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Cost Estimating NewsBrief: September 26, 2025
Contractors angle for opportunities under DHS spending surge
(Federal News Network) Federal contractors are positioning themselves to take advantage of a flood of new funding at the Department of Homeland Security, though DHS’s spending plans remain in flux. Companies are closely following how DHS will spend the billions of dollars in the tax and reconciliation package passed by Congress in July. The funding is largely concentrated at Customs and Border Protection, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and the Coast Guard. CBP Chief Information Officer Sonny Bhagowalia said the agency doesn’t have enough staff to keep up with pitches received through its online business portal. Read More
CCA update: Air Force expects early contracts for second iteration in ‘months’
(Breaking Defense) The US Air Force is aiming to award “concept refinement” contracts for the second iteration of its Collaborative Combat Aircraft program in early fiscal 2026, an Air Force official said today. Over 20 different vendors were solicited for the early stage in the second round of the service’s drone wingman program, Col. Timothy Helfrich, who directs the Air Force’s Agile Development Office, told a small group of reporters on the sidelines of the Air and Space Forces Association conference. The service intends to winnow that pool down to a smaller number of vendors, Helfrich said, with the intent to put “several” on contract. “The exact number will be dependent on several factors,” he added, with contracts expected “within the next few months.” Read More
Interior watchdog finds $40 million in misclassified IT purchases
(FedScoop) The Department of the Interior didn’t classify millions of dollars worth of purchases as IT when it should have, posing acquisition and security risks, the agency’s internal watchdog found. In a review of roughly 167 purchases totaling $52 million dollars that had been recorded as “other” in the agency’s business management system, the DOI’s Office of Inspector General said it found 98 were not appropriately classified as IT. Those misclassified purchases total nearly $40 million. “Because the purchases were misclassified, they were not routed as required for IT approval,” Nicki Miller, assistant inspector general for audits, inspections, and evaluations, wrote in a memo to Chief Information Officer Paul McInerny dated Monday. Read More
How LLMs Work: Top 10 Executive-Level Questions
(MIT Sloan Management Review) Business leaders are now rethinking workflows, organizational design, and other disciplines as their companies embrace artificial intelligence and generative AI tools. To make good decisions about the use of AI, these leaders need to grasp key aspects of the capabilities and limitations of the large language models that underlie the technology. Here are 10 of the most frequently asked questions about LLMs, along with answers that clarify aspects of GenAI that are often poorly understood. Read More
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