FEDERAL MARKET INTELLIGENCE FOR SMALL CONTRACTORS

KNOW WHAT CHANGED. UNDERSTAND WHY IT MATTERS. KNOW WHAT TO DO NEXT.

Federal Gold Rush helps small government contractors understand the federal market earlier — through weekly intelligence, practical books, capture tools, and responsible AI workflows.

START YOUR 14-DAY FREE TRIALREAD A FREE SAMPLE

14-Day Free Trial + Founding 500

Start with a 14-day free trial. Get immediate access to the current Federal Gold Rush Intelligence Brief and the next weekly issue. No subscription charge during your first 14 days. Payment details are collected at checkout. Cancel before the trial ends and you will not be charged. If you continue after the trial, your selected subscription begins automatically at $19/month or $199/year.

When the trial converts to a paid subscription, your Founding 500 rate is locked for as long as your subscription remains continuously active. Future standard pricing: $29/month or $290/year.

The founding offer is available to the first 500 paid subscribers. Starting a free trial does not reserve a Founding 500 paid subscriber position; the rate becomes locked when the trial converts to paid status.

Secure checkout through Payhip/Stripe. Cancel future renewals through your Payhip account.

Explore the Federal Gold Rush Books
WELCOME TO FEDERAL GOLD RUSH

Watch the Federal Gold Rush introduction

A quick introduction to Federal Gold Rush and the resources available for your government contracting business.

41 seconds · Select play to watch. Open video

LEARN THE MARKET

Federal Gold Rush books

TRACK THE MARKET

Federal Gold Rush Intelligence Brief

Weekly federal-market intelligence that filters acquisition changes, opportunity signals, small-business developments, awards, competitor moves, and practical AI workflows into actions for your pipeline.

START YOUR 14-DAY FREE TRIALREAD THE FREE SAMPLE

WORK THE MARKET

GovCon AI Toolkit and implementation resources

Founding 500: $197 one-time
Future standard price: $297

View the Toolkit founding offerCompany-Specific Capture Intelligence · $299 one timeFractional Business Development · From $2,500/month
FREE FEDERAL GOLD RUSH STARTER GUIDE

START YOUR FIRST 30 DAYS WITH A PLAN

Federal Gold Rush Starter Guide

The First 30 Days: A Practical Market-Entry Plan for Small Government Contractors

The Federal Gold Rush Starter Guide gives small contractors a practical 30-day market-entry roadmap with positioning exercises, target-account planning, capability guidance, Sources Sought and RFI strategy, teaming considerations, bid/no-bid discipline, and a 90-day continuation plan.

Free PDF download through Payhip. Enter your email address to receive the guide; product updates and offers are optional. No purchase required.

GET THE FREE STARTER GUIDEREAD THE INTELLIGENCE BRIEF SAMPLE
Additional free resource

Bid / No-Bid Field Card

Decide whether the opportunity deserves a proposal. Work through nine questions, record evidence, surface gaps, and name the person responsible for the decision.

A two-page printable PDF. Free to download; no account required.

DOWNLOAD THE FREE FIELD CARD
14-Day Free Trial + Founding 500

Weekly intelligence. A practical next step.

Both plans include the weekly Federal Gold Rush Intelligence Brief: sourced developments, practitioner interpretation, and a focused action list.

Start with a 14-day free trial. Get immediate access to the current Federal Gold Rush Intelligence Brief and the next weekly issue. No subscription charge during your first 14 days. Payment details are collected at checkout. Cancel before the trial ends and you will not be charged. If you continue after the trial, your selected subscription begins automatically at $19/month or $199/year.

The founding offer is available to the first 500 paid subscribers. Starting a free trial does not reserve a Founding 500 paid subscriber position; the rate becomes locked when the trial converts to paid status.

Monthly subscription

$19/month

  • Weekly Intelligence Brief
  • Acquisition, opportunity, and small-business signals
  • Cliff’s Take, weekly actions, and AI Workbench
START YOUR 14-DAY FREE TRIAL

Monthly billing begins automatically after the 14-day trial unless cancelled before the trial ends. Then $19/month until cancelled.

INCLUDES THE ANNUAL ACTION PACK

Annual subscription

$199/year

Save $29 compared with twelve monthly payments at the founding rate.

  • Everything in the monthly subscription
  • Capability statement template
  • Bid/no-bid worksheet and capture tracker
  • Buyer introduction and follow-up templates
  • 30-day action plan
START YOUR 14-DAY FREE TRIAL

Annual billing begins automatically after the 14-day trial unless cancelled before the trial ends. Then $199/year until cancelled. Existing annual subscribers receive the same Action Pack. Preview the tools and request delivery.

When the trial converts to a paid subscription, your Founding 500 rate is locked for as long as your subscription remains continuously active. Future standard pricing: $29/month or $290/year. Checkout is handled by Payhip/Stripe; select your billing option there. Refund & Cancellation Policy.

