Angela Styles Featured in Westlaw Q&A on Government Contracting Trends

Westlaw has published a Q&A with Akin Gump partner Angela Styles, in which she discusses current trends in government contracting and issues impacting contractors.

Styles discusses a range of topics relevant to the government contracting community, beginning with what she sees as the most significant issues. She highlights four policy and legal issues, covering deregulation of the contracting system with the goal of attracting the best commercial providers and lowering the cost of doing business for contractors and the taxpayer; the replacement of legacy information technology systems and the need to access critical new technologies; a growing need to protect cybersystems; and the federal government’s lack of confidence in the contracting supply chain.

The Q&A then turns to the role that the government and the private sector can play with regard to updating technology. Styles also addresses cybersecurity and supply chain requirements for federal contractors and subcontractors, and whether the federal government might be trying to regulate supply chains and cybersecurity, while simultaneously deregulating other areas.

Styles concludes by offering some advice to federal contractors trying to navigate what seem like conflicting priorities of the federal government. She stresses the need to “be aware and participate” in the many public meetings and requests to engage in the rulemaking process. She also notes the importance of innovators and entrepreneurs looking “to the many great things the federal government has to offer in terms of facilitating research and development,” since working together and understanding each other can lead to better results.

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