AI is Coming for Your GovCon Job (And Mine Too) - Here's How I'm Preparing

I've been working in government contracting for over a decade, and I've never seen anything quite like what's happening right now. We've all lived through changes before—when everything moved online, when we had to learn new procurement systems—but this AI thing? It's different. It's bigger. And honestly, it's a little terrifying.

But here's what I've learned after spending the last two years researching and using AI, this isn't really about AI taking our jobs. It's about our jobs completely transforming, and we need to get ready for it in 2026.

(NOTE: Read to the end to be a part of an exciting AI announcement) 

The Wake-Up Call

Let me paint you a picture of what's actually happening. The Trump administration has gone all-in on what they're calling "aggressive adoption" of AI across federal agencies. We're not talking about cautious pilot programs anymore. By the end of 2025, every agency is supposed to identify and remove barriers to AI use. By 2026, they need published policies for AI procurement.

Translation? The government is actively trying to buy AI, use AI, and force contractors like us to work with AI. This is mandatory, not optional.

What really got my attention was learning about "Agentic AI." I thought I understood AI—you know, those chatbots, like ChatGPT and Claude, that answer questions and write emails. But Agentic AI is something else entirely. These are systems that can plan, execute, and manage entire workflows over weeks or months without constant human babysitting.

Imagine telling an AI assistant/agent: "Monitor HHS for cybersecurity and managed service opportunities. When something pops up, compare it to our past performance, draft a gap analysis, find three potential teaming partners, and schedule a meeting." Then it just... does all of that. For weeks. On its own.

That's not a tool. That's a digital coworker. And the early reality of Agentic AI is already happening.

What's Actually Changing (And When I Started Panicking)

In my work with government contractors, they spend about 60% of their time gathering intelligence—doing market research, tracking opportunities on SAM.gov, building compliance matrices in Excel, drafting proposals, reading budget documents. You know, the grunt work. Well, AI can now do almost all of that, and it does it better and faster than I or anyone ever could.

New tools are emerging now that use AI to recommend opportunities and give them a "fit score" based on analyzing our past performance against what the solicitation actually wants. The pipeline process has gone from "search" to "curation." The AI finds it; I decide if it's worth pursuing.

But here's where it gets wild: these AI tools can analyze which contracting officer awarded the most contracts based on NAICS code, search competitors' past pricing, scrape their job postings to see who they're hiring, look at their protest history, and predict exactly how they're going to bid. Finally, a report is generated showing how my competitor will probably approach the opportunity. It's like having a crystal ball, and it's both awesome and deeply unsettling.

For proposal writing, the change is even more dramatic. By 2026, it's standard practice to generate what teams are calling "Draft Zero" using AI. Tools trained on our previous winning proposals can produce a compliant, technically accurate first draft in minutes. We're talking about a 60-70% reduction in drafting time.

The compliance matrix I used to spend hours building? AI generates it from the RFP in seconds.

The Part That Keeps Me Up at Night

Here's my biggest worry: if AI drafts the proposals, generates the monthly reports, and manages the pipeline, how do junior employees learn this business? When I started, I learned by doing all that grunt work. I built compliance matrices until I could do them in my sleep. That's how I learned to really understand an RFP.

The industry is at risk of what people are calling "hollowing out"—we automate away all the entry-level tasks, and suddenly we have no path for developing the next generation of senior experts. It's a real problem, and frankly, I don't think anyone has a good answer yet.

There's also the legal stuff that makes me nervous. If I accidentally feed proprietary data into a public AI model, I could expose company secrets or classified information. If the AI hallucinates a past performance citation and we submit it, we could face False Claims Act liability or even get debarred. The stakes are incredibly high.

What the Government Is Doing (Spoiler: They're Using AI Too)

It's not just contractors scrambling to adopt AI. The government is equipping Contracting Officers with their own AI tools, and this creates a fascinating—and slightly scary—dynamic.

Government agencies are deploying automated evaluation tools that can scan proposals for compliance issues, formatting errors, and missing sections. These bots can instantly disqualify non-compliant bids before a human ever looks at them. So now we're in this situation where contractor AI writes the proposal optimizing for keywords and structure, and government AI "shreds" it looking for weaknesses.

It's AI versus AI, and the humans are just refereeing the match.

KOs/COs are actually cautiously excited about this. They're tired of administrative drudgery too. With AI handling the compliance checks and formatting reviews, they can focus on the strategic stuff—defining mission outcomes, negotiating complex terms, and acting as business advisors instead of just FAR police.

But it means our proposals have to be optimized differently now. Clear structure, proper headings, exact terminology from the PWS—these things matter more than ever because a machine is doing the first read.

The Skills That Actually Matter Now

After obsessing over all this research, I've realized something important: the skills that will save our careers aren't technical. They're human.

AI can generate infinite capability statements, marketing materials, and email messages. The result? Government email filters (also AI-driven) are blocking generic outreach like crazy. The only thing that cuts through the noise is genuine human connection. Authentic intelligence—real empathy, understanding the psychographics of decision-makers, building actual relationships—that's what AI can't replicate.

So here's my new skills priority list:

Data fluency - I need to understand how to structure data for AI ingestion and interpret what it spits out. Garbage in, garbage out is real.

Prompt engineering - The core skill isn't writing anymore; it's crafting the right prompts to get quality output from AI. It's like being a director instead of an actor. And yes, this means, prompting an AI chatbot to help draft a better prompt.

Model validation - I have to be able to critically assess AI outputs for accuracy and bias. Blind trust in AI is how you end up in legal trouble.

