PROBLEM SOLVED, RAPIDLY
Joseph Amadee, Rapid Equipping Force (REF) operational lead, shows Capt. Steven Caldwell how to adjust the solar panels powering the Rapid Aerostat Initial Deployment tower in this September 2014 photo. The tower, on a mountain peak overlooking Kabul International Airport, allows visibility for more than a mile, en- hancing surveillance and security capabilities for the Afghan National Security Forces. Using methodology very similar to that of Blank’s Lean Startup, the REF developed the solar panel solution to reduce the need to send troops to the mountaintop, which exposed them to enemy attack, to replenish a generator that ran constantly to fuel the tower. (Photo by Sgt. William White, International Security Assistance Force Joint Command)
“So our problems should have been easier, but in fact we made them harder because we still acted like, not only did we own it, but we were incapable of figuring out how to work with these people and encouraging them to build dual-use products. And again, because our primes had no interest in doing that.”
Blank sees the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) pro- gram as a possible model for changing the way prime contractors do business. SBIR, which began in 1982, provides funding for small companies to do research and development (R&D) on U.S. government priorities. It’s funded by allocating about 3 percent of the R&D budgets of 11 federal agencies.
“Te problem is, for 30 years we were essentially giving out cars without requiring driver’s ed, meaning most of these things would fail as commercialized technology. People didn’t know
how to start companies,” Blank said. Te I-Corps program he co-created for the National Science Foundation in 2011 has changed that. “It’s taught in 81 universities. If you want to get an SBIR grant, it’s kind of mandatory.”
Could something similar work for defense acquisition? “Today, the DOD version of the SBIR is simply a ‘set-aside’ program. At DOD, awards are managed as contracts. Tis means that deliverables are negotiated up front before the award is made. Imagine if there were a way to make the prime the ‘innovation conduit’ to help translate a new capability ‘through the wall.’ Tat would be cool. ‘Lockheed, your job is to fully deploy 10 new capabilities per year in this arena, but they must be exter- nally sourced and you can own no more than 10 percent of any single firm whose solution you deploy.’ ”
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CRITICAL THINKING
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