GovCon Unscripted

Chelsea Roberts
  • 5.0 (2)
  • Management
  • Updated Weekly

Welcome to GovCon Unscripted, where we dive into the unfiltered stories and strategies from all around the world of government contracting. Join host Chelsea Roberts as she explores how to navigate, thrive, and win in this complex but rewarding industry.

  1. 7h ago

    Same Work, Different Words: Why Federal Contractors Misread State and Local | Jonathan Santana

    A multimillion-dollar services contract, awarded in two weeks, with every I dotted and every T crossed. It was not federal, and that is exactly the point. This week on GovCon Unscripted, Chelsea Roberts sits down with Jonathan Santana, founder and lead consultant of Excelsior Consulting Services, LLC, an SBA HUBZone and Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned small business supporting federal, state, local, nonprofit, and commercial clients. Jonathan earned his contracting warrant in the Air Force in 2003, bought through hurricane prep at Langley Air Force Base, deployed to Balad Air Base in Iraq in 2005 as a contingency contracting officer, and later worked procurement at Miami-Dade County before founding his own firm.   The conversation covers the translation problem between federal, state, and local buying (acquisition becomes procurement becomes purchasing, while the terms and conditions stay nearly one to one), how NASPO ValuePoint works as a state-level analog to a GWAC or federal supply schedule, what it means to compete with Big Four consultancies that have pivoted to state and local, creative contracting inside the FAR (performance work statements over statements of work, FAR 13.5 procedures), why state and local can award in weeks when the incentive exists, and forensic governance, Jonathan's discipline of getting adversarial with program data before leadership bets on it.   Chapters: 00:00 Intro and Excelsior Consulting Services 00:02 The verbiage gap: federal vs state and local 00:03 NASPO ValuePoint and entering state markets through a multi-contractor alliance 00:07 Competing with the Big Four at the state and local level 00:10 A contracting warrant at Langley: hurricane prep on the clock 00:11 Deployed at Balad Air Base: contingency contracting in Iraq 00:14 SF-44s, purchase cards, and buying under pressure 00:19 Creative contracting inside the FAR: PWS vs SOW, FAR 13.5 00:23 How fast state, local, and nonprofit buying really moves 00:27 What is forensic governance? 00:31 AI, governance, and decision risk 00:35 Where to find Jonathan Resources: Jonathan Santana's LinkedIn ProfileChelsea Roberts' LinkedIn Profile Other resources: Excelsior Consulting Services' WebsiteExcelsior Consulting Services' InstagramExcelsior Consulting Services' Company LinkedIn Profile  🎧 Listen now on: 🔹 Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/govcon-unscripted/id1766384482 🔹 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1NL0kFAvmgECLTJpUZYNHy   Like and follow us: 🔹 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@GovConUnscriptedUS 🔹 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/govconunscriptedpodcast/ 🔹 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/govcon-unscripted/posts/ 🔹 Join our #govcon community: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/14618490/

    Same Work, Different Words: Why Federal Contractors Misread State and Local | Jonathan Santana

  2. 5d ago

    Substance Over Glitter: What Makes the HUBZone Conference Worth the Trip | Eric Coffie

