Act Like a CEO: Making the Warfighting Acquisition System Operating Model Real
by Meagan Metzger, CEO The Warfighting Acquisition System (WAS) is here. But if it’s going to work, portfolio leaders have to act like CEOs, not compliance officers. That’s because the Secretary of War’s redesign of the WAS is not just another passing reform, but a fundamental challenge to how the Department buys, builds, and […]
From Tech Scouting to Horizon Scanning for Federal Missions: Prioritizing Best-Fit Innovation and the Art of the Possible
As defense programs seek to modernize acquisition pathways and respond to the administration’s priority of adopting commercial solutions to meet mission needs, technology scouting is increasingly crucial to identify the leading innovations best suited to delivering on program requirements. Dcode defines tech scouting as: The process of understanding the landscape of available commercial solutions and […]
How Defense Acquirers Can Help Non-Traditional Vendors Navigate Security Compliance
As cybersecurity threats evolve rapidly and timelines to address them shrink, the Department of Defense (DoD) is prioritizing Risk Management Framework (RMF) modernization to clear the roadblocks to rapid acquisition of commercial solutions while improving efficiency of RMF compliance. As we discussed in part one of our series on security compliance, leveraging advanced AI, automation, […]
Meeting the Counter-UAS Threat With Rapid and Modular Acquisition
The Threat Moves Fast. Your Strategy Has to Move Faster. The counter-unmanned aerial system (C-UAS) threat landscape shifts monthly, if not weekly. Tactics and the technology to support them evolve in unforeseen ways, driven by battlefield necessity. What worked six months ago might not work tomorrow. Cheap, adaptable drone systems are rewriting the rules of […]
DoD’s Cyber Compliance Inflection Point: Automation, AI & Governance Best Practices to Modernize the RMF
As cybersecurity threats to modern warfare systems increase, managing risk across the Department of Defense (DoD) is non-negotiable, yet critical compliance measures often stall innovation and rapid response to a complex cyber landscape. Meeting this inflection point with outcomes-based technology and strategy will require rethinking DoD’s approach to managing cyber risk by modernizing and streamlining […]
Startups, Government, and the Struggle for Speed
In the ongoing race to equip government with the best technologies available, “commercial-first” has become the new catchphrase. From new administration priorities to revamped acquisition pathways, the message is clear: the federal government wants to buy commercial technology in the door faster and at scale. But while policy has evolved, the experience for startups trying […]
Fiscal Agility: Unlocking Defense Modernization
At Dcode, we define fiscal agility as: the ability to easily realign and optimize financial structures, processes, and investments around capabilities and mission outcomes—enabling faster, more strategic responses to tech evolution and operational needs. It’s a deceptively simple idea, but one that requires serious reimagining of the government’s budgetary approach—inside the Pentagon and Congress—and it’s […]
Linking Government, Tech, and Venture to Effectively Accelerate Innovation
The Tech Adoption Ecosystem in the Federal Government Today, the federal government has no shortage of need to accelerate innovation across its organizations. Federal agencies overall look to improve service delivery to the public while increasing efficiency and cost effectiveness. Defense organizations seek to accelerate deployment of critical technology to meet mission needs both […]
