The real innovation bottleneck: Why federal RFPs are sabotaging modernization
Originally published The real innovation bottleneck: Why federal RFPs are sabotaging modernization on by https://federalnewsnetwork.com/commentary/2025/06/the-real-innovation-bottleneck-why-federal-rfps-are-sabotaging-modernization/ at Federal News Network
Coming from the private sector, where competition, efficiency and outcomes drive technology investment, the inefficiencies of the federal RFP process are shocking. Having owned technology budgets and procurement decisions for many years before engaging in the public sector, it’s clear that while government leaders demand modernization, the very tool they use to buy innovation is keeping them in a bygone era.
Recent efforts like the White House’s April 2025 Executive Order “Restoring Common Sense to Federal Procurement,” and the DoD’s updated software acquisition policies are all bold acknowledgments that the system must change. But unless we fix how RFPs are written and awarded, these reforms will never reach their full potential.
Here’s where the real bottleneck lies:
The RFP process is built around inputs, not outcomes
Today, solicitations still predominantly procure people, not solutions. Instead of asking, “what is the best way to achieve capability X,” many agencies default to “we need 20 people to manage capability X.”
Example: In February 2025, the Department of Energy issued a Request for Information titled “Technical and Programmatic Support Services” (DOE-RFI-PS-2025-02). The RFI specifically sought “advice and solutions where performance improvement can be achieved,” focusing on labor inputs rather than outcome-driven, automated solutions.
A people-first approach introduces inconsistency, increases cybersecurity risks through human error, and adds unnecessary layers of manual oversight. In the private sector, companies routinely use platforms like Jira, Asana and ServiceNow to manage programs at scale, leveraging automation and real-time tracking. Government agencies deserve the same.
A better way would be for solicitations to read: “The agency requires automated coordination, tracking and reporting.” Agencies would be buying results, not headcount.
The RFP process discourages new entrants
The federal RFP process remains so burdensome that it discourages many of the most innovative companies from competing. Lengthy proposal timelines, mountains of compliance paperwork (like FedRAMP and CMMC 2.0), and complex certifications mean that even when a new entrant could technically compete, the barrier to entry is prohibitively high.
Example: The Defense Health Agency’s “Program Management Support Services (PMSS)” pre-solicitation from August 2024 (SAM.gov listing) required extensive manual compliance documentation just to bid — a heavy lift for any vendor not already deeply entrenched in the federal space.
For firms fully committed to the federal market, these hurdles can be overcome — but they consume massive time, money and expertise. For tech-forward companies used to rapid product development and lightweight sales cycles, the federal process feels alien and impractical. Many simply choose not to engage.
The result isn’t that innovation is impossible to access — it’s that the government often ends up buying from the vendors who are best at navigating bureaucracy, not necessarily the ones best at delivering breakthrough capabilities.
Poorly designed solicitations force monolithic solutions
Beyond the structural barriers, the way many solicitations are written almost guarantees that only massive, monolithic solutions can win. Agencies frequently draft requirements that demand complex, cross-functional outcomes — such as program management, financial tracking, reporting and analytics — but bundle them into a “single solution” mandate.
Example: In the same “Enterprise Program Management Office Support” RFI, the Defense Health Agency bundled support for tracking, reporting and workflow management — functions that naturally span multiple best-in-class systems — into a single requirement, effectively demanding a one-size-fits-all platform.
This forces agencies into two bad options: either procure an oversized, legacy monolith or hire a massive systems integrator to bolt disparate tools together — an expensive, fragile and slow approach.
In contrast, the private sector routinely builds ecosystems of specialized, interoperable tools connected via APIs — achieving better results faster and at lower cost. Government procurement must catch up.
It’s too slow for a fast world
DOGE’s mandate is to “do more with less, faster.” But the RFP process still drags procurement timelines out for months, if not years.