The soft skills - Negotiation, conflict resolution, oral communication, relationship building. These are future-proof because they're uniquely human.

Learning the "why" - If AI handles the "how," my value and yours is understanding the "why." I need to deepen my expertise in regulations and strategy so I can validate what the AI produces.

How To Prepare (Practical Action Plan)

You shouldn’t wait for AI to replace you, or more so, people with AI skills to replace you. Here's what you can be doing right now:

Experimenting with AI tools - Study about the various AI tools and use them to understand their capabilities and limits. Learn prompt engineering and playing with workflow automation.

Doubling down on relationships - Attend more industry days in person. Make phone calls instead of sending emails. Build your personal brand and network because that's the one thing AI can't copy.

Use Alternative Contracting Vehicles - Leverage new or alternative contracting vehicles that are based on relationships, technologies, pilot programs, or other non-FAR factors. Learn about Commercial Solutions Openings (CSOs), Other Transaction Authority (OTAs), Unsolicited Proposals, BAAs, pilot grants, or accelerator programs. 

Here are a few for you to explore: www.Challenge.gov Grants for pilot programs https://www.nsf.gov/funding/initiatives/convergence-accelerator# NSF Convergence Accelerator https://xtech.army.mil/ XTech Army https://afwerx.com/ Emerging Tech Airforce https://www.energy.gov/eere/ammto/lab-embedded-entrepreneurship-program DOE-clean tech https://www.sbir.gov/ SBIR/STTR emerging tech

Becoming a domain expert - Go deeper into FAR, CAS, and agency-specific regulations. You should become the person who catches what the AI gets wrong.

Embracing the AI pilot role - Instead of resisting, position yourself as the person who knows how to use these AI tools effectively. Be known as someone who can orchestrate AI, not someone who's threatened by it.

Focusing on strategy over execution - Shift your value proposition from "I can write a great proposal" to "I can develop a winning strategy." The AI can handle the execution of the draft proposal; you need to own the strategic thinking behind it.

The Truth About 2026

Look, I'll be honest: I'm scared sometimes. The pace of change is overwhelming, and there are days when I wonder if I'm preparing for the right things. But after all my years in the GovCon and Technology space, I've come to a conclusion that actually makes me hopeful.

The AI apocalypse for jobs is a myth. The reality is more like an AI renaissance where the nature of our work elevates from administrative and mundane processing to strategic problem-solving. The boring stuff—the compliance matrices, the formatting checks, the data entry—that's what's getting automated. The interesting stuff—strategy, negotiation, relationship building, ethical judgment—that's what's becoming more valuable.

By 2026, the central question won't be "Are you using AI?" It'll be "How effectively is your AI collaborating with your humans?"

The industry isn't eliminating jobs; it's transforming them. The Proposal Writer becomes a Narrative Strategist. The Capture Manager becomes a Strategic Architect. The Program Manager becomes a Leadership Expert focused on stakeholder management rather than spreadsheet management.

We're moving toward a symbiotic relationship where AI handles the process and humans handle the purpose. The machine gives us speed; we provide judgment, ethics, and empathy.

What I’m Doing in 2026 and How You Can be Part of it.

BECOME AN ALPHA USER: With the shift of how AI is changing the government contracting landscape, I’ve made the decision to retire from leading the Government Contractors Association (GCA) to launch a new AI software called Govafy. You can learn more about it at: www.Govafy.com Govafy will deploy AI Agents to automate government contracting workflows. You can launch AI Agents to source bids, engage teaming partners, write proposals, build pricing models, track revenue, review acquisition policies, foster relationships, manage contracts, automate accounting, generate financial reports, and facilitate the full pre-award and post-award procurement life-cycle. Now, all of these capabilities won’t happen at one time, but we’ll be launching them in stages.

Why have I made this life changing decision? 1) Coaching/consulting/training and leading GCA has been about empowering others. It’s been a joy, but it has also taken a heavy toll on my daily schedule. My typical day is filled with 6 to 8 appointments. As I get older, I need to focus on having a more flexible time to accomplish my other dreams of changing the world. 2) The age of AI is here and I want to codify what I know about government contracting and technology into an AI platform that can leverage AI Agents to help small businesses navigate this industry. I want to create an AI solution that is powerful and most importantly, affordable. 3) The shift in the GovCon marketplace with new policies, re-prioritization of set-aside programs, government shutdown, and less small businesses entering the GovCon market made this the perfect time for me to make the change. I NEED YOU: I’m looking for 100 Alpha Founding Users to be part of this new platform. You’re in the trenches everyday and you can help shape the future of how we use AI in the government contracting industry. Help me build the tool that you wished existed. If you’re interested, go here: www.Govafy.com 

My Bottom Line

The wave is coming whether we're ready or not. I've decided I'd rather learn to surf than get swept away. That means embracing AI as a teammate rather than viewing it as a threat. It means investing in the skills that make me irreplaceable—the human skills that no algorithm can match.

It also means being honest about the challenges. The junior gap is real. The bias risks are real. The security concerns are real. But I believe we can navigate these if we're intentional about it.

So here's my challenge to you: don't wait. Start experimenting now. Build your human skills. Deepen your expertise. Position yourself as the person who can harness AI effectively rather than the person being replaced by it.

Because in 2026, the winners won't be the people with the best AI tools. They'll be the people who know how to use those tools while bringing something uniquely human to the table.

The future belongs to the AI-augmented human, not the human-augmented AI. 

Let's make sure we're on the right side of that equation.