    In federal contracting, most conferences give you a polished keynote you could have read in a press release. Eric Coffie goes to a lot of them, and he keeps coming back to HUBZone for a different reason. On this Special Episode of GovCon Unscripted, host Chelsea Roberts continues the #RoadtoHUBZone series with Eric Coffie, founder and CEO of GovCon Giants. Eric attends a lot of federal contracting events, and his read on this one is blunt: most conferences are more glitter than substance, and HUBZone is where he actually gets the real deal. He and Chelsea talk about keeping perspective when set-aside programs come under scrutiny, why the value of a conference is in the room rather than the brochure, and the funding and scale panel he is hosting. The conversation lands on a simple message for anyone weighing the trip: come prepared, extract everything, and make the connections that carry the rest of your year. 2026 National HUBZone Conference, July 21 and 22 (golf outing July 20) at the Westfields Marriott in Chantilly, Virginia.   Timestamps 00:00 Welcome and who Eric is 01:00 Nothing new under the sun: perspective on program challenges 03:00 Why HUBZone weathers the discourse 08:00 Substance over glitter: what makes HUBZone different 11:00 The exhibitors and primes in the room 12:00 The Building for Scale funding panel 16:00 Extract everything: prep and make the most of it 18:00 Boots on the ground, fourth quarter, and connections 18:30 Manufacturing and made in USA 19:00 See you in Chantilly   🎧 Listen now on: 🔹 Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/govcon-unscripted/id1766384482 🔹 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1NL0kFAvmgECLTJpUZYNHy Like and follow us: 🔹 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@GovConUnscriptedUS 🔹 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/govconunscriptedpodcast/ 🔹 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/govcon-unscripted/posts/ 🔹 Join our #govcon community: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/14618490/ Eric Coffie's LinkedIn Profile Chelsea Robert's Linkedin Profile 2026 National HUBZone Conference (register) Other resources: Eric Coffie's YouTube Account Eric Coffie's Twitter Account GovCon Giants' Website GovCon Giant's Instagram Account

    Substance Over Glitter: What Makes the HUBZone Conference Worth the Trip | Eric Coffie

  3. Jul 7

    The 8(a) Program Isn't Being Killed. It's Being Starved. | Steven Koprince

    The SBA hasn't let a single new company into the 8(a) Program in over 250 days. Federal contracts attorney and educator Steven Koprince explains what that means for the program's future and for the small businesses waiting at the door. Steven Koprince spent more than 20 years as a federal government contracts attorney, founding Koprince McCall Pottroff LLC before moving into education, writing, and board service. In this conversation with Chelsea Roberts, Steven walks through the Revolutionary FAR Overhaul, the shifting culture around contracting officer discretion and bid protests, why AI-drafted GAO protests keep getting thrown out for hallucinated case law, and the slow-motion contraction of the 8(a) Program: SBA has approved only a fraction of its usual annual admissions and has not processed a new application since August 2025. Koprince also breaks down a common and costly SAM self-certification misconception that catches contractors off guard. Timestamps: 00:03:00 — Legal environment shifts and the Revolutionary FAR Overhaul00:07:00 – 00:13:00 — Contracting officer discretion, bid protest strategy, and relationships with agencies00:15:00 – 00:19:00 — AI-drafted protests and hallucinated case law at GAO00:20:00 – 00:25:00 — The 8(a) Program's admissions freeze and sole-source pressure00:25:00 – 00:31:00 — Small business self-certification, affiliation rules, and the SAM misconception Resource Links: Steven Koprince's LinkedIn profileChelsea's LinkedIn ProfileThe FedLift Launchpad 🎧 Listen now on: 🔹 Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/govcon-unscripted/id1766384482 🔹 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1NL0kFAvmgECLTJpUZYNHy Like and follow us: 🔹 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@GovConUnscriptedUS 🔹 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/govconunscriptedpodcast/ 🔹 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/govcon-unscripted/posts/ 🔹 Join our #govcon community: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/14618490/

