A Smarter, More Agile Path to Federal Modernization

The Trump administration has rightly identified commercial technology as a cornerstone for modernizing federal IT. Recent directives from the Department of Defense, including Secretary Hegseth’s mandate requiring pre-approval for large Systems Integrator (SI) contracts, reinforce a growing preference for commercial software solutions—especially when it comes to implementation, configuration, and support services.

The pivot toward commercial technology is brilliant and timely given the greatly improved access and desire for commercial capabilities and efficiencies, particularly in the government’s challenged and costly business systems environment.  Success for this next wave of business systems modernization will be determined by how the government balances the unique complexity of the federal landscape, legacy technical debt, and readiness of the acquisition and technical workforce to move at the “speed of demand” for modernization.

Federal systems today are governed by strict standards, compliance mandates, and mission-specific workflows that often require more than just plug-and-play solutions. Successful modernization efforts demand a nuanced understanding of government operations, pre-built configurations tailored to federal requirements, and deep domain expertise.  Most importantly, executive sponsorship and governance models are needed to employ commercial systems in their native configuration, to the maximum extent possible, while actively minimizing costly customizations of commercial systems.

To that end, systems integration is required, and contractor support remains the most efficient and effective way to achieve the spirit and intent of the government’s objectives.  Systems integration is not the problem; traditional systems integration contracts may be. 

Bridging the Talent Gap to support rapid transformation

One of the most significant barriers to business systems transformation is talent. Both government and industry are grappling with a shortage of technical professionals who hold the necessary clearances, certifications, and federal experience. As demand for modern commercial software capabilities grows, the available, expert workforce to support rapid implementation isn’t available to meet the demand.

Commercial software companies, even those with long-standing ties to the federal market, often lack affordable, robust services teams and scalable, cost-effective models required for full lifecycle government implementations. Meanwhile, years of outsourcing have left many federal agencies without the internal technical depth to manage and implement complex digital transformation programs and initiatives. That knowledge drain, combined with ongoing attrition due to early retirements and hiring constraints, has hollowed out critical capability at a time when demand is increasing in the other direction.

The result is a federal IT ecosystem in need of urgent revitalization—one that demands smart, agile industry partners with a renewed focus on talent delivery and development, and pre-built technology solutions to accelerate implementation and achieve the cost and operational efficiency goals of government. This new wave of industry partners must bring accelerators, solutions, products that support rapid implementations with commercial delivery models, without the need for long term contractor or consulting engagements from traditional systems integrator models that has driven up costs and added complexity to what should have been straightforward commercial technology implementations. 

Modernization and Efficiency Requires More Than Commercial Software

Modernizing government technology is not as simple as turning off legacy systems and swapping out legacy software for the latest cloud-based platform. These projects require expertise in secure integration across platforms, data cleansing and normalization, and phased migration and deployment strategies.  The cost savings and efficiencies come from commercial system adoption AND the elimination of costly, fragmented legacy systems and infrastructure.  The operational bridging and migration strategy of these current systems to a modern, commercial future presents both risks and opportunities for agencies on the transformation path.    

Large-scale, enterprise transformations may involve multiple vendors supporting legacy and future systems and technologies and must be orchestrated with precision and aligned to mission outcomes.  Traditionally, these problems were outsourced and solved through large, SI-led contracts.  This approach has resulted in mixed (and sometimes challenged) results including significant cost overruns and schedule delays.

It’s time to rethink the traditional government/industry approach to drive efficient, rapid, governed, and executive aligned commercial capabilities combined with best practice implementation methods.

Enter Groundswell

Why We Built Groundswell

We launched Groundswell over three years ago based on a simple but powerful belief: commercial first should be the default, not the exception. The pace of innovation in the private sector has created a generational opportunity for government to leapfrog legacy constraints and move toward a future defined by intuitive, secure, automated, and scalable systems.

Our thesis is clear: modern commercial solutions are better, faster, and more affordable than their legacy predecessors.

Nearly all commercial applications require some “fit for federal” configuration, infrastructure modification, and data integration to meet the needs of federal agencies. Our approach blends the best of commercial innovation with government-specific expertise, pre-built accelerators, and a clear focus on rapid, cost-effective implementation. 

How We’re Different

Groundswell isn’t a traditional systems integrator—and that’s intentional. We don’t wait for RFPs to begin solving problems. We build ahead, investing in tools, products, accelerators, and talent development that closes the gap between commercial capabilities and federal needs.

We don’t rely on a sea of subcontractors, and we don’t ship development offshore. Instead, we’re committed to building a sustainable, highly trained, U.S.-based workforce ready to meet the demand of modern government missions. Our goal is to create long-term value for our customers, not a never-ending increase in labor charges to drive industry revenue.

The Groundswell model is rooted in productized services, federal domain expertise, and technical excellence. We help our customers realize the promise of commercial innovation by delivering secure, efficient, and future-ready solutions—backed by people who know what it takes to make them work in the real world.  A “lighter-weight”, lower-cost, synergistic industry partner is needed to support rapid implementation of commercial capabilities and meet the administration’s intent to fully leverage commercial systems and practices.  Firms like Groundswell fill this need and provide a disruptive alternative to the status quo.