Government Contracts Intelligence Briefing

On July 13, 2026, the Department of War (DoW) announced the immediate suspension of Phase II of the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) program — the phase that was to require formal third-party (C3PAO) certification of Level 2 compliance beginning November 10, 2026. DoW Chief Information Officer Kirsten A. Davies described the move as consistent with Secretary of War Pete Hegseth's Acquisition Transformation System, which prioritizes speed to capability and lower barriers to entry for small, medium, and non-traditional defense contractors. DoW is launching a 60-day CMMC Reform Task Force to recommend a scaled-back, more efficient path forward, informed by industry feedback already gathered through a public Request for Information.

As we noted last week, the FAR Council released proposed rules remaking 19 separate FAR parts. Included in the first tranche of proposed rules under the Revolutionary FAR Overhaul (RFO), the Federal Acquisition Regulatory (FAR) Council has released a significantly revised proposed rule governing the protection of Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI) by civilian contractors. Published on June 23, 2026, at 91 FR 37550, this version updates and supersedes the standalone proposed rule that the FAR Council issued in January 2025 (90 FR 4278, FAR Case 2017-016). The comment deadline for the new proposed rule is July 23, 2026.

The Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council (FAR Council) issued proposed updates to large portions of the Federal Acquisition Regulation as part of its comprehensive, self-titled “Revolutionary” FAR Overhaul Initiative.

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has proposed wide-ranging changes to the regulatory requirements (currently known as the “Guidance for Federal Financial Assistance”) underlying billions of dollars in grant awards annually. The proposed revisions make (and rebrand) the guidance as binding, contain new anti-diversity, equity, and inclusion (“DEI”) mandates, give the federal government broader powers to terminate grant awards, and prohibit fixed-price awards, among other things.

Since established by Congress in 1978, the Department of Energy has had a program for loans to minority business enterprises. As stated in the regulations implementing the Department of Energy Implementing Act (the “Act”), the purpose of the loans are to “assist such enterprises in participating fully in research, development, demonstration and contract activities of the Department of Energy.”

When world events move quickly, the government contracting space is one area where impacts are felt immediately. Just within the last few days, the Trump administration launched an effort to remove Anthropic’s AI tools from the federal supply chain and executed extensive strikes against the Iranian regime. Both of these news stories will have a broad impact on the government contracting community.

In a series of releases, the Department of Defense/War announced in writing and on social media that it is reviewing 8(a) and small businesses awarded contracts to ensure compliance with subcontracting requirements and current priorities. Contracts that do not comply will be terminated for convenience.

Join Hunton government contracts Partner Eric Crusius on Thursday, January 15 for episode 1 of the “From Surviving to Thriving: The CMMC Enforcement Era Playbook" series. This series is designed to help contractors, subcontractors, and joint ventures navigate the evolving requirements of CMMC 2.0 and Revision 3 with confidence.

Earlier this week, the Department of Defense (War) announced plans to significantly remake how it will purchase goods and services from government contractors in its Acquisition Transformation Strategy (the Strategy). Central to these reforms will be the use of portfolio management to break down the walls within the Pentagon.

Immediately prior to the lapse in funding on October 1, Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) released information on their contingency plans during the impending government shutdown, providing guidance to federal contractors.