’s largest AI communities, covering AI research, tools, applications, and industry trends across all sectors.
3. Bid and Proposal Management Professionals: (28,563 members). A practitioner forum for sharing news, tools, and development resources across the bid and proposal profession—one of the largest independent proposal-focused groups on the platform.
4. Bids, Tenders, International Business Proposal Writing, Bid Management, Global Sales & Tendering: (7,386 members). Run by CapturePlanning.com, this group covers proposal and tendering practice across both domestic and international markets, including commercial and government contexts.
5. Federal Government Contractors Group: (21,772 members). An informational hub for those doing business with U.S. federal, state, and local governments, with links to resources, specialists, events, and information to improve success in government contracting.
6. Federal Sales Professionals Group: (12,916 members).A community covering BD strategy, agency relationships, and federal sales tactics for professionals engaged in selling to the federal government.
7. GovCon News: (10,608 members). Tied to GovCon.net, this group serves as a news and resource hub for government contractors and small businesses considering selling to the government.
8. The GovCon RFP Growth Forum by MyGovWatch: (16,660 members). The LinkedIn community arm of MyGovWatch, a government contract bid notification and intelligence platform serving users since 2007, covers leads across more than 200 industry subcategories at every level of government.
9. GovConX – U.S. Government Contractors Network: (76,512 members). The largest and most engaged digital community of U.S. government contracting professionals, founded in 2008 as the go-to public forum for industry professionals to connect and share insights. This is the most broadly populated GovCon group on LinkedIn.
10. Government Market Master: (7,344 members). Run by Mark Amtower, widely known as the “godfather of government marketing,” this group focuses on how government contractors can use LinkedIn effectively for business development and market visibility.
11. Proposal Management Professionals: (12,410 members). An independent LinkedIn community for proposal managers, writers, coordinators, and related professionals; it serves as a peer forum for sharing best practices and discussing proposal process challenges, tools, and career development.
12. Small Business Network: (45,389 members). A broad small business community covering entrepreneurship, growth strategy, marketing, financing, and peer networking across industries, with a subset of members active in the government contracting small business space.

16 Individual LinkedIn Contributors

Beyond groups, a small number of individual LinkedIn contributors consistently post high-quality insights that are worth following directly. The 16 professionals below represent a cross-section of GovCon expertise: BD strategy, proposal craft, legal and compliance, pricing, AI integration, and thought leadership positioning. They post from deep practitioner experience and are worth reading regularly.Following these contributors gives you a front-row seat to the practitioner conversations that shape how leading GovCon teams operate. Many of them also respond to comments and engage directly, making LinkedIn a genuine peer learning environment when you engage with intention.