    The 8(a) Program Isn't Being Killed. It's Being Starved. | Steven Koprince

  4. Jul 2

    Your Network Is Your Net Worth: Why Nobody Wins Federal Work Alone | Tim Hagerty

    In federal contracting, your network is your net worth, and most small businesses are working with one far too small to win what they are capable of winning. On this Special Episode of GovCon Unscripted, host Chelsea Roberts continues the #RoadtoHUBZone series with Tim Hagerty, founder and CEO of TeamingPro and a board member of the HUBZone Contractors National Council. Tim started TeamingPro after a lesson every small business learns the hard way: capability is rarely what holds you back, your network is. He breaks down what actually makes a strong teaming partner (past performance with the specific buyer, not just a matching capability), why teaming wins a larger slice of a bigger contract rather than a smaller slice of the same one, and how technology can take the friction out of finding and reaching the right partners. The conversation widens into the fragility of the domestic manufacturing supply chain and the reshoring opportunity, then lands on the 2026 National HUBZone Conference, where TeamingPro is powering the matchmaking so attendees arrive already knowing who they should meet. 2026 National HUBZone Conference, July 21 and 22 (golf outing July 20) at the Westfields Marriott in Chantilly, Virginia.   Timestamps 00:00 Welcome and who Tim is 01:00 What TeamingPro is and why he built it 02:00 The convention problem: 4,000 people, no blinking arrows 06:00 What makes a strong teaming partner 10:00 The network is the bottleneck, not capability 14:00 The bigger pie: small businesses winning together 17:00 TeamingPro’s role in the HUBZone Conference matchmaking 25:00 Manufacturing supply chain risk and reshoring 33:00 SBA momentum and opening up competition 36:00 How to reach Tim and TeamingPro Resources: Tim Hagerty's LinkedIn Profile Chelsea's LinkedIn Profile Other resources: TeamingPro Website HUBZone Contractors National Council 2026 National HUBZone Conference (register)   🎧 Listen now on: 🔹 Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/govcon-unscripted/id1766384482 🔹 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1NL0kFAvmgECLTJpUZYNHy Like and follow us: 🔹 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@GovConUnscriptedUS 🔹 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/govconunscriptedpodcast/ 🔹 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/govcon-unscripted/posts/ 🔹 Join our #govcon community: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/14618490/

    Your Network Is Your Net Worth: Why Nobody Wins Federal Work Alone | Tim Hagerty

  5. Jun 30

    The Last All-Human Workforce | Paul Serotkin

    A federal workforce leader recently told a room of executives they would be the last generation to manage an all-human team. Paul Serotkin has spent 40 years watching this industry change, and he thinks that one line explains most of what is coming next. On today's episode of GovCon Unscripted, Paul Serotkin, CEO and founder of the Serotkin Group, joins Chelsea Roberts for a wide-ranging conversation on adapting your federal business while the ground keeps moving. Paul began his career fighting for what became the Small Business Innovation Research Act and was in the Rose Garden when it was signed in 1982. Since then he has run a mergers and acquisitions practice, founded the boutique investment bank Minuteman Ventures, operated small and socio-economic government contractors, and mentored founders through SCORE and Boston Business Mentors. In this episode, Paul and Chelsea get into the difference between change that lasts and change that is just the pendulum swinging back, why a business plan is now a quarterly discipline rather than an annual ritual, when a subcontractor should stop being afraid to prime, how to build business development into every role in the company, and why the leaders managing teams today may be the last to manage an all-human workforce.   Chapters: 00:00 Welcome and Paul's 40-year GovCon arc 02:00 Excitement or dread: what is really changing 03:00 Pendulum swing versus permanent change: commerciality, AI, SBIR 05:00 Contracting-officer discretion, fixed-price default, a roughly $1 trillion DoD request 08:00 Write it down: a business plan that survives the quarter 11:00 Focus versus shiny-object syndrome 13:00 The subcontracting pathway, and when to stop being afraid to prime 18:00 BD as a team sport: aligning the front office and the back office 21:00 Everyone is a salesperson 26:00 Aligning incentives with what the company wants 27:30 The last all-human workforce 30:00 The proposal that bans AI: a double-edged sword 30:30 SCORE and Boston Business Mentors: free expertise most never use 34:30 How to reach Paul Resources: Paul Serotkin's LinkedIn profile  Chelsea Robert's LinkedIn profile Serotkin Group's Website Other resources: Boston Business Mentors' Website SCORE Organization's website   🎧 Listen now on: 🔹 Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/govcon-unscripted/id1766384482 🔹 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1NL0kFAvmgECLTJpUZYNHy Like and follow us: 🔹 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@GovConUnscriptedUS 🔹 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/govconunscriptedpodcast/ 🔹 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/govcon-unscripted/posts/

    The Last All-Human Workforce | Paul Serotkin

  6. Jun 25

    Show Up or Stay Invisible: Why HUBZone Advocacy Can’t Wait in 2026 | Michelle Burnett

