Podcast: No time to waste for defense innovation with BMNT’s Pete Newell
I was pleased to have Pete Newell back on the Acquisition Talk podcast to discuss the urgency of getting innovative defense prototypes into the field […]
SBIR
Update on the AFWERX FY 2022 annual report
Here are some excerpts from the Air Force AFWEX annual report for FY 2022: AFVentures is delivering more awards faster than ever to small businesses, […]
Podcast: In the fight – Scaling AI/ML in defense with Colin Carroll
I was pleased to have Colin Carroll join me on the Acquisition Talk podcast to discuss the acquisition of machine learning in the Department of […]
China’s weapons acquisition cycle 5-6x faster than the United States — “We are going to lose” if we don’t change
I would tell you anecdotally that China is still, after gains we’ve made in the last five years or so, about five to six times […]
Do competitive procurements actually save DoD money?
The total cost to the government is often overlooked when making the decision to compete for FSD [full-scale development]. This probably occurs because one of […]
Are SBIR contracts being dominated by very few companies, leading to poorer products?
Here are excerpts from a nice article from Ben Van Roo, “Emerging tech is transforming war in real-time, yet the biggest DOD incubator is stuck […]
Visualizing the intellectual property strategy for a lifecycle sustainment plan
Here is the excellent Christopher Monsey in the Exceptional Release, Intellectual Property (IP) Strategies in Major System Acquisitions: What are We Missing? He asks the […]
How can the SBIR/STTR process be more welcoming to startups?
Here are some good recommendations from USAF contracting officers Steven Groenheim and John Diekel, Restructuring the SBIR/STTR process: First, we should consider overhauling the application […]
Podcast: The next-generation of combat UAVs with Joseph Murray and Andrew Van Timmeren
I was pleased to have on the Acquisition Talk podcast Joseph Murray and Andrew Van Timmeren. Joe is the co-founder of Blue Force Technologies, a […]
What’s holding back SBIR and new entrants from transforming DoD?
After proving the efficacy and competitive strength of the technology procured via a SBIR award, federal agencies are required by law to work in good […]
A proposal for accelerating investment in dual-use tough tech
We propose the establishment of a new program in which the government directly teams with the venture capital (VC) community at the earliest stages of […]
Data on SBIR, open topics, and the defense industry
The U.S. military has historically been an important investor in transformational technologies, but this model faces challenges from a less innovative and more concentrated defense […]
AFWERX and innovation in the Air Force
Here’s a short bit from my feature on Government Matters: In 2019, they [AFWERX] brought in about $1 billion of matching funds. That’s something going […]
Are SBIR funds just too difficult to win for their worth?
To clarify the math, if it takes two man-months (~320 hours) to prepare a SBIR proposal, and you have a 20 percent chance of getting […]
Should the DoD be picking winners and losers?
“The DoD was capable of picking winners and losers, and that’s what stopped in the 70s. A bunch of us in the startup world think […]