1. Mark Amtower: Mark offers expert commentary on how GovCon professionals can build thought leadership and visibility on LinkedIn, covering platform strategy, SME positioning, and government marketing best practices. He also weighs in on broader GovCon market conditions, including the Revolutionary FAR Overhaul and set-aside policy changes.
2. Alexander (Xander) Brown CF/CL APMP: Xander regularly explores capture and proposal strategy, federal contracting trends, and the nuanced reasons why proposals lose despite strong merit. He’s also active in the orals space, engaging with content on presentation storytelling and building community among federal orals professionals.
3. Robin Camarote: Robin shares invaluable insights regarding leadership development, executive presence, and career growth, drawing directly from her own work experience. She translates real workplace situations into practical guidance for readers.
4. Jennifer Cassaday, CL CF BW-M AI-M APMP: Jennifer writes candidly about proposal operations, the integration of AI in proposals, capture-to-proposal alignment, and the realities of proposal management as a profession. Her content often emphasizes practical lessons rather than abstract theory.
5. Hong-Ah Do, CP CL APMP: Hong-Ah provides frequent, substantive analysis on federal procurement signals, diving into market research notices, small business set-aside trends, and post-award execution risk. Her content stands out for translating raw acquisition data into practical implications for capture and proposal teams.
6. Juliet Fletcher MPA, CF APMP, CEO at Writing is Easy: In a direct,practitioner-to-practitioner tone,Juliet delivers highly practical proposal writing advice detailing how to overcome writing blocks, use focus boxes, craft persuasive narratives, and evaluate the quality of proposal support.
7. Dr. Bob Frey, APMP Fellow, PMP: Bob produces detailed, experience-driven content that tackles proposal strategy, proposal management roles, win bonus programs, and stakeholder intelligence in capture. He writes from deep practitioner expertise and is not shy about challenging conventional wisdom.
8. Tamara Fuller, CF APMP: Tamara focuses her content on proposal development, federal bid opportunities, and GovCon operations, offering a mix of practical pursuit intelligence and career content relevant to healthcare and IT contracting, with a skew toward mid-market and small-business contractors.
9. Eileen Kent: Eileen distributes coaching-oriented guidance on federal sales strategy for contractors, centering on her “Three-Step Program” methodology to master contract vehicles, set-asides, and relationship-building with federal buyers. Her content is aimed at companies that are new to or growing within the federal market.
10. Steve Koprince: Steve masterfully translates government contracting law and compliance regulations into accessible, practitioner-readable content for small businesses. He covers critical topics such as SBA programs (8(a), HUBZone, WOSB, SDVOSB), joint venture rules, bid protests, and FAR compliance.
11. Michael LeJeune: Michael delivers high-energy, direct-address content on GovCon business development strategy, emphasizing disciplined pipeline targeting over reactive opportunity chasing. His posts consistently push contractors to move from networking to intentional “hunting” with focused agency strategies.
12. Peter Lierni, CAP.APMP and CP.APMP (Author): Peter specializes in disseminating strategies surrounding digital transformation in defense, P-Win methodology critique, win theme fundamentals, and overarching GovCon strategy. He’s also the published author of several insightful industry books.
13. Rebecca Link, MPA, CP APMP: Rebecca’s content sits at the intersection of proposal management expertise and emerging technology, sharing thought-provoking perspectives on AI integration in capture and proposal operations, federal growth strategy, and responsible AI governance in GovCon. Her focus is on what AI-forward teams should be doing differently to gain or maintain a competitive edge.
14. Neil McDonnell: Neil provides comprehensive federal sales training content tailored for small-business contractors, unpacking how federal buyers think, relationship-building strategies, pipeline discipline, and the use of tools such as SAM.gov and GSA resources. As the most prolific content creator on this list, he is the highest-reach individual voice in the GovCon LinkedIn space.
15. Kel Raleigh, MFA, CF APMP: Kel seamlessly bridges proposal writing craft with strategic market awareness, offering deep dives into capture intelligence, including executive summary strategy, market research signals from SAM.gov, and the practical implications of GovCon procurement trends for proposal teams.
16. Kathleen Voigt, CF APMP: Kathleen champions smaller, less-resourced proposal teams through her practitioner-focused content that actively pushes back against industry biases that judge teams based on toolsets rather than their results. She also actively engages in highly valuable hands-on proposal craft discussions.

12 LinkedIn Newsletters

LinkedIn newsletters deliver curated GovCon expertise directly to subscribers, bypassing the noise of the general feed. The 12 newsletters below cover BD and capture strategy, federal contracting law, pricing, market intelligence, and proposal craft. Publication cadence ranges from daily to monthly; the mix ensures ongoing, current intelligence across every dimension of the bid lifecycle. Subscribe to all 12 and scan each edition for the two or three insights most relevant to your current pursuits. Practitioners who read consistently across these sources develop a broader market perspective than those who follow a single outlet, and that breadth shows in how they frame pursuit strategy and competitive positioning.

