Dcode CEO Meagan Metzger Named a 2026 Federal 100 Awardee

Acquisition reform is having a moment. Turning it into results is the harder part.

In 2025, the Department of War moved quickly from talking about reform to trying to execute it. Secretary Hegseth’s push for speed, accountability, and delivery created real momentum across the services. But it also surfaced this perennial challenge: new authorities don’t deliver capability on their own. What matters is whether an organization has an integrated, repeatable pathway to turn urgent operational needs and operator-led innovation into acquisition-ready, scalable capability.

Most organizations can prototype. The hard part is what comes next: the moment innovation gets handed to the acquisition enterprise, and no one owns the transition.

That is the gap Dcode CEO Meagan Metzger has spent the last year closing. For that work, Meagan has been named a GovExec 2026 Federal 100 awardee.

Meagan partnered directly with senior service acquisition leaders to operationalize reform at scale, by building the leadership paradigm and operating mechanisms that make speed sustainable. How do you shorten the distance between commercial technology and the warfighter? How do you move from prototypes to transition, and from transition to scalable fielding? How do you make portfolio tradeoffs quickly, without sacrificing governance, accountability, or mission outcomes? 

The work was practical by design. It focused on aligning requirements, contracting approaches, resourcing, and commercial access into a standardized rapid acquisition system - complete with decision cadence, transition criteria, and metrics that enable data-driven keep/kill/scale calls. The result: teams had the resilience to act now and grow as guidance evolved, rather than waiting for perfect clarity.

That approach translated into real outcomes, including:

• Driving an OTA-based procurement effort from zero to live in under 30 days

• Extending key cyber authorities to maintain continuity during periods of transition

• Launching a secure technology marketplace proof of concept within 24 hours

• Connecting more than 50 venture firms and hundreds of commercial companies to urgent mission needs through a focused tech scouting surge

None of this was about moving fast for optics. It was about reducing the drag that keeps good technology stuck on the wrong side of the system.

Meagan’s recognition as a GovExec 2026 Federal 100 awardee reflects what many teams experienced firsthand last year: reform only matters when it changes how decisions get made and how capability gets delivered. Her leadership combines strategic intent with operational realism, shaped by years of working alongside federal leaders to remove friction, challenge assumptions, and build acquisition approaches that scale when it counts.

The Federal 100 recognition reflects not just individual leadership, but the broader effort underway across the Department to turn reform into execution. Dcode is proud to support the leaders and teams doing that work every day.