We left off at Part 1 begging the question "Why are we so focused on procurement in the first place?" Let’s talk about the elephant in the room. The federal government has become completely dependent on contractors for technical talent. Engineers, designers, product managers—they're all contracted rather than hired directly by agencies.

Let's be honest, government procurement doesn't exactly scream "excitement." But it's a big deal.

Der Doppelstaat, or "The Dual State" is a political theory developed by German lawyer and political scientist Ernst Fraenkel in 1941. The theory describes how Nazi Germany operated with two states running at the same time:

Editor's Note: This post was shared with permission from Don Moynihan's Substack

Trump’s maximalist strategy of firing off one executive action after another seeks to overwhelm us. Finding some tangible way to respond sometimes feels impossible. So, here is something that you can do:

We the Builders launched 3 months ago, on February 19th, 2025. In this short time, we established ourselves as a trusted content creator, powered by a dedicated team of volunteers. We are known for sound technical reporting and deep understanding of the ins and out of federal government -- skills we honed while working in many federal agencies. We are a source of trust, inspiration, and hope for curious Americans, civic technologists, and people in and around the federal government.

In recent weeks, DOGE posted about the government's records mine in Pennsylvania, where more than 400 million federal retirement records are stored. They claim they've completely digitized the retirement process—but this isn't their victory to celebrate: The U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) started digitizing this process long before DOGE got involved. DOGE also canceled existing contracts and reduced staff on the project.

Editor's Note: This post was taken with permission from Christie McDonald's LinkedIn post about her teams at the National Park Service (NPS), with minor edits and definitions added. We are proudly re-posting on We the Builders because it illustrates a concise way of expressing what a small, effective team can do. As fellow technologists (and National Park visitors), we want to celebrate great work when we see it.

Every day an Executive Order! What does it mean?

Author: Elly Kugler is an attorney who served as Senior Counsel in the General Counsel’s office at the U.S. Office of Housing and Urban Development from January 20, 2021 to March 2024. During their time in federal service, they reviewed draft Executive Orders and organized HUD’s suggested edits and comments on those drafts to the White House. 

Publisher's note: CIO published an article about this very topic on May 6, 2025 that backs up our reporting.

When I entered public service nearly a decade ago, I thought I'd do this work until I retire. Today, while I am many years from retiring, I am leaving public service.

To be clear: I am being forced to leave public service. Or, as leadership advised in one email, “Employees are encouraged to consider the Deferred Resignation Program as a voluntary option to mitigate involuntary separations." (Emphasis is not mine.) In other words: Leave now or we'll make you go.