    Most people file HUBZone under “niche set-aside.” It was designed as an economic development engine for the communities America left behind, and it is sitting at an inflection point right now. On this Special Episode of GovCon Unscripted, host Chelsea Roberts opens the #RoadtoHUBZone series with Michelle Burnett, Vice Chair of the HUBZone Contractors National Council, ahead of the 2026 National HUBZone Conference. Michelle has worked with the HUBZone program since she was 20. She walks through its original intent as a place-based economic development tool, the multiplier effect it was built to create, and why its biggest challenges today are problems of execution and acquisition alignment rather than flaws in the program itself. The conversation covers the 2019 regulatory overhaul and the changes the Council fought for, what aligning the program with domestic manufacturing and reshoring could unlock, and why teaming has become a survival strategy for small firms that feel like the rug is being pulled out from under them. It closes with a direct call: show up, advocate, and be at the table. The 2026 National HUBZone Conference runs July 21 and 22 (with a golf outing July 20) at the Westfields Marriott in Chantilly, Virginia. Timestamps 00:00 Welcome and who Michelle is 01:00 The 2026 National HUBZone Conference and what is new this year 03:00 Who should come, and why large business turnout is so high 04:00 Where the program’s execution falls short 06:00 Advocacy, the FAR overhaul, and why your voice matters 09:00 The program is not broken, the execution is 10:00 The multiplier effect, a hand up rather than a handout 13:00 HUBZone On The Rise and the manufacturing consortium 17:00 How to get involved and where to find the conference Resources: Michelle Burnett's LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michelle-burnett-21737771/ Chelsea's LinkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chelseadroberts/ Other resources: HUBZone Contractors National Council: https://www.hubzonecouncil.org/ 2026 National HUBZone Conference (register): https://www.hubzonecouncil.org/2026-National-HUBZone-Conference HUBZone Council LinkedIn group: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/2992361/   🎧 Listen now on: 🔹 Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/govcon-unscripted/id1766384482 🔹 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1NL0kFAvmgECLTJpUZYNHy Like and follow us: 🔹 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@GovConUnscriptedUS 🔹 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/govconunscriptedpodcast/ 🔹 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/govcon-unscripted/posts/ 🔹 Join our #govcon community: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/14618490/

    Show Up or Stay Invisible: Why HUBZone Advocacy Can’t Wait in 2026 | Michelle Burnett

  7. Jun 23

    The CSO Before CSOs Were Everywhere | Adam C. Grant

    Everyone has a CSO now. Almost nobody runs one the way the people who built the first ones did. Adam C. Grant was in the room when some of the first commercial ones went live, and he has thoughts on why the speed never matched the promise. Adam C. Grant went from enlisted Air Force to commissioned officer to contracting officer managing a large air and space portfolio at Patrick Space Force Base, where his team launched some of the first commercial Commercial Solutions Openings in the country, coast to coast across both launch ranges. Then he crossed the table: early-stage venture investing, and now business development and capture at Core4ce. In this Success After Service episode he and Chelsea Roberts get into why owning a contracting vehicle is not the same as knowing how to run it, what the consolidation of vehicles into places like the GSA Schedules is doing to competition, and the unglamorous discipline behind a successful transition out of service. Practical, direct, and built for practitioners who want to move faster without pretending the failures do not happen. Timestamps: 00:00 Welcome and who is Adam C. Grant 01:00 From enlisted Air Force to commissioned officer to acquisition 03:00 Running the first commercial CSOs at Patrick Space Force Base 05:00 Why six months is not enough to prepare for transition 06:00 LinkedIn Premium as an intelligence tool for service members 08:00 Reframing your skillsets beyond the obvious career path 09:00 Why you need two or three champions who will not blow smoke 10:00 Shoot or shoot: the follow-up discipline that builds a network 12:00 Breaking into early-stage investing from outside the major markets 17:00 Reading founders in the first three minutes 20:00 Why a no is not a no forever 24:00 What is changing in business development and capture today 26:00 Vehicle consolidation, GSA MAS, and the competition it creates 27:00 From pitch days to CSOs everywhere 28:00 Why owning the vehicle is not the same as knowing how to run it 31:00 How to reach Adam (search Adam C. Grant) and the 15-minute rule Resource links: Core4ce Website Adam C. Grant's LinkedIn profile Chelsea Roberts' LinkedIn profile 🎧 Listen now on: 🔹 Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/govcon-unscripted/id1766384482 🔹 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1NL0kFAvmgECLTJpUZYNHy Like and follow us: 🔹 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@GovConUnscriptedUS 🔹 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/govconunscriptedpodcast/ 🔹 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/govcon-unscripted/posts/ Join our #govcon #community: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/14618490/

