ALTERNATIVE ACQUISITION
In some cases, two separate submitters joined forces to advance a single technology solution by combining their respective strengths.
instrumental in making AIM possible. Te platform is called SOFWERX, and SOCOM created it by establishing a PIA with DEFENSEWERX, a nonprofit organization that stands up innovation hubs. SOFWERX, in Ybor City, Florida, is one of DEFENSEWERX’s five innovation hubs, each of which accel- erates the development and fielding of new defense technologies by following a collaboration model similar to AIM.
SOFWERX’s mission is to create and maintain a platform to accelerate delivery of innovative capabilities to SOCOM and to facilitate defense technology advances through exploration, exper- imentation and assessment of promising technologies. “What is crucial is the collaboration among government agencies and nontraditional partners from industry and academia—so that’s what we set out to do,” said Guinn. “For this particular effort, we developed a tailored five-phase acquisition strategy for the specific problem sets on behalf of our collaborating government agencies.”
FIVE PHASES TO SUCCESS Te first of the five phases occurred in January 2019, when all of the government participants met at the SOFWERX facility. In their first meeting, the AIM team members on the government side established problem statements for the AIM initiative and envisioned their desired outcomes. In addition to members of the DEVCOM CBC, SOCOM and JPEO-CBRND, representatives from the Department of Homeland Security Countering Weap- ons of Mass Destruction Office, the Defense Treat Reduction Agency and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency also attended.
Phase 2 occurred in February 2019. Te interagency government team invited nontraditional contractors to an interactive indus- try day at SOFWERX, where they discussed the government’s CBRN problem statements, met SOCOM and Army warfighters and began a dialogue with the almost 400 people in attendance. “AIM is delivering on the concept of Soldier touch points, which
CONTINUOUS FEEDBACK
Soldier touch points are a main priority of AIM— warfighter and operator feedback is incorporated throughout the process. (Photo by Staff Sgt. Alan Brutus, 3rd Infantry Brigade, 25th Infantry Division)
is a priority of the DOD, by incorporating warfighter and oper- ator input throughout the process,” said Guinn.
“We established a forum to have a conversation with these nontra- ditional technology developers, that was non-bureaucratic and focused around the warfighter perspective,” said Kevin Wallace, a senior mechanical engineer at DEVCOM CBC and one of AIM’s founders. “We also used the opportunity to learn how meeting CBRN defense needs through technology development could be accomplished at the pace at which these startup compa- nies operate.”
Te partners in this initiative saw their mission as establishing a new enduring cadre of commercial and academic partners that could provide unique CBRN defense solutions. “Te nontradi- tional technology developers we reached out to presented either novel concepts or novel applications of existing technology and they were excited to respond to the new solutions we generated
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