The Daily Scoop Podcast – Episode Summary

Episode: GSA’s Central Role in the Trump Administration
Date: January 27, 2026
Host: Billy Mitchell
Guests: Miranda Nazaro (FedScoop Reporter), Alan Day (Salesforce, Retired U.S. Army Major General), Wyatt Cash (SNG Host)

Main Theme & Purpose

This episode focuses on the pivotal and evolving role of the General Services Administration (GSA) during President Trump’s second administration. The discussion explores GSA’s initiatives in centralizing federal procurement, AI oversight—including the controversial mandate to “eliminate woke AI”—the challenges facing the Technology Modernization Fund (TMF), and the impacts of workforce changes. The latter part of the episode includes a sponsored segment with Alan Day, now at Salesforce, on how agentic AI is revolutionizing logistics and supply chain resilience for the Pentagon.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. GSA as Central Shared Services Provider

• Over the past year, GSA has become the federal government’s leader in centralized procurement and shared services, particularly in technology and AI.
• The “one Gov” initiative seeks to streamline and consolidate technology procurement, cutting costs and inefficiency from using multiple contract vehicles and resellers.

Quote:
“GSA really sits at the heart of a lot of the biggest technology initiatives in the federal government.”
—Miranda Nazaro, 05:42

Notable Points:

• Initial deals predominantly with large, established tech vendors (Microsoft, SAP, Google).
• Efforts to include AI innovators (OpenAI, Anthropic) are ongoing but slower due to regulatory requirements (FedRAMP, ATOs).
• Expansion soon includes more diverse and even commodity IT vendors (e.g., Uber).

2. Shift in Procurement Strategy: The Role of Resellers

• While the administration aimed to bypass resellers as cost-increasing "middlemen," practical challenges have made their elimination complex.
• GSA’s recent RFI seeks industry input on minimizing value-added reseller costs while retaining custom solutions where needed.

Quote:
“There was the whole idea of flipping the role of the reseller and the OEM, but that's not necessarily what's happened...GSA is looking at ways to, you know, how do we get the most bang for our buck.”
—Miranda Nazaro, 09:04

3. GSA and Federal AI: Procurement, Vetting, and “Woke AI” Policies

• GSA’s USAI platform enables federal agencies to test AI products before procurement.
• Recent political mandates require GSA to scrutinize AI models for ideological biases (“eliminating woke AI”), though guidance remains vague and implementation unclear.

Quote:
“There’s this really big push right now in the administration against so-called Woke AI... At first a lot of people said this Woke AI order—is this a messaging tactic? How do you even really test this?”
—Miranda Nazaro, 11:44

4. The Technology Modernization Fund (TMF): Funding and Reauthorization Uncertainty

• TMF is paused due to missed reauthorization in December, surprising many given its bipartisan support.
• Its fate is tied up in larger Congressional spending battles, with potential for reauthorization pending resolution of disputes (notably around DHS and immigration enforcement).

Quote:
“TMF is currently on pause. It was not reauthorized in early December, which...surprised a lot of people. Given it’s a pretty bipartisan measure, it's usually just a procedural matter.”
—Miranda Nazaro, 14:19

5. Federal Workforce Challenges

• Significant workforce loss at GSA and other agencies (layoffs or involuntary resignations) impacts procurement expertise.
• GSA struggles to fully implement new models like “one Gov” due to a shortage of trained contracting officers.

Quote:
"You have a program in place, but...the lack of workforce or the loss of workforce is something to keep an eye on, to see if GSA and other agencies...beef up those teams again, because...the puzzle pieces are there, but you need somebody to put them together.”
—Miranda Nazaro, 17:06

Segment 2: Agentic AI and National Defense – Interview with Major General Alan Day

Main Focus

How agentic AI is enabling the Pentagon to modernize logistics, supply chains, and overall decision-making capabilities to respond faster than emerging threats.

Key Insights:

• Mission Force: Salesforce’s dedicated business unit brings commercial innovation to defense sector challenges.