Example: The $9 billion Joint Warfighting Cloud Capability (JWCC) contracts — replacements for the original JEDI cloud initiative — were finalized only years after the initial need for enterprise cloud services was identified. By the time the contracts were awarded in 2023, commercial cloud technology had evolved far beyond the original requirements, forcing the Defense Department to re-scope and re-align projects midstream.
In the private sector, software deployment often happens in 90-day sprints. A 12-18 month cycle to deliver new tools would be grounds for serious leadership changes. Inside federal agencies, these delays hurt not just missions — they drive talented program managers to leave in frustration, weakening institutional knowledge and slowing momentum even further.
Meanwhile, the DoD’s April 2025 software acquisition guidance openly states that “incremental delivery and adoption of commercial software” are now mission-essential to maintaining warfighter readiness. We cannot outpace threats or meet agency missions with a procurement system that moves slower than innovation itself.
What needs to change
Innovation isn’t something you can buy by the hour. It’s something you need to contract for at the outcome level.
To break the bottleneck, agencies must:
Frame solicitations around outcomes and capabilities, not headcount.
Reward efficient, modern, transparent solutions over labor-heavy custom builds.
Lower the compliance barrier to entry to invite nontraditional, tech-savvy vendors while still maintaining security standards.
Write modular solicitations that invite interoperable, best-in-class solutions — not monolithic all-or-nothing platforms.
Implement “pilot-first” models that allow rapid testing of commercial technologies.
Create rolling, open solicitations where possible, avoiding “only once a year” buying windows that lock agencies into outdated needs.
Modernization won’t happen by wishing for it. It happens when you change the rules of the game. The federal government is finally recognizing the need for speed, efficiency and agility. But until we reinvent the RFP process — from an outdated staffing exercise into a modern capability delivery tool — we’ll keep spending more to get less.
If we’re serious about building a government that moves at the speed of mission need, it’s time to fix the real bottleneck. It’s time to rethink the RFP.
Josh Martin is chief strategy officer at Decision Lens.
Originally published The real innovation bottleneck: Why federal RFPs are sabotaging modernization on by https://federalnewsnetwork.com/commentary/2025/06/the-real-innovation-bottleneck-why-federal-rfps-are-sabotaging-modernization/ at Federal News Network
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Originally published The real innovation bottleneck: Why federal RFPs are sabotaging modernization on
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The real innovation bottleneck: Why federal RFPs are sabotaging modernization
Originally published The real innovation bottleneck: Why federal RFPs are sabotaging modernization on by https://federalnewsnetwork.com/commentary/2025/06/the-real-innovation-bottleneck-why-federal-rfps-are-sabotaging-modernization/ at Federal News Network
https://federalnewsnetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/ThinkstockPhotos-476685544-1024x672.jpgComing from the private sector, where competition, efficiency and outcomes drive technology investment, the inefficiencies of the federal RFP process are shocking. Having owned technology budgets and procurement decisions for many years before engaging in the public sector, it’s clear that while government leaders demand modernization, the very tool they use to buy innovation is keeping them in a bygone era.
Recent efforts like the White House’s April 2025 Executive Order “Restoring Common Sense to Federal Procurement,” and the DoD’s updated software acquisition policies are all bold acknowledgments that the system must change. But unless we fix how RFPs are written and awarded, these reforms will never reach their full potential.
Here’s where the real bottleneck lies:
Today, solicitations still predominantly procure people, not solutions. Instead of asking, “what is the best way to achieve capability X,” many agencies default to “we need 20 people to manage capability X.”
Example: In February 2025, the Department of Energy issued a Request for Information titled “Technical and Programmatic Support Services” (DOE-RFI-PS-2025-02). The RFI specifically sought “advice and solutions where performance improvement can be achieved,” focusing on labor inputs rather than outcome-driven, automated solutions.