Planned annual subscriber benefit — December 16, 2026: the digital edition of Federal Gold Rush: How To Compete, Position, and Win Government Contracts, subject to confirmation that its Amazon KDP Select enrollment has ended. The book is not available through this subscription today.

Read the historical sample · Read the October 12, 2026 issue Read the October 19, 2026 issue · Read the October 5, 2026 issue

After you subscribe

  1. Keep your Payhip purchase receipt and use its account/access links.
  2. Use the purchase email for subscription access. For delivery or access questions, contact cliff@federalgoldrush.com with your receipt reference.
  3. Annual subscribers: request your Action Pack using the link on the delivery page. We verify the annual purchase and send the pack by email; it is not an automatic checkout download.

The Action Pack contains self-service templates. The full GovCon AI Toolkit, company-specific research, and individual consulting are separate purchases.

FIND YOUR STARTING POINT

What does your business need next?

I want practical AI workflows

Build your own controlled proposal workspace with guided practice.

Explore the AI Toolkit
SEE THE WORK BEFORE YOU BUY

Inspect the deliverables.

Annual Action Pack

Preview the five practical templates and a fictional example.

Preview the Pack

Capture Intelligence

Inspect an illustrative report excerpt. All example companies and targets are fictional.

View the Report Example

Capability Statement

Compare a generic introduction with a clear, evidence-based example.

View the Example

GovCon AI Toolkit

Follow one fictional practice task before choosing the full Toolkit.

Try the Walkthrough
The Federal Gold Rush series

One market. A growing library of practical guides.

Begin with the federal-market foundation, use AI across the contracting lifecycle, then build a focused proposal-agent workspace. Small-business certification guides are also planned.

Federal Gold Rush: How To Compete, Position, and Win Government Contracts
Available

Federal Gold Rush: How To Compete, Position, and Win Government Contracts

The foundational guide to positioning, competing, and winning in the federal marketplace.

View on Amazon →
Federal Gold Rush: AI for Government Contractors, 2026 Edition
Available

Federal Gold Rush: AI for Government Contractors — 2026 Edition

Use AI for opportunity qualification, capture strategy, customer outreach, proposal development, and review.

View on Amazon →
Federal Gold Rush: Build Your Own GOVCON AI Agent
Available

Federal Gold Rush: Build Your Own GOVCON AI Agent

A deeper implementation guide for creating a controlled, company-specific AI proposal workspace.

View on Amazon →
FederalGold RushGovCon for SDVOSB
Coming Soon

GovCon for SDVOSB

Position veteran-owned businesses to use certification strategically—not merely display it.

FederalGold RushThe Power of SBA HUBZone Certification
Coming Soon

The Power of SBA HUBZone Certification

A focused guide to understanding, positioning, and competing through the HUBZone program.

Three published titles are available through Amazon. The AI for Government Contractors book surveys the wider GovCon workflow; Build Your Own GOVCON AI Agent focuses on implementing a proposal workspace. Additional guides are in development.

Most contractors do not need more random prompts. They need a repeatable proposal system.

Federal Gold Rush operating principle
The problem this solves
01

AI produces generic language

Without controlled company intelligence, the draft does not sound like your business or reflect your substantiated strengths.

02

Solicitation requirements get scattered

Instructions, evaluation factors, amendments, deadlines, and page limits need one traceable workflow.

03

Prompts do not create governance

A useful proposal workspace needs data boundaries, approval gates, testing, version control, and human accountability.

04

Every proposal starts over

The Toolkit converts lessons learned, company evidence, and review procedures into reusable operating assets.

From setup to submission

A complete proposal lifecycle—not a bag of prompts.

Each module gives your team a controlled place to collect evidence, analyze requirements, develop compliant content, challenge the draft, and verify production readiness.

01 · CORE

Proposal Agent

Master instructions, workspace controls, human approvals, and security boundaries.

02 · INTELLIGENCE

Company File

Organize capabilities, claims, evidence, differentiators, and reusable knowledge.

03 · INTAKE

Opportunity Control

Track solicitation documents, amendments, deadlines, readiness, and bid decisions.

04 · STRATEGY

Compliance

Analyze instructions and evaluation factors, build the matrix, outline, and win themes.

05 · DEVELOPMENT

Proposal Content

Technical, management, staffing, past performance, resumes, data calls, and pricing consistency.

06–07 · REVIEW

Specialized Roles

Functional AI roles plus Pink, Red, Gold, and hostile-evaluator review instructions.

08–09 · CONTROL

Production and Testing

Final compliance, submission verification, scoring, regression testing, and change logs.

10–11 · LAUNCH

Installation and Demo

Platform-specific setup guides and a completed fictional proposal demonstration.

