Startup | The Contracting Education Academy

March 22, 2018 By cs

Agencies need to quit being difficult customers if they want startup tech

Modernizing federal tech will require the government to work closely with startups and innovators, but before that can happen, agencies must make themselves more appealing customers, according to technology experts.

Agencies will have to adapt to being one of many customers when they work with companies from commercial hubs like Silicon Valley. Government and industry technologists said lengthy timelines and convoluted purchasing processes are deterring many startups from sharing their breakthroughs with federal agencies.

On Thursday of last week, experts offered a variety of strategies for lowering those barriers to entry, ranging from streamlining the Federal Acquisition Regulation to posting project solicitations on TechCrunch.

Within the startup community, “there is a perception the government is going to take a very long time” getting projects over the finish line, said Meagan Metzger, founder and CEO of the IT accelerator DCode, at a forum hosted by GovernmentCIO Media. While some vehicles exist for fast-tracking contracts, she said agencies’ largely opaque procurement process isn’t conducive to fledgling companies driven by quarterly reports.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.nextgov.com/emerging-tech/2018/03/agencies-need-quit-being-difficult-customers-if-they-want-startup-tech/146713/

November 10, 2017 By cs

Where should agencies look for innovation?

Startups and government may sound like an unlikely pairing. But according to intelligence workers, they’re the perfect match when it comes to innovation.

“Innovation is really happening down at the lower levels at the startup companies,” said John Kammerer, the National Security Agency’s technical director of high performance computing solutions, during a Nov. 2 panel discussion at NVIDIA’s GPU Technology Conference in Washington, D.C.

Tech moves fast, Kammerer said, and while the incumbent companies still have a lot to offer in the way of government contracts, they too are leaning on startups to develop components. The proof, he added, is when the traditional big government contractors scoop up emerging companies.

Keep reading this article at: https://fcw.com/articles/2017/11/03/nsa-innovation-startups.aspx

November 16, 2016 By cs

Tech startups lobby for alternative model of government contracting

Local tech firms have asked city governments in the Sacramento region to consider an alternative public contracting model that allows cities to test new technologies without first committing to purchasing them.

demonstration-partnerships The model is said to benefit technology companies by providing a testing ground for products that can improve local government performance, while avoiding the lengthy approvals process for standard municipal contracts.

The proposal is modeled after a program in San Jose, but it also compares to another endeavor undertaken by the city of West Sacramento this year called Startups in Residence.

The Startups in Residence program partnered tech companies with three California cities to develop civic-enhancing apps over a 16-week period this summer. West Sacramento Mayor Christopher Cabaldon called the program a success as it helped city officials think differently about technology and resulted in a potential long-term contract with one app-maker. The platform uses mapping software to help the city locate homeless people and direct them to public services.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.bizjournals.com/sacramento/news/2016/11/11/tech-startups-lobby-for-alternative-model-of.html

October 12, 2016 By cs

Where are all the startups?

Pentagon leaders regularly tout Silicon Valley innovation, but entrepreneurs seem largely absent from the largest defense industry events.

startups Wander the exhibit floors of the military’s largest conferences this fall, and you’ll see everything from ground combat vehicles to veteran-trained service dogs, from bit players hawking flooring for overseas installations to industry giants showing off futuristic ideas. One thing you won’t see much of, if at all? Startups.

Pentagon leaders regularly laud Silicon Valley-esque companies and have repeatedly said that harnessing entrepreneurs’ innovative ideas is crucial to the U.S. military’s qualitative edge. Just this month, Defense Secretary Ash Carter announced the Pentagon will be opening a third Defense Innovation Unit Experimental facility in Austin. But that praise—and a planned $65 million in investments funneled through DIUx—have yet to translate to booths on the ground. At the Air Force Association’s annual Air, Space and Cyber conference last month, for example, none of the 120-plus exhibitors were what might conventionally be called a startup.

Why would you expect to see a millennial at the opera?” said Air Force Gen. Ellen Pawlikowski, who leads Air Force Materiel Command. “By that I mean, the forum that’s here for AFA, a booth concept, is not the environment that the entrepreneurial community they engage with is one that they come to. It’s not of interest to them.”

Keep reading this article at: http://www.defenseone.com/business/2016/10/where-are-all-startups/132041

November 6, 2015 By cs

Contracts aren’t the only gateway to government innovation

Agencies know they can’t skirt the Federal Acquisition Regulation and deliver innovation with the flip of a switch. But government can position itself as an incubator — or entrepreneurial gateway — for innovative startups.

Rather than pushing Silicon Valley startups and nontraditional companies to pursue formal government contracts, some industry and agency experts suggest using broad agency announcements and prizes and challenges to drive the companies who have a good idea, but don’t regularly visit FedBiz Opps and might not have the resources to compete for a government contract.

“They don’t have a CAGE code or a DUNS number, they’re not interested in a contract,” Adam Tarsi, chief of staff of the Combating Terrorism Technical Support Office at the Defense Department, said at the Professional Services Council’s government innovation event in Arlington Oct. 29. “They just want to do neat things. How do I tap into that neat thing? Some way, it’s talent scouting, sometimes in product acquisition. I’m just trying illuminate something cool out there for my customers.”

Agencies can pay for a company’s individual idea —or pay for the startup to partner with another large, more traditional contractor to develop and deliver the idea.

Keep reading this article at: http://federalnewsradio.com/acquisition/2015/10/contracts-arent-gateway-government-innovation/

Modernizing federal tech will require the government to work closely with startups and innovators, but before that can happen, agencies must make themselves more appealing customers, according to technology experts.

Startups and government may sound like an unlikely pairing. But according to intelligence workers, they’re the perfect match when it comes to innovation.

Local tech firms have asked city governments in the Sacramento region to consider an alternative public contracting model that allows cities to test new technologies without first committing to purchasing them.

Pentagon leaders regularly tout Silicon Valley innovation, but entrepreneurs seem largely absent from the largest defense industry events.

Agencies know they can’t skirt the Federal Acquisition Regulation and deliver innovation with the flip of a switch. But government can position itself as an incubator — or entrepreneurial gateway — for innovative startups.

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