IBM has closed its acquisition of HRL Laboratories — the advanced research lab co-owned by Boeing and GM with deep DoD and DARPA research relationships. Here is what the acquisition signals for defense R&D contracting and small business research subcontractors.

NASA is taking over technical and operational work from major contractors like Amentum, which projects losing 3% of annual revenue in 2027 from NASA insourcing alone. The trend is spreading across agencies and every contractor with a large NASA or federal services footprint needs a strategy.

Army Directive 2026-17 shuts down hundreds of official Army social media accounts including its 25,000-follower LinkedIn page. For small business and nontraditional contractors who relied on those channels for acquisition intelligence, the blackout has real consequences.

Deputy Secretary of Defense Steve Feinberg sent a memo directing up to $243.9M to Palantir without competitive bidding — naming the company first and citing none of the legal justifications FAR requires. Non-competitive awards now account for 14.8% of all federal contracts in 2026. Here is what every small business contractor needs to know.