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 existing technology investments to meet a government mission need.
In this Q&A, we take a look at defense program challenges that Dcode is helping to solve with tech scouting for government technology acquisition, as well as longer-term planning to realize the art of the possible for emerging capabilities.
How are traditional methods of defense acquisition limiting programs’ ability to find and deploy the latest technologies to improve defense advantage?
Government acquisition perspectives historically have focused on a narrow range of commercial solutions available from large defense prime contractors. These solutions often use proprietary interfaces which position them as the gate keeper for that requirement. Their contracts have insufficient data rights and use traditional acquisition pathways that result in vendor lock—effectively making it very difficult to bring in other cutting-edge tech, even when it might be the best option to addressing new or emerging threats.
Limited availability of in-depth market research on available commercial technologies also means that defense programs often have lagged behind industry in their ability to rapidly acquire new capabilities at the speed of mission need. Fortunately, these dynamics are shifting, but there is still work to be done.
How does tech scouting help address this lag as part of an overall push to modernize defense acquisition?
Dcode’s network gives us unparalleled awareness of commercial tech, emerging startups, and barriers to entry that commercial tech companies face in the federal market. With a unique position at the nexus of tech, venture capital, and government, we have the ability to identify forward-looking technologies that can help solve some of the biggest challenges in defense today, rather than soliciting the limited options from defense primes. The private sector and emerging markets can meet these needs faster, more efficiently, and with fewer resources.
With the net for commercial tech cast much wider, how does the tech scouting process help prioritize the best tech to meet the government’s needs?
Key to this process is a clear definition of requirements with a focus on mission outcomes. We don’t want to forget that the point is to create an outcome for the enterprise or on the battlefield. Looking at the chain of a need being expressed, say, by a soldier, to that being turned into a set of requirements, to an acquisition decision and onto fielding, there are a lot of places where that initial need can get muddied. If tech scouting is done with the end in mind, there’s a much better chance of not only meeting the government’s needs, but meeting them the first time in a way that satisfies users and the acquisition team.
An essential part of succeeding is aligning outcomes to metrics and prioritization frameworks that drive keep/kill decisions for potential technologies. Along the way, we’re considering the full timeline to operational deployment, interoperability and integration with legacy tools, and usability for end users within the context of the existing technology ecosystem.
As government programs face increasing fiscal pressure, how does tech scouting help optimize value between new tech and existing investments?
One of Dcode’s advantages is that our work with defense programs is embedded within and across government teams, so we can help surface lessons learned and break down communication silos across different branches. This helps us connect the lines between branches that have made significant investment in a technology that could help another branch avoid duplicative R&D and prototyping.
Our decade-plus network across venture, tech, and government keeps Dcode current on the innovation areas that are priorities across the Pentagon, comparing notes internally and with industry, across defense innovation and futures organizations, and with other stakeholders. We’re always asking: what notes can we share, what lessons learned can we disseminate? Where can we capitalize on experimentation that has already been done, knowledge acquired, or funding put towards a capability that can then be leveraged by another branch?
Beyond tech scouting, how can defense programs prepare for the warfighting capabilities of the future to defend against adversaries and emerging threats?
This is where horizon scanning can help, which is related to tech scouting but addresses the longer-term outlook. We ensure programs are aware of the capabilities and technologies on the horizon in the next two to five years, but are not necessarily immediately relevant. Think quantum computing, deep learning, or early-stage startups working on problems that don’t have available solutions yet.
This requires a bit more creativity in imagining the art of the possible with novel technologies that can solve the problems government will need to address before they become more urgent short-term needs. It’s important to plan for both because threats and opportunities are ever shifting, and having the right framework and market viewpoint to help connect the emerging innovation with the programs and the people who need them both short- and long-term is crucial.
Want to learn more about how Dcode can support your acquisition and innovation efforts?
We work across DoW and national security agencies to build rapid, commercial-first, outcomes-driven acquisition models. Hit “Connect With Us” below, and let’s talk.