SEE THE AI TOOLKIT IN ACTION

Watch: Toolkit Setup & Your First Solicitation Review

Join Cliff Vaughan for a guided look inside the Toolkit. Follow the setup instructions, attach the fictional practice files, check the answers against their sources, and save your reviewed work.

6 minutes, 6 seconds · Select play to watch. Pause to follow each step; English captions are available in the player. Open video · Review the Toolkit offer

Inside the Toolkit

Editable working files your team can actually use.

The revised download brings together Word, Excel, PDF, Markdown, and text files, with a guided fictional practice lesson for customers who are new to AI.

Core instructionsFull operating instructions plus a shorter setup version, a Start Here card, and requests to copy and paste.
Company intelligenceAI-ready templates, claims register, knowledge index, and company-file controls.
Opportunity toolsBid/no-bid scorecard, amendment tracker, schedule, compliance screening, and summary template.
Proposal frameworksTechnical, management, personnel, past performance, data-call, and review assets.
Review teamsPink, Red, Gold, and hostile-evaluator instructions with findings disposition tracking.
Quality controlsTesting suite, output rubric, regression log, production checklist, and submission record.
How it works

Install the system. Add your evidence. Run the workflow.

1

Choose a platform

Follow the guide for ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Microsoft Copilot, or a manual workspace.

2

Set boundaries

Define approved data, account configuration, access, and mandatory human review.

3

Build company intelligence

Load only approved facts, claims, capabilities, experience, and evidence.

4

Process the opportunity

Register documents, assess fit, construct compliance, and develop the outline.

5

Draft, challenge, verify

Develop content, run structured reviews, resolve findings, and confirm submission readiness.

Federal Gold Rush Build Your Own GOVCON AI Proposal Agent book cover
The book

Learn the method

  • Understand how AI fits into GovCon proposal work
  • Learn the operating concepts and guardrails
  • See how a proposal-agent workspace is structured
View the book on Amazon →
The Toolkit

Implement the method

  • Start with guided instructions and editable files
  • Build your company-specific intelligence foundation
  • Run a repeatable workflow from intake through final verification
Responsible implementation

Built around contractor control.

This system is designed to make AI useful without pretending AI owns the decision.

ChatGPTClaudeGeminiMicrosoft CopilotManual Method
◆
Human approval gates

Your organization approves claims, pricing, representations, certifications, and every final submission.

◆
Security boundary first

Do not upload live sensitive information until the platform and intended data use are approved.

◆
Evidence before assertion

The company file separates usable, supported claims from unsupported marketing language.

◆
Test before live use

A fictional demonstration package lets teams install and evaluate the workflow before using company data.

Cliff Vaughan, MBA — author and government contracting practitioner.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR

CLIFF VAUGHAN, MBA

Author. U.S. Army Veteran. Government Contracting Practitioner.

Cliff Vaughan brings more than two decades of federal business-development, capture, teaming, proposal, and market-positioning experience to Federal Gold Rush.

His career spans military service and private-sector government contracting, including work supporting federal sales, distribution, logistics, capture strategy, proposal development, contract-vehicle positioning, and customer engagement across the defense and federal marketplace.

He is the author of the Federal Gold Rush series and created the Federal Gold Rush Intelligence Brief to help small contractors understand what is changing in the market, why it matters, and what they should do next.

His approach is deliberately practical: use authoritative sources, distinguish intelligence from noise, apply AI responsibly, and keep accountable human judgment at the center of every business decision.

  • U.S. Army Veteran
  • MBA — Government Contracts & Acquisitions
  • 20+ Years Federal Market Experience
  • Government BD / Capture / Proposal Experience
  • Author, Federal Gold Rush Series
  • SBA-Certified SDVOSB / VOSB Business Owner

SBA-CERTIFIED VETERAN-OWNED BUSINESS

SouthEast Alliance Group, LLC is SBA-certified as a Veteran-Owned Small Business (VOSB) and Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business (SDVOSB).

SBA Veteran-Owned CertifiedSBA Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Certified

Certification applies to SouthEast Alliance Group, LLC and does not constitute SBA endorsement of Federal Gold Rush products or services.

PRACTITIONER INTERPRETATION. AUTHORITATIVE SOURCES. HUMAN JUDGMENT.

Federal Gold Rush separates sourced facts from analysis and commentary. Readers should verify solicitations, amendments, deadlines, regulations, and agency notices at the controlling government source before acting.

AI advises. Humans decide.

Published by SouthEast Alliance Group, LLC.

START YOUR 14-DAY FREE TRIALCONNECT ON LINKEDIN
Toolkit · Founding 500 Launch Offer

Build a controlled proposal workspace.

The revised Federal Gold Rush GovCon AI Toolkit includes a Start Here card, step-by-step practice, requests to copy and paste, plain-English definitions, editable templates, and review controls for a repeatable proposal workflow.