Quote:
“Mission Force helps us...optimize mission readiness, logistics, personnel, and decision making...by tailoring the commercial innovation specifically for the warfighter.”
—Alan Day, 20:43

• Evolution of Military AI:
  • AI shifting from passive “dashboard” reporting to agentic AI that can take autonomous or semi-autonomous actions.
  • Speed of information and decision advantage are now central to military success.

Quote:
“We are moving from the information age, where we built dashboards to admire the problem, to the agentic age... Agentic AI doesn't just summarize the facts. It actually takes action.”
—Alan Day, 23:20

• Three Critical Needs AI Addresses:
  1. Readiness: Free up personnel from legacy/admin drudgery with an intuitive engagement layer.
  2. Resilience: Build robustness against disruptions in contested logistics environments with AI-powered foresight.
  3. Trust: Data and algorithm credibility are crucial for user adoption.

Quote:
“Readiness, from my perspective, is the what. Resilience is the how, but trust is the why. Because if the warfighter doesn’t trust the algorithm, the mission fails before it even starts.”
—Alan Day, 25:51

• AI’s Impact on Logistics:
  • AI can help master the “physics of logistics”—balancing time, space, and cost—by trading information for inventory, enabling more precise supply rather than costly excess.

Quote:
“You cannot cheat the physics of logistics... But with AI, you can finally master the equation to put the right part at the right place before the need even arises.”
—Alan Day, 29:04

• AI in Supply Chain Security:
  • Enhanced visibility into deep-tier suppliers, early identification of cyber risks, and pattern recognition beyond human capacity.

Quote:
“A human’s going to maybe miss [a] 2% deviation in the supply chain flow. AI can see pattern recognition very well... AI agents actually can prevent the red from ever happening.”
—Alan Day, 32:13

• Looking Forward:
  • Next steps require “trusted action” and edge deployment (operating in disconnected, low-bandwidth environments).
  • AI should empower rather than replace warfighters.

Quote:
“The future isn’t really AI replacing a warfighter, but it’s enabling a warfighter. It’s empowering the warfighter...making them smarter, faster, and more capable of making the right decision in a time of relevance.”
—Alan Day, 36:21

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “I think the strategy is looking to approach it where, you know, agency A and agency B have the same terms and agreement so that the federal government’s getting the best value for its large purchasing power.”
  —Billy Mitchell, 08:03

• “We don't have enough contracting officers who are caught up on how to do this.”
  —Miranda Nazaro, 17:06

• “Agentic AI trades information for inventory... because we can't afford the logistics of mass. We need to move to a logistics of precision.”
  —Alan Day, 29:04

Important Timestamps

• GSA’s "one Gov" evolution & vendor dynamics: 05:42–10:39
• AI procurement, USAI, and “Woke AI” policy: 10:39–13:33
• Technology Modernization Fund (TMF) status: 13:33–16:55
• Federal workforce & procurement expertise: 17:06–18:23
• Agentic AI segment with Alan Day: 19:15–38:54
  • Mission Force overview: 20:43
  • Agentic AI in defense decision-making: 23:20
  • AI and the three critical needs: 25:51
  • AI and logistics precision: 29:04
  • Supply chain visibility and vulnerabilities: 32:13
  • AI at the tactical edge/trusted action: 36:21

Flow and Tone

Throughout the episode, the tone is professional yet accessible. Billy Mitchell and Miranda Nazaro provide in-depth, candid governmental analysis, offering both current reporting and context. The conversation maintains a balance between hard policy details and broader trends.

Alan Day’s segment adopts an enthusiastic, mission-driven perspective, blending firsthand military logistics expertise with a focus on innovation and commercial best practices.

Summary Takeaway

This episode offers essential insights into GSA’s increasingly central role in federal technology procurement, especially under the Trump administration’s second term—an era defined by unprecedented centralization, political directives on AI, and complex workforce and funding challenges. The latter half delivers a forward-looking examination of how advanced AI is primed to fundamentally transform defense logistics, readiness, and strategic decision-making across the federal government.