If you've been watching AI take over one industry after another, you might be wondering where federal contracting fits into that picture. It's a fair question, and the honest answer is that the federal market moves differently than the private sector. Procurement has always had its own pace, its own rules, and its own culture. But that doesn't mean AI is standing at the door waiting to be let in. It's already inside.
If your federal contracting pipeline has been quiet since October, you are not doing anything wrong. The slowdown is real, it is systemic, and it has a specific cause. More importantly, it is ending.
Teaming agreements open doors that are closed to contractors working alone. A small IT firm partners with a construction company to pursue a complex base modernization contract. A certified WOSB adds a cybersecurity specialist to its team and qualifies for a solicitation it could not win independently. The principle is straightforward: the right partnership expands what you can pursue.
But teaming in federal contracting comes with rules. The SBA's affiliation and ostensible subcontractor regulations got meaningful updates in 2025, and contractors who have not revisited their teaming documentation since then may be carrying compliance gaps they do not know about.
Here is how teaming agreements work, what compliance requires, and what changed.
