A briefing from William C. Randolph and Anthony DiNallo for the advisors to owner-led companies

The federal market is the diversification lever most of your clients have never pulled.

A second customer that buys through every commercial cycle, pays on contract, and is valued by acquirers at exit. Twenty-six years inside federal contracting offices taught me which companies get in, and what their advisors should know before they try.

Get the free market report

William C. Randolph, former SES and Head of Contracting Activity, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement; Chief of the Contracting Office, Marine Corps Systems Command · Anthony DiNallo, MBA, CFP®, West Point graduate and former Army officer; owner of Command and Control Solutions (SDVOSB, $1.1M in direct federal awards); former Managing Director – Investments, Wells Fargo Advisors

26 years in federal acquisition
Former SES, Head of Contracting Activity
DAWIA Level III · FAC-C Level III
2008 David Packard Award, Defense Acquisition Executive

What it does for a company

For an owner-led business, federal revenue is four things at once. Your clients feel each of them at a different point in their life cycle.

Diversification.

A second customer base that doesn't move with your clients' commercial customers, bought under published rules rather than relationships, with demand set by appropriations rather than by one industry's cycle.

A hedge against commercial disruption.

When a commercial channel contracts, a tariff lands, or a large customer consolidates, federal demand for the same product or service usually doesn't. It's counter-cyclical revenue in the plainest sense.

An EBITDA multiplier.

Federal work is sold on capability and compliance, not price alone, and it carries predictable terms, options and renewals. Margin on that revenue tends to hold where commercial margin erodes.

A differentiator at exit.

Acquirers pay for backlog, contract vehicles and set-aside eligibility because they can't build them quickly. A firm with federal revenue is a different asset than the same firm without it, and the record below shows how often it's bought.

None of this happens by accident, and most firms that try without guidance fail in the first year. That's where the readiness check comes in.

They've done it themselves

Both principals run small businesses that sell to the federal government. The records are public.

Anthony DiNallo · Command and Control Solutions

Anthony DiNallo's Command and Control Solutions, a service-disabled veteran-owned small business, holds $1.1 million in direct prime awards from the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Army, the most recent in June 2026, with most of its work performed as a subcontractor on top of that. He built it alongside a 28-year wealth-advisory practice, which is how most owners will have to do it.

See the award record

William C. Randolph · THINK Acquisition

William Randolph's THINK Acquisition, also a service-disabled veteran-owned small business, has won $387,601 in federal training contracts with Washington Headquarters Services and the U.S. Coast Guard since 2019, after 26 years on the buying side of the table.

See the award record

Figures are total obligated prime contract awards in the supplied USAspending.gov records; subcontract revenue, loans and other assistance are not included.

Fit

Who this is for, so you can scan your client list against it.

We work with

Owner-led companies. Roughly $1M to $50M in revenue, 10 to 200 people, where the owner can say yes.
Products and services the government actually buys. Parts and components, construction and facilities, professional and technical services, IT, logistics, medical and lab supply.
Firms holding nothing yet. Not registered in SAM, or registered with no awards. We find the doors a first-timer can walk through.
Clean books and real capacity. The cash position to carry federal payment terms and the staff to deliver.
Owners willing to commit. Six to eighteen months of steady work before the first award.
The advisors who serve them. Investors, CPAs, lenders, attorneys and exit planners who want their clients to pursue what they can win.

We don't work with

Firms that already hold a vehicle or a pipeline. You have other advisors; this isn't our lane.
Pre-revenue companies. The government buys from firms that have already delivered for someone.
Anyone seeking a guaranteed award or an inside contact. Neither exists, and anyone selling them is selling something else.
Work that depends on a facility clearance. A new firm can't obtain one in time, and we won't pretend otherwise.
Unresolved liens, debarment or litigation. A responsibility determination will find it before we can help.
Certification without a product. A set-aside status is an accelerator, not a business.

If you're not sure which column you're in, the report's last page is written to help you decide.