A one-time purchase of the downloadable Toolkit, separate from the Intelligence Brief subscription. AI platform accounts and any platform subscription fees are not included. Read the Toolkit customer license and refund terms. Purchase through Payhip using the founding discount code below.

Digital Toolkit · Founding 500

GovCon AI Toolkit

$197 one-time purchase

For the first 500 Toolkit purchases. Save $100 against the future standard price of $297.

No recurring Toolkit subscription. This offer is separate from the Intelligence Brief Founding 500 subscription.

What is included

  • Organized Toolkit ZIP with 102 files
  • Start Here card, guided practice, and plain-English help
  • Editable Word and Excel working files
  • Five platform installation guides
  • Completed fictional demonstration
  • Opportunity, compliance, drafting, and review tools

Enter code TOOLKITFOUNDING500 at Payhip checkout for $100 off while the first 500 redemptions remain available. Confirm a $197 subtotal before paying; applicable taxes may be added. After the founding offer ends, the standard price is $297.

BUY THE GOVCON AI TOOLKIT

One-time digital purchase through Payhip. Use the founding code at checkout.

Work the Market · Done for You

Company-Specific Capture Intelligence

Stop searching. Start targeting.

Most government contractors do not need more opportunity alerts. They need to know which opportunities are actually worth pursuing. Federal Gold Rush analyzes your company, capabilities, certifications, target market, federal buying activity, recent awards, incumbents, upcoming requirements, and competitive environment to show you where your business should focus—and what you should do next.

  • Federal Market Fit Analysis
  • Target Agencies & Buying Offices
  • Recent Awards & Buying History
  • Incumbent & Competitor Intelligence
  • 5–10 Priority Pursuit Targets
  • NAICS/PSC/FSC Alignment
  • Procurement Pathways
  • Buyer Intelligence when publicly available
  • Capture Risk & Opportunity Analysis
  • 30/60/90-Day Capture Plan
  • Executive Recommendation

This is not an automated SAM.gov opportunity dump.

A personalized, done-for-you companion to the GovCon AI Toolkit. Use the Intelligence Brief to track the market, this report to focus your company’s pursuit priorities, and the Toolkit to execute your proposal workflow.

Work the Market · Ongoing Support

Fractional Business Development

Build a focused federal pipeline.

Work with Cliff Vaughan to assess opportunities, prioritize pursuits, evaluate teaming options, and maintain a practical capture action plan. Ongoing support for businesses with defined capabilities and resources to pursue and perform work.

  • Opportunity qualification
  • Capture planning and actions
  • Teaming assessment
  • Shared pursuit tracker
  • Four monthly working sessions
  • Monthly progress summary

NOT READY TO SUBSCRIBE?

Start with the free Federal Gold Rush Starter Guide, then read the Intelligence Brief sample to see how Federal Gold Rush tracks the market each week.

GET THE FREE STARTER GUIDEREAD THE FREE SAMPLE
Work with Cliff

Need a second set of eyes on your GovCon growth plan?

Cliff Vaughan works with companies on positioning, capture, teaming, and proposal operations through SouthEast Alliance Group, LLC. Start a conversation about the specific problem your team is trying to solve.

Connect with Cliff on LinkedInDiscuss Fractional BD

Fractional BD arrangements are discussed directly; scope, availability, and engagement terms are confirmed before payment.

Toolkit questions

What you should know.

Is this a finished AI agent or software subscription?

No. It is a comprehensive implementation toolkit that helps your company configure a controlled proposal workspace inside an AI platform you are authorized to use. It includes instructions, editable working files, controls, and installation guidance.

Will it write a compliant proposal automatically?

It can help organize, compare, analyze, draft, and review. Your company remains responsible for reading the solicitation, confirming requirements, validating every statement, setting pricing, obtaining approvals, and submitting the proposal.

Can I use it with clients?

The Toolkit license covers one legal entity's internal business use. It does not cover deployment across multiple client businesses or resale. Read the customer license before purchasing.

Which AI platforms does it support?

The package includes installation guides for ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and Microsoft Copilot, plus a manual method for platforms without a dedicated project or workspace feature.

Can I upload CUI or sensitive proposal information?

Not automatically. Your organization must first approve the platform, account configuration, contractual terms, security boundary, access controls, and intended data use. The Toolkit includes boundary worksheets, but it does not authorize a system to handle restricted data.

Is the Toolkit legal, accounting, or procurement advice?

No. It provides educational and operational materials. Obtain qualified professional advice when legal, accounting, cybersecurity, export-control, or procurement issues require it.

INTELLIGENCE BRIEF · WEEK OF OCTOBER 19, 2026

AI is becoming part of service delivery.

Marine Corps AI-enabled IT services, amended requirements, defense supplier financing, recompetes, and this week’s capture actions.

READ THE OCTOBER 19 ISSUE