1. Fed Gov Today: The Lens: Author: Fed Gov Today. Summarizes interviews with Government and industry leaders on topics including AI, digital modernization, cyber operations, and agency mission objectives. (Published weekly. 4,286 Subscribers.)
2. Game Changers for GovCon: Author: Michael LeJeune. Focuses on practitioner-to-practitioner BD and capture strategy from a 20-year veteran, emphasizing disciplined pipeline targeting and intentional agency pursuit over reactive opportunity chasing. (Published weekly. 7,366 Subscribers.)
3. GovCon Intel Brief: Author: GovDash. Focuses on data-driven market intelligence; lists hot bids and major awards. (Published monthly. 3,061 Subscribers.)
4. GovCon Roundup: Author: GovTribe. Focuses on market intelligence from a leading GovCon analytics platform covering contract awards, agency spending trends, and procurement patterns. (Published monthly. 1,536 Subscribers.)
5. GovCon Roundup: Author: Steven Koprince. Focuses on Federal contracting legal analysis for small businesses covering SBA size and affiliation rules, 8(a), HUBZone, WOSB, SDVOSB programs, and bid protest decisions. (Published weekly. 13,542 Subscribers.)
6. Government Contracting Success: Author: Neil McDonnell. Describes federal sales fundamentals and small business growth strategy tied to McDonnell’s LinkedIn Live training cadence and GovCon Chamber community. (Published weekly. 30,139 Subscribers.)
7. Hot Off the Press: Author: Federal News Network. Briefings on the latest topics in GovCon. (Published daily. 8,484 Subscribers.)
8. The Latest at Lohfeld: Author: Lohfeld Consulting Group. Provides capture and proposal management expertise for GovCon practitioners covering active bids, active RFIs/SSNs, forecast bids, industry days, upcoming training, AI adoption, and capture and proposal best practices. This newsletter is linked to the Lohfeld website, which contains over 1,000 articles. (Published monthly. 1,967 Subscribers.)
9. LinkedIn Strategies for GovCon: Author: Cecilia McDonnell. Helps GovCon firms build LinkedIn visibility through NAICS-aligned topic clusters and AI-driven search positioning, so federal buyers and teaming partners can find them during market research. (Published weekly. 1,423 Subscribers.)
10. The Strategic Pricing^® Expert: Author: Marsha Lindquist. Describes GovCon pricing strategy covering price-to-win, cost structures, DCAA compliance, and competitive pricing tactics for federal proposals. (Published monthly. 1,046 Subscribers.)
11. Top Stories of the Week: Author: GovCon Wire. Provides a weekly curated news feed covering contract awards, M&A, defense spending, and GovCon industry developments. (Published weekly. 8,193 Subscribers.)
12. Winning in Writing: Author: Carl Dickson. Delivers weekly proposal and capture writing guidance from the founder of CapturePlanning.com and PropLIBRARY, drawing on more than 30 years of experience and over 1,000 published articles to help practitioners write more competitive proposals and win more contracts. (Published weekly. 2,030 Subscribers.)

12 Podcasts, Radio Broadcasts, and YouTube Channels

Podcasts and YouTube channels let you absorb GovCon expertise during commutes, workouts, or transitions between tasks. The 12 channels below span the full range of GovCon practice: federal sales fundamentals, proposal craft, capture strategy, AI adoption, and unfiltered market commentary. Several of these channels publish multiple episodes per week, making them among the highest-volume free education resources available to GovCon practitioners. Start with the channels most aligned to your current role and expand from there. The professionals who commit to ongoing learning across these formats arrive at pursuits with stronger fundamentals than those who rely on experience alone.