    The CSO Before CSOs Were Everywhere | Adam C. Grant

  8. Jun 16

    The Vehicle Is Not the Sale | Shene Commodore

    Landing a spot on a GSA schedule feels like the win. It is really just permission to start competing, and the clock starts the day you sign. Most small businesses treat a contract vehicle as the goal. Shenê Commodore, CPCM, founder and CEO of Commodore Consulting, has been on both sides of that assumption, as a former government contracts professional and now as the consultant companies call when they need to actually use the vehicle they fought to get. In this conversation, Shenê and host Chelsea Roberts get into the real state of GSA in a year of fast-moving change: the largest FAR revision in more than 40 years, GSA's move toward centralized procurement, and the compliance math that decides whether you keep your schedule or lose it. Shenê explains why a BPA, a schedule, or a spot on OASIS+ is access rather than revenue, what actually counts as past performance, and how to map your project scope to the right NAICS code so you pass GSA's scope review, which is now partly run by AI. She also walks through where AI genuinely helps a small contractor, from market research to oral presentation prep, and the data-verification discipline that keeps you out of trouble. If you are weighing whether you need a GSA schedule, or you have one and it is not producing, this episode is the practitioner's map. Timestamps 00:00 Intro 00:50 Meet Shenê Commodore and Commodore Consulting 01:20 From a DCAA internship to TRICARE, both sides of the table 03:30 Losing a job, finding NCMA, and going out on her own 06:30 Turbulent times and the pace of change 07:00 The FAR revisions, the biggest in 40-plus years 08:40 The qualification myth, it was always required 09:50 GSA as the centralized procurement agency 11:00 Do you actually need a GSA schedule? 12:30 GSA teaming, credit as a sub and MAS JV schedules 17:00 Compliance, sales thresholds and transactional data reporting 19:00 BPAs, OASIS+, and what counts as a real sale 20:00 The car you cannot drive, a vehicle is not a sale 22:00 Scope review, NAICS mapping, and GSA's use of AI 25:00 Where AI fits, automations, research, oral presentations 28:00 Guardrails, hallucinations, and the C.R.A.P. test 33:00 How to reach Shene and her closing advice Resource links: Shene Commodore on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shenecommodore/ Commodore Consulting: https://www.commodoreconsulting.com Shene's Stan store: https://stan.store/SheneCommodore Chelsea Roberts on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chelseadroberts/ 🎧 Listen now on: 🔹 Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/govcon-unscripted/id1766384482 🔹 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1NL0kFAvmgECLTJpUZYNHy Like and follow us: 🔹 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@GovConUnscriptedUS 🔹 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/govconunscriptedpodcast/ 🔹 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/govcon-unscripted/posts/ Join our #govcon #community: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/14618490/

    The Vehicle Is Not the Sale | Shene Commodore
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Ratings & Reviews

5
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About

Welcome to GovCon Unscripted, where we dive into the unfiltered stories and strategies from all around the world of government contracting. Join host Chelsea Roberts as she explores how to navigate, thrive, and win in this complex but rewarding industry.

Information

  • Creator
    Chelsea Roberts
  • Years Active
    2024 - 2026
  • Episodes
    99
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © All rights reserved.
  • Show Website
    GovCon Unscripted

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