https://valentorgrp.com/field-notes/ Notes from building a veteran-owned services firm: federal contracting, technology, defense, and the markets we operate in. Every claim cited to a primary source. en-us https://valentorgrp.com/field-notes/cmmc-pause.html https://valentorgrp.com/field-notes/cmmc-pause.html Sat, 18 Jul 2026 09:00:00 -0400 Federal The Pentagon suspended CMMC Phase 2 and gave a task force 60 days to fix the program. Every underlying obligation survived. What a small defense contractor should do with the window. https://valentorgrp.com/field-notes/dc-advanced-tech-capital.html https://valentorgrp.com/field-notes/dc-advanced-tech-capital.html Sat, 18 Jul 2026 09:00:00 -0400 Technology New York is the financial capital. The Bay Area is the tech capital. Washington's shorthand is still politics, and the shorthand no longer matches the economy around it. https://valentorgrp.com/field-notes/genai-mil-market.html https://valentorgrp.com/field-notes/genai-mil-market.html Sat, 18 Jul 2026 09:00:00 -0400 AI ChatGPT is now live for 3 million DoD users at Impact Level 5, alongside Gemini on the Pentagon's own platform. Small AI vendors pitching standalone chat are selling what the government already owns. https://valentorgrp.com/field-notes/oauth-vishing-defense.html https://valentorgrp.com/field-notes/oauth-vishing-defense.html Sat, 18 Jul 2026 09:00:00 -0400 Security ShinyHunters' vishing-plus-OAuth playbook has breached 40+ organizations this year without breaking MFA. The controls that stop it are governance settings, not products, deployable by a mid-market Salesforce shop in a week. https://valentorgrp.com/field-notes/pentagon-drone-czar.html https://valentorgrp.com/field-notes/pentagon-drone-czar.html Sat, 18 Jul 2026 09:00:00 -0400 Defense DRPM-UxS consolidates nearly all unmanned-systems buying under one office reporting to the Deputy Secretary. For small autonomy vendors, the program offices you spent years courting may no longer control the money. https://valentorgrp.com/field-notes/sonnet-5-agent-economics.html https://valentorgrp.com/field-notes/sonnet-5-agent-economics.html Sat, 18 Jul 2026 09:00:00 -0400 AI Claude Sonnet 5 cut sticker prices for agent workloads and changed the tokenizer. The only number that matters to a buyer is cost per completed task. Here is how to measure it before you standardize. https://valentorgrp.com/field-notes/free-registrations.html https://valentorgrp.com/field-notes/free-registrations.html Thu, 16 Jul 2026 09:00:00 -0400 Federal SAM.gov, the UEI, the EIN, SBA VetCert, DSBS, APEX counseling: all $0 by design. How the paid-registration scam works, and the exact order we are running the free path as a new Virginia SDVOSB-track LLC. https://valentorgrp.com/field-notes/sdvosb-51-49-operating-agreement.html https://valentorgrp.com/field-notes/sdvosb-51-49-operating-agreement.html Thu, 16 Jul 2026 09:00:00 -0400 Federal Why 51% ownership is not enough under 13 CFR 128.203: negative control, the extraordinary-action safe list, the bank-signature trap, and the OHA Blue Skye Foods decision. Written by a 51/49 firm drafting its own agreement to survive the rule. https://valentorgrp.com/field-notes/va-first.html https://valentorgrp.com/field-notes/va-first.html Thu, 16 Jul 2026 09:00:00 -0400 Federal Why a new SDVOSB should aim its first federal business development at the Department of Veterans Affairs: the Vets First statute, the 23% vs 5% gap, the certification gate, and how sole-source awards actually happen. https://valentorgrp.com/field-notes/fixed-scope.html https://valentorgrp.com/field-notes/fixed-scope.html Thu, 16 Jul 2026 09:00:00 -0400 How we work Why a two-person senior firm sells fixed-scope, fixed-price engagements instead of open-ended retainers, and the tradeoffs that model forces on both sides.