The U.S. Air Force plans to test in October a new process that aims to speed up contract awards to startups and small businesses within days, FlightGlobal reported Friday.
Will Roper, assistant secretary for the service’s acquisition, technology and logistics, said the process would involve a call for startups to present their ideas in one or two pages and pitch their concepts through a “90-second video like Kickstarter.â€
“We’ll invite them to come pitch live and the idea will be 60 to 80% [of companies] have a high likelihood walking out of a live pitch being on contract that day,â€Â he added.
The report said the military branch intends to have the Air Force Research Laboratory run a trial of the process by the end of October to award up to 50 contracts within 50 hours.
Â
Related Articles
The U.S. Army has signed new rapid prototype other transactional authority, also known as OTA, agreements with General Dynamics Mission Systems and Pacific Defense to build a chassis that would enable soldiers to plug and play capabilities into military vehicles. Plug-and-Play Capabilities The technology is dubbed CMFF, which is