1. Amtower Off-Center: (Radio/Podcast). Weekly insights by Mark Amtower on GovCon business development, LinkedIn strategy, and thought leadership from the preeminent voice in government marketing, heard on Federal News Network.
2. APMP TV: (Association of Proposal Management Professionals). Contains scheduled and on-demand webinars about best practices in the bid and proposal industry.
3. Eric Coffie on The GovCon Giants Podcast: (Podcast/YouTube). Success stories, strategies, and interviews with GovCon professionals on winning and growing federal contracts; ranked #5 in procurement worldwide with 53K+ YouTube subscribers.
4. Federal Newscast: (Radio/Podcast). Contains news, information, and analysis for federal agency managers, policymakers, and contractors covering the full spectrum of federal government operations.
5. FedGov Today: (Podcast/TV). TV show hosted by Francis Rose where industry and government leaders share insights on federal technology, workforce, acquisition, and management; airs Sunday mornings on ABC 7 Washington and available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube.
6. Game Changers for Government Contractors: (Podcast/YouTube). Co-hosted by Michael LeJeune and Joshua Frank, this program contains strategies, tips, and success stories to help government contractors win more business.
7. Government Contracting Officer Podcast 2.0: (Radio/Podcast). As former federal contracting officers who have also walked in industry’s shoes, Kevin Jans and Paul Schauer created The Contracting Officer Podcast to help both government and industry acquisition professionals better understand how the other side thinks.
8. How to Sell To & Win Federal Government Contracts: (YouTube). Webinars, expert interviews, and updates on federal acquisition policies and BD strategies for government contractors. Hosted by Jennifer Schaus, with over 500 videos on the channel.
9. Lohfeld Learning: (YouTube). Long- and short-form tutorials and webinars from Lohfeld Consulting Group’s experts on capture management, proposal writing, grant writing, and AI in GovCon.
10. Neil McDonnell: (Podcast/YouTube). Plain-language explanations of federal contracting, helping small businesses find their niche and build the federal sales relationships that lead to contract awards.
11. Shipley Associates: (YouTube). Provides training videos, webinars, and expert guidance on proposal management, capture strategy, color team reviews, and AI-enabled proposal development.
12. Tan’s Two Cents: (YouTube).This show is explicitly unfiltered, funny, and in-depth, tackling topics that other programs tend to gloss over. It dissects specific contracting opportunities layer by layer, brings in government representatives to discuss the unspoken subtleties of bureaucratic decision-making, and addresses the business and leadership dimensions of GovCon—not just the mechanics.

Conclusion

The GovCon professionals who win consistently share one habit: they invest in intelligence before they need it. The government websites, news sources, LinkedIn groups, individual contributors, newsletters, media channels, and books in this guide represent a complete intelligence infrastructure, available at little to no cost to any practitioner willing to build the habit of using it.

No single resource in this guide will win a contract for you. The compounding advantage comes from using them together, over time, so that when an IDIQ drops or an agency priority shifts, your team has the context, contacts, and competitive insight to act faster and smarter than the competition. Start with the sections most relevant to your current role. Bookmark the government websites. Subscribe to three newsletters that you don’t already follow. Read one book from the list.

Lohfeld Consulting helps GovCon teams build the capture and proposal infrastructure to win. Contact us to learn how we can support your next bid.

Continued Reading

• 23 AI Vendors. Two Days. Here’s What I Learned: Brenda Crist spent two days at APMP BPC 2026 evaluating every AI vendor booth as a researcher, not a buyer. This article breaks down four vendor categories, eight evaluation dimensions, and what proposal teams must assess before committing to any long-term AI tool investment.

• Three Years of AI: What the Results Really Show: Lohfeld’s three-year tracking poll on AI adoption reveals that the percentage of respondents reporting that AI does not meet expectations dropped from 38% in 2024 to 18% in 2026. This article unpacks what the best-performing teams did differently to close that gap and what still holds most organizations back.

• The State of Capture in 2026: What’s Changed Now?: Capture management is evolving fast, and contractors who are not adapting are seeing win rates decline. This article breaks down what leading GovCon firms are doing differently in 2026 to stay ahead of consolidated GWACs, AI-driven competition, and increasingly rigorous down-selects.

By Brenda Crist, Vice President at Lohfeld Consulting Group, MPA, CPP APMP Fellow

Lohfeld Consulting Group has proven results specializing in helping companies create winning captures and proposals. As the premier capture and proposal services consulting firm focused exclusively on government markets, we provide expert assistance to government contractors in Capture Planning and Strategy, Proposal Management and Writing, Capture and Proposal Process and Infrastructure, and Training. In the last 3 years, we’ve supported over 550 proposals winning more than $170B for our clients—including the Top 10 government contractors. Lohfeld Consulting Group is your “go-to” capture and proposal source! Start winning by contacting us at www.lohfeldconsulting.com and join us on LinkedIn, Facebook, and YouTube^(TM).