Top 10 GovCon Events: October 5, 2026

Explore yesterday’s top 10 GovCon events drawing G2X community research on The GovCon Calendar. Market research, AI, supplier development and defense sustainment all appear in the roundup. The entries cover each program’s subject, audience and participation details.

1. 2027 Effective Market Research (MRAS)

GSA’s virtual Effective Market Research workshop takes place October 29, 2026. The session explains how acquisition teams use market research in planning, with topics that include data collection, small-business set-asides, commercial items and contract-type selection.

The workshop is part of GSA’s Market Research as a Service customer training and is aimed primarily at government employees in contracting and acquisition roles. Its focus is the work that helps shape a procurement before a solicitation appears, including the relationship between market information and acquisition choices. The program covers FAR Part 10 and the use of MRAS tools in that process. Although the event’s published title begins with 2027, its scheduled session is in October 2026. The Calendar entry provides the registration route and the full training context.

2. GovCon 2026 Event

The Indian American Business Impact Group is hosting GovCon 2026 at The Westin in Falls Church, Virginia, on October 15. The gathering centers on networking among founders and GovCon executives, with a small-business focus.

This is a peer-conversation format rather than a program of technical workshops or solicitation briefings. The stated audience is company leadership, and service providers must sponsor the event to attend. That participation condition is important for firms considering registration. The Calendar entry connects readers to IAMBIG’s event details and registration information.

3. The FORUM 100 Club

The FORUM 100 Club brings federal consulting and government professionals together at STATION DC in Washington on November 19. FORUM’s four-hour, speakeasy-style event spans the federal civilian, health IT and defense communities.

The emphasis is professional networking and recognition across government and industry. Its format is built around conversations rather than a sequence of training sessions, making the venue and audience central to what the event offers. The Calendar entry provides the registration link and the details for this in-person gathering of federal consulting professionals.

4. The Global Agentic AI Summit

Modev’s Global Agentic AI Summit runs October 6–7 in Reston, Virginia, with programming at the Carahsoft Conference Center and The AI House. The event combines executive discussions, workshops, panels and breakout sessions on agentic, physical and sovereign AI.

Government automation, AI security, data governance and responsible deployment connect the public-sector portions of the program. Listed speakers include Navy technology leader Justin Fanelli and the Library of Congress’s Natalie Buda Smith, alongside enterprise AI leaders. The schedule also includes networking and an innovation-night format. The event is about how organizations govern and implement systems that can act, not simply generate content. Its mix of strategy and implementation sessions gives the program a wider scope than a single-product demonstration, while keeping trust and operational control among its central topics.

5. 2026 AI Conference

The Greater Washington Society of CPAs holds its hybrid AI Conference on October 13. The program addresses finance and accounting teams, including government contractors, corporate finance leaders, public accountants and nonprofit organizations.

Sessions cover AI governance, data readiness, change management and vendor selection before moving into practical demonstrations. Microsoft Copilot and other tools appear in examples involving financial analysis, regulatory review and the monthly close. A panel on real-world AI implementation and a strategic roadmap workshop connect the demonstrations to organizational decisions. The conference’s central question is how to put AI into finance workflows responsibly, with the data and controls needed to support it. Listed registration is $400 for members and $500 for non-members; the Calendar entry links to the organizer’s hybrid participation options.

6. 2026 NVBDC National Conference: Mission: POSSIBLE

The National Veteran Business Development Council’s conference is underway at MotorCity Casino Hotel in Detroit and continues through October 6. Mission: POSSIBLE focuses on veteran-owned businesses and their participation in corporate supply chains.

The program combines educational sessions with one-on-one corporate matchmaking and executive networking. Topics include certification, supplier readiness, procurement trends, access to capital, international growth and AI for business productivity. The buyer focus is corporate sourcing, rather than a roster of federal agency procurements. For GovCon firms, the relevant overlap is the veteran-owned supplier community and the relationships that support teaming and diversification. The conference brings those businesses together with procurement professionals and strategic partners, while its educational sessions address the operational preparation behind supplier participation. The Calendar entry links to NVBDC’s registration information.

7. 2026 Women’s Small Business Expo

Maryland’s Department of Social and Economic Mobility hosts the Women’s Small Business Expo on October 13 at Live! Casino & Hotel in Hanover. The free event focuses on small and diverse businesses pursuing Maryland state and local contracting.

The program covers the state’s Minority Business Enterprise, Small Business Reserve and Veteran-Owned Small Business Enterprise programs, along with federal certifications. Government-contracting panels and open networking bring participants into conversations with procurement officers and contracting entities. The Maryland procurement forecast for fiscal 2027 is another program focus, giving the event a concrete planning subject beyond general business networking. The expo is designed around supplier participation and the routes into Maryland purchasing. Its mix of program information, forecast discussion and direct engagement is reflected in the Calendar entry and registration details.

8. AI and IT Modernization Virtual Summit

Scoop News Group’s free virtual summit on November 19 examines AI and IT modernization across state and local government and higher education. The program connects technology adoption with the budget pressures shaping public-sector decisions.

Its themes include digital transformation, digital services, customer experience and workforce development. That makes the event a cross-sector look at how public institutions are approaching modernization, rather than a federal acquisition briefing or a technical course on one platform. The audience includes technology leaders and industry participants working in those markets. AI is considered alongside the systems and people required to put it into practice, with service delivery and organizational capability part of the discussion. The Calendar entry provides the event overview and the link to the virtual registration page.

9. Cocktails & Conversations at AUSA: The Future of Sustainment

GovExec’s October 13 gathering at Washington’s National Union Building focuses on the future of Army sustainment. The in-person event combines a discussion with a cocktails-and-conversations format for government, military and industry participants.

The subject is the practical difficulty of keeping equipment and forces ready in contested environments. Topics include replacement-part timelines, aging equipment, advanced manufacturing and the use of AI in logistics. Those themes connect production technology with the operating conditions that sustainment teams face, rather than treating manufacturing innovation as a standalone subject. The audience includes defense logistics and technology providers as well as Army and defense sustainment leaders. Registration is listed as free. The Calendar entry contains the sixth-floor venue details and the registration link for this AUSA-period conversation.

10. Federal Contracting: WOSB Certification

Virginia APEX Accelerator’s free October 8 webinar focuses on Women-Owned Small Business certification and its connection to federal contracting. Lisa Wood, the organization’s statewide director, leads the virtual session for women entrepreneurs and women-owned firms.

The program connects certification with federal set-aside opportunities and government small-business goals. Its purpose is instructional: helping business owners understand how WOSB status fits into a federal contracting plan. It is not presented as a buyer-matchmaking event or a briefing on a particular solicitation. That focused format makes the certification topic, rather than a broad conference agenda, the reason to explore the session. The Calendar entry links to Virginia APEX’s registration page and the Zoom-based event details, with the organizer’s information on the session and its intended audience.

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