CONFIDENCE BOOST
XTech and SBIR are willing to take some smart risks and do things differently.
experience expert, joined forces. Together, they developed a prototype for a secure platform to manage complex group eval- uations with transparency, efficiency and accountability at the forefront. From there, Valid Eval was born. “One of the things that makes our tool different is that we deliver a consumer-grade user experience to expert evaluators,” Rentschler said.
A secure software-as-a-service platform, Valid Eval is an online evaluation system that helps organizations make and defend tough decisions. It can work on virtually any scale, so companies or organizations can involve as many applicants, experts or judges as they need, while providing defensible, data-driven results and robust reporting tools to help them monitor and measure performance.
In 2018, Rentschler reunited with a former business colleague who worked for the U.S. Air Force and required a tool to provide more robust feedback to compa- nies not selected for its business accelerator competition, the Hyperspace Challenge. One of the biggest areas of improvement Rentschler wanted to address with his tool was the lack of valuable feedback provided to the innovation community. Valid Eval was able to provide the Air Force just that—clear-cut and applicable feedback, delivered in a neatly packaged and easy-to- read format. And now that the Air Force’s front door was open, Valid Eval quickly learned that there were many more oppor- tunities for it to continue doing business across various DOD agencies that are all
responsible for having efficient, effective and transparent acquisition processes.
GOING GREEN Valid Eval formed a partnership with the Army in 2019, streamlining the evalua- tion process for xTechSearch 2, the second xTechSearch competition. Tis was only the first step in a long-term relationship with the Army and a clear demonstration of how small businesses can provide large- scale solutions for the Army enterprise.
Sponsored by the assistant secretary of the Army for acquisition, logistics and tech- nology (ASA(ALT)), the xTechSearch competition was launched in 2018 to identify and award transformative tech- nology solutions, from small, non-defense businesses, to sustain Army priorities and fill critical mission gaps. Trough
xTechSearch, winners have the oppor- tunity to earn significant cash prizes, to secure potential follow-on contracts and agreements with the Army, and to find unique opportunities to engage with key defense stakeholders through events, mentoring and educational programming.
To determine which businesses can most impact Soldier readiness, each competing organization goes through an extensive judging process. For the xTech Program’s first prize competition, now known as xTechSearch 1, the Army used a government-developed tool that suffered from a lack of recorded feedback and a difficult user experience.
To simplify the review and submission process for both evaluators and partic- ipants, the xTech Program adopted the
TEST RUN
U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Richard Tanner, left, 18th Wing vice commander, reviews submissions using the Valid Eval system in 2019 at Kadena Air Base, Japan. The Kadena group was the first Air Force “spark cell” innovation group to use the Valid Eval system. (Photo by Senior Airman Michael Jones, 18th Wing Public Affairs)
58
Army AL&T Magazine
Fall 2021
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