Research
Center staff and affiliated faculty produce significant research ranging from commentary pieces in influential outlets, to white papers and essays on pressing government contracting issues, to peer-reviewed articles in premier journals.
Center competencies and capabilities are making an impact in the government contracting industry:
- Unique and influential analysis, commentaries, reports, and webinars on the federal response to COVID.
- White Paper Series that shares cutting edge research on small business transition, intellectual property, DoD budget reform, acquisition reform, and industrial base resilience.
- Impactful op eds in The Hill, Business Insider, Defense One, Defense News, the National Interest, with additional coverage by national print and broadcast outlets.
Reports
White Paper Series
The Baroni Center for Government Contracting White Paper Series is a central focus of our work. The purpose of the series is to inject ideas into the government contracting ecosystem and identify potential solutions for vexing challenges facing the community.
In releasing these White Papers, the Center gratefully acknowledges the work of its senior fellows who wrote them. Through research, writing, and discussion, Center senior fellows champion matters of interest to the government contracting community. These fellows add a rich practitioner component for the Costello College of Business to better understand and support the GovCon industry.
We welcome your feedback and ideas for future topics in this series. Contact Charles Dolgas at cdolgas@gmu.edu.
Commentaries
Center commentaries provide timely insights into pressing government contracting issues in government and business. Whether the commentary topic is “in the news” or deserves “future attention,” readers are provided short, to the point on the topic, why the topic is important, and what to consider for its resolution.
- August 31, 2020Center for Government Contracting Senior Research Fellow Jim Hasik wrote a commentary for DefenseNews about why he thinks the Pentagon should be closed.
- May 26, 2020Center for Government Contracting Senior Fellow Eric Lofgren wrote a commentary for DefenseNews entitled, “Will Defense Budgets Remain ‘Sticky’ After the COVID-19 Pandemic?” Defense budget “stickiness” means that spending will not even start to decrease until FY22 and beyond.
- April 15, 2020Center for Government Contracting Executive Director Jerry McGinn wrote a commentary for Business Insider about how the pandemic has “…dramatically exposed significant weaknesses in our public health and pharmaceutical industrial base and supply chain, specifically our dependence on China for much of the material and production capacity essential for the COVID-19 response.”
- March 19, 2020Center for Government Contracting Executive Director Jerry McGinn wrote a commentary for The Hill that provides a history and use of the Defense Production Act since it was enacted. He also offers insights regarding the application of DPA to combat COVID-19.
- May 29, 2019Watch an interview with Jerry McGinn on assessing and strengthening the manufacturing and defense industrial base and supply chain resiliency of the United States.
- November 30, 2018Jerry McGinn, executive director of the Center for Government Contracting and Brett Josephson, Assistant Professor of Marketing, wrote a Commentary for Washington Technology entitled, "Are performance drivers shifting in the GovCon market?"
- October 7, 2018With new center, Mason seeks to drive GovCon conversation was the topic of an interview between Ross Wilkers, a senior staff writer for Washington Technology, and Jerry McGinn, the executive director of the Center for Government Contracting.
- August 13, 2018In a commentary for DefenseNews, Center for Government Contracting Executive Director Jerry McGinn and Board Chairman John Hillen promote the value of adopting an innovation ecosystem for companies to grow a sustainable competitive advantage.
Affiliated Faculty
The Center for Government Contracting offers access to both the GovCon network and funds for research and writing, to enrich the understanding of the unique business interests on both sides of this market—government and business.
Affiliated Faculty appointments will
- Encourage academic research in GovCon;
- Advance the research reputation of the faculty and the Center;
- Offer grants and honoraria to support the effort faculty can bring to this discussion; and
- Offer a new avenue to engage faculty who share our interest to create a more efficient and effective market for the public good.