BUSINESS BREAKTHROUGH


but with no application to DOD needs. SBIR is not tied to a specific budget activ- ity code, and unlike programs of record, SBIR projects do not need to be laid out in the congressional budget years before a program manager even knows if a technol- ogy can contribute to her or his program.


SBIR does not measure the outcomes of the programs it funds—whether there has actually been “innovation”—but rather the number of those programs. SBIR can be a very potent innovation and modernization tool, and the Army Applications Labora- tory’s (AAL) Special Program Awards for Required Technology Needs (SPARTN) program has proven how. AAL, a subor- dinate of Army Futures Command, discovers and delivers current and emerg- ing technologies and applies innovation best practices to warfighter needs.


SPARTN has done this for SBIR. SPARTN has reduced application require- ments by 50 percent for businesses wishing to participate, has increased cash paid to small businesses, and has cut award notification and contract timelines by 78 percent.


SPARTN demonstrates that SBIR can be a viable entry point for small businesses and a powerful tool to fill critical modernization gaps while reducing costs and accelerating transition.


A year and a half since SPARTN’s launch, eight solicitations (commonly called topics) are in or are just exiting the contracting stage, and five more will follow in the coming months. Tese topics represent the specific technology needs of six cross-functional teams and seven program managers, many of whom hadn’t considered using SBIR to solve their prob- lems before SPARTN.


DELIVERING VALUE Before SPARTN and other initiatives to update the program such as at the newly formed Applied SBIR office in the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics and Technology,


SBIR appealed mainly to a small hand- ful of companies that had cracked the code on how to win contracts through the program.


A shocking statistic to illustrate this point: Nine companies have combined to win more than $2.5 billion in SBIR contracts. Te small businesses the Army hopes will help solve its modernization technology needs have not been partici- pating, and inertia in the SBIR program has resulted in an institutionalized pref- erence for companies set up to win SBIR contracts irrespective of whether or not those contracts result in value to the government.


TOUCHDOWN


SPARTN puts an emphasis on early feedback and hands-on experience by Soldiers, and provides businesses with access to relevant government information. (Graphic by AAL)


128


Army AL&T Magazine


Fall 2021


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