The exit market

Acquirers pay for federal revenue. The record below covers every announced acquisition of a federal contractor since 2000, by year and by buyer, so an investor, lender or exit advisor can see what the market has done with companies like their clients', and how much of that buying is private equity.

—
Acquisitions of federal contractors, last 24 months
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Targets under 500 employees
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Bought by private equity or PE-backed platforms
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Median EBITDA multiple where disclosed

Source: HigherGov transaction data, used with permission; analysis by Sunstone Advisory Group. Figures reflect announced transactions; enterprise value and multiples shown only where disclosed.

Market report

Small Business Federal Entry: 24 Months Back, 24 Months Forward

William C. Randolph · Anthony DiNallo

Free report

Small Business Federal Entry: 24 Months Back, 24 Months Forward

Where federal revenue sits as a diversification and hedge for owner-led companies: what happened to small-business federal spend and first-time awards over the last two years, by category, and which sectors held up when commercial demand didn't.
What federal revenue does to margin and valuation: the structural changes that matter (the FAR overhaul, vehicle consolidation, the compliance timeline, continuous on-ramp agreements) and the 24-month exit record for small federal contractors.
The next 24 months: where reachable dollars are growing, one worked example from notice to qualification, and a closing page for advisors on which clients to think of and how the readiness check works.

After the report

01
Read the report.
Twenty pages, built on SAM.gov, USAspending and transaction data, written for the people who advise owner-led companies on growth, capital and exit.
02
Name a client.
For any company you have in mind, we deliver a short written readiness check against a specific federal door: what it has, what's missing, what the revenue could look like, go or don't go. No charge, no obligation to you or to them.
03
Decide with the facts.
If there's a path, we quote the work in writing at a flat fee and report progress back to you. If there isn't, we say so, and you've lost nothing but a conversation.

Who's behind this

WCR

William C. Randolph

Former SES and Head of Contracting Activity, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement

William C. Randolph spent 26 years on the government side of federal contracting, finishing as a member of the Senior Executive Service and Head of Contracting Activity at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, where his offices executed more than 8,000 contract actions a year. Before that he was Chief of the Contracting Office at Marine Corps Systems Command, where he received the Defense Acquisition Executive's David Packard Award for the MRAP vehicle program, and a contracting officer at Naval Sea Systems Command. He now trains acquisition professionals through THINK Acquisition, helps first-time contractors enter the market through GovPointe, and advises on federal market strategy with Sunstone Advisory Group.

Anthony DiNallo, MBA, CFP®

Owner and CEO, Command and Control Solutions Corp. · Former Managing Director – Investments, Wells Fargo Advisors

Anthony DiNallo, MBA, CFP® is the owner of Command and Control Solutions, a service-disabled veteran-owned small business that holds $1.1 million in direct federal prime awards from the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Army, with most of its work performed as a subcontractor. He built it alongside a 28-year career advising individual and institutional clients on the management of their assets, first at Merrill Lynch, where he built a practice over fourteen years and ranked in the top ten percent of the firm's advisors, and then at Wells Fargo Advisors as Senior Vice President – Investment Officer and later Managing Director – Investments. A West Point graduate in mechanical engineering and a former Army officer, he holds the CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ certification and an M.B.A. from Union College. At Sunstone Advisory Group and GovPointe he brings both the advisor's view of what federal revenue does to risk, value and exit, and the owner's experience of winning it.

THINK Acquisition, LLC·GovPointe·Sunstone Advisory Group

Career records

Twenty-six years in federal acquisition, from contracting officer to Head of Contracting Activity.

