Hi there loyal readers! We’ve been getting some great cool fall weather here in Lawrence. Seems like summer is officially over. Hope you’re enjoying fall as well.

We also hope you enjoy’s this week’s round-up of government contracting news, including stories about GSA’s new commercial e-Marketplace, issues impacting women veteran-owned businesses, and an update to LPTA procurements for non-DOD agencies (we recently blogged about the related LPTA update for DOD agencies).

It’s Friday, which means it’s time for another weekend of college football. Here in Lawrence, there is some renewed interest in the Jayhawks after last week’s surprise Friday night upset over Boston College. Let’s hope the Hawks can keep the intensity up tomorrow.

It also means it’s time for another roundup of some of the more interesting updates from the federal government contracting world. This week, we look at stories including that Federal, state, and local authorities are intensifying scrutiny of minority contracting programs; the House Small Business Committee Chairwoman pushes for improvements to SBA’s 8(a) Program; and whether AI can help decide if work is inherently governmental.

Now that it’s summer, it means means hot weather, farmer’s markets, baseball, barbecues and all the other things on the summer bucket list. We hope you’re enjoying your summer!

This week, we share some interesting federal government contracting stories with you including new contracting initiatives at the Departments of Energy and Health and Human Services, a few bad behaving contractors getting sentenced for fraud and bribery and where to find several June contracting conferences.