A people-first approach introduces inconsistency, increases cybersecurity risks through human error, and adds unnecessary layers of manual oversight. In the private sector, companies routinely use platforms like Jira, Asana and ServiceNow to manage programs at scale, leveraging automation and real-time tracking. Government agencies deserve the same.
A better way would be for solicitations to read: “The agency requires automated coordination, tracking and reporting.” Agencies would be buying results, not headcount.
The federal RFP process remains so burdensome that it discourages many of the most innovative companies from competing. Lengthy proposal timelines, mountains of compliance paperwork (like FedRAMP and CMMC 2.0), and complex certifications mean that even when a new entrant could technically compete, the barrier to entry is prohibitively high.
Example: The Defense Health Agency’s “Program Management Support Services (PMSS)” pre-solicitation from August 2024 (SAM.gov listing) required extensive manual compliance documentation just to bid — a heavy lift for any vendor not already deeply entrenched in the federal space.
For firms fully committed to the federal market, these hurdles can be overcome — but they consume massive time, money and expertise. For tech-forward companies used to rapid product development and lightweight sales cycles, the federal process feels alien and impractical. Many simply choose not to engage.
The result isn’t that innovation is impossible to access — it’s that the government often ends up buying from the vendors who are best at navigating bureaucracy, not necessarily the ones best at delivering breakthrough capabilities.
Beyond the structural barriers, the way many solicitations are written almost guarantees that only massive, monolithic solutions can win. Agencies frequently draft requirements that demand complex, cross-functional outcomes — such as program management, financial tracking, reporting and analytics — but bundle them into a “single solution” mandate.
Example: In the same “Enterprise Program Management Office Support” RFI, the Defense Health Agency bundled support for tracking, reporting and workflow management — functions that naturally span multiple best-in-class systems — into a single requirement, effectively demanding a one-size-fits-all platform.
This forces agencies into two bad options: either procure an oversized, legacy monolith or hire a massive systems integrator to bolt disparate tools together — an expensive, fragile and slow approach.
In contrast, the private sector routinely builds ecosystems of specialized, interoperable tools connected via APIs — achieving better results faster and at lower cost. Government procurement must catch up.
DOGE’s mandate is to “do more with less, faster.” But the RFP process still drags procurement timelines out for months, if not years.
Example: The $9 billion Joint Warfighting Cloud Capability (JWCC) contracts — replacements for the original JEDI cloud initiative — were finalized only years after the initial need for enterprise cloud services was identified. By the time the contracts were awarded in 2023, commercial cloud technology had evolved far beyond the original requirements, forcing the Defense Department to re-scope and re-align projects midstream.
In the private sector, software deployment often happens in 90-day sprints. A 12-18 month cycle to deliver new tools would be grounds for serious leadership changes. Inside federal agencies, these delays hurt not just missions — they drive talented program managers to leave in frustration, weakening institutional knowledge and slowing momentum even further.
Meanwhile, the DoD’s April 2025 software acquisition guidance openly states that “incremental delivery and adoption of commercial software” are now mission-essential to maintaining warfighter readiness. We cannot outpace threats or meet agency missions with a procurement system that moves slower than innovation itself.
What needs to change
Innovation isn’t something you can buy by the hour. It’s something you need to contract for at the outcome level.
To break the bottleneck, agencies must:
Modernization won’t happen by wishing for it. It happens when you change the rules of the game. The federal government is finally recognizing the need for speed, efficiency and agility. But until we reinvent the RFP process — from an outdated staffing exercise into a modern capability delivery tool — we’ll keep spending more to get less.
If we’re serious about building a government that moves at the speed of mission need, it’s time to fix the real bottleneck. It’s time to rethink the RFP.
Josh Martin is chief strategy officer at Decision Lens.
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Originally published The real innovation bottleneck: Why federal RFPs are sabotaging modernization on by https://federalnewsnetwork.com/commentary/2025/06/the-real-innovation-bottleneck-why-federal-rfps-are-sabotaging-modernization/ at Federal News Network
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