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November 23, 2018 By AMK

Advice on running a government agency like a startup, from someone who’s tried it

The White House recently formed the Office of American Innovation, which has a stated focus on “implementing policies and scaling proven private-sector models to spur job creation and innovation.”

It’s a familiar idea: A SWAT innovation team is created, ready to inject new thinking into a burdensome bureaucracy.

It certainly sounds familiar to Greg Godbout, a former U.S. presidential innovation fellow and a cofounder of 18F, a digital services office within the U.S. General Services Administration. 18F was borne, in part, out of the Obama administration’s attempts to funnel startup-style ingenuity into the government, particularly after the disastrous launch of Healthcare.gov. Godbout was executive director at 18F before departing to become chief technology officer for the EPA. He is now the CEO and cofounder of cBrain North America.

The Harvard Business Review asked Godbout about how innovation teams work in government.  Following are excerpts of our conversation, edited for length and clarity.

Keep reading this article at: https://hbr.org/2017/04/advice-on-running-a-government-agency-like-a-startup-from-someone-whos-tried-it

Filed Under: Government Contracting News Tagged With: 18F, bureaucracy, government reform, innovation, planning, startup

March 22, 2018 By AMK

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/

Filed Under: Government Contracting News Tagged With: acquisition reform, DIUx, efficiency, FAT, government reform, OTA, other transaction agreements, procurement reform, startup, technology

November 10, 2017 By AMK

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

Filed Under: Government Contracting News Tagged With: CIA, efficiency, government reform, innovation, NSA, startup

November 16, 2016 By AMK

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-partnershipsThe 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

Filed Under: Government Contracting News Tagged With: acquisition reform, demonstration partnerships, procurement reform, public procurement, startup, technology, technology development

October 12, 2016 By AMK

Where are all the startups?

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

startupsWander 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

Filed Under: Government Contracting News Tagged With: DoD, entrepreneurship, industrial base, innovation, small business, startup, technology

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