{"id":31415,"date":"2021-07-12T14:49:46","date_gmt":"2021-07-12T14:49:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2021\/07\/12\/can-a-nominee-with-tech-industry-background-disrupt-pentagon-acquisition-shops-status-quo\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T18:10:21","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T18:10:21","slug":"can-a-nominee-with-tech-industry-background-disrupt-pentagon-acquisition-shops-status-quo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/pentagon\/2021\/07\/12\/can-a-nominee-with-tech-industry-background-disrupt-pentagon-acquisition-shops-status-quo\/","title":{"rendered":"Can a nominee with tech industry background disrupt Pentagon acquisition shop\u2019s status quo?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

WASHINGTON \u2014 Then-Defense Secretary Jim Mattis had a question for Mike Brown before he took over the Pentagon\u2019s Silicon Valley outreach arm: What can you do that helps grow the military\u2019s capabilities?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s a question that the Defense Innovation Unit was created in 2015 to solve, born from concerns about growing threats from China and Russia and the need to reap the benefits of innovative technology that traditional primes couldn\u2019t provide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI thought: \u2018That\u2019s an awfully daunting task,\u2019\u201d Brown recounted in a December 2020 interview with Defense News<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, as President Joe Biden\u2019s nominee to become the Pentagon\u2019s top weapons buyer, Brown faces that same task on a far larger scale than DIU\u2019s $67 million research and development budget<\/a>. He is poised to gain authority over about $400 billion in acquisition and sustainment spending. In doing so, he would have an \u201cexistential\u201d imperative, according to several defense experts, to bring in the latest technology from first-time contractors for artificial intelligence, weapons software and hypersonic technology to counter China. And he would need to reform the levers of purchasing power that impede nontraditional contractors from working with the agency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This would mean navigating a budget planned years in advance that is too slow for startups that need capital to stay afloat, while revamping a cumbersome competitive process that favors megacorporations without alienating primes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On a smaller scale, Brown put those changes in motion at DIU, taking to heart Mattis\u2019 comments when selecting projects and making changes. Under Brown\u2019s direction, DIU reduced the time between closing solicitations and signing contracts, while using other transaction authorities \u2014 a flexible acquisition tool \u2014 to begin prototyping. By doing so, DIU connected services and combatant commands with innovative companies that provide technology for predictive maintenance, automated cybersecurity, small drones and more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

DIU increased its industry responses to proposals by 50 percent in the last year and transitioned 11 prototyping projects to Department of Defense partners in 2020, up from four in 2018, including an AI-enabled air threat response tool that transitioned to the North American Aerospace Defense Command. It starts an increasing number of projects every year, with more than half of awardees categorized as nontraditional vendors and 34 percent as first-time vendors.<\/p>\n\n\n\t