2019–present
Founder and CEO
THINK Acquisition, LLC (SDVOSB)
Independent acquisition consulting, training and development firm; $387,601 in federal training contracts with Washington Headquarters Services and the U.S. Coast Guard.
2016–2020
Independent Senior Consultant
ASI Government, LLC
Advised FEMA, the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board, the Department of Commerce and the Department of Education on acquisition planning, requirements, market research, source selection and contract administration; delivered training and course facilitation across agencies.
2013–2016
Assistant Director (SES), Operations Support Division
Enforcement and Removal Operations, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, DHS
Directed mission-support and administrative operations for ICE's largest law-enforcement program; supervised more than 75 staff across four states and oversaw a $3.2 billion annual operating budget.
2010–2013
Director (SES) and Head of Contracting Activity
Office of Acquisition Management, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, DHS
Exercised agency-wide contracting authority; led more than 200 civil servants, interns and support contractors across five offices; executed over 8,000 contract actions totaling $2.3 billion in FY2012.
2009–2010
Director (SES), Procurement Audit, Oversight and Support
Office of the Chief Procurement Officer, DHS
Provided acquisition expertise to department leadership and the 22 DHS components; helped formulate department-level procurement policy.
2004–2009
Assistant Commander for Contracts and Chief of the Contracting Office
Marine Corps Systems Command
Senior contracting official, competition advocate and contracting competency director; led more than 130 civilian, Marine and contractor staff; executed over 10,400 contracting actions totaling $12.1 billion in FY2008. Recipient of the 2008 Defense Acquisition Executive David Packard Award as senior procurement official for the MRAP vehicle program.
1995–2004
Contracting Officer and Team Lead
Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA 026), Undersea Systems Contracts Division
Unlimited-warrant contracting officer for the University Affiliated Research Center and Simplified Acquisition groups; managed award of more than 1,100 R&D contract actions totaling $395 million in FY2001; follow-on R&D awards for four Navy laboratories estimated at over $5.1 billion.

Certifications

DAWIA Level III, Contracting (1998)
FAC-C Level III, Contracting (2009)

Keynotes

National Background Investigation Bureau Conference — “Game Changer”
Washington Headquarters Service — “The Power and Value of Saying Yes”; “Building an Extraordinary Acquisition Career”
NCMA World Congress — “High Performance Acquisition Teams”; “Creating Effective Contracts and Program Manager Relationships”
U.S. Coast Guard, TISCOM — “Emerging Leader Training”
Transportation Security Administration — “Transformational Leadership Seminar”
NCMA/GCMS — “Building Contracts and Program Relationships”

Education and service

B.A., Business Administration (minor in Psychology), Shepherd University, 1995
Navy Business Resource Management Certificate, University of Virginia Darden School of Business, 1998
United States Navy, 1988–1993, honorable discharge

The federal market is the diversification lever most of your clients have never pulled.

Diversification.

A hedge against commercial disruption.

An EBITDA multiplier.

A differentiator at exit.

Anthony DiNallo · Command and Control Solutions

William C. Randolph · THINK Acquisition

We work with

We don't work with

Small Business Federal Entry: 24 Months Back, 24 Months Forward

Read the report.

Name a client.

Decide with the facts.

William C. Randolph

Anthony DiNallo, MBA, CFP®

Founder and CEO

Independent Senior Consultant

Assistant Director (SES), Operations Support Division

Director (SES) and Head of Contracting Activity

Director (SES), Procurement Audit, Oversight and Support

Assistant Commander for Contracts and Chief of the Contracting Office

Contracting Officer and Team Lead

Certifications

Keynotes

Education and service

Diversification.

A hedge against commercial disruption.

An EBITDA multiplier.

A differentiator at exit.

Anthony DiNallo · Command and Control Solutions

William C. Randolph · THINK Acquisition

We work with

We don't work with

Small Business Federal Entry: 24 Months Back, 24 Months Forward

Read the report.

Name a client.

Decide with the facts.

William C. Randolph

Anthony DiNallo, MBA, CFP®

Founder and CEO

Independent Senior Consultant

Assistant Director (SES), Operations Support Division

Director (SES) and Head of Contracting Activity

Director (SES), Procurement Audit, Oversight and Support

Assistant Commander for Contracts and Chief of the Contracting Office

Contracting Officer and Team Lead

Certifications

Keynotes

Education and service