New legislation working its way through Congress could significantly alter the way commercial companies sell everyday products and services to the U.S. military and federal agencies, opening the door for online retailers to reach a massive new customer.
“A lot of companies that are primarily commercial — your software companies, your IT companies, the Amazons of the world — would probably welcome an environment like this,” said Franklin Turner, a government contracting attorney with the law firm McCarter and English. “But companies that have traditionally exclusively been government contractors are going to have a hard time adjusting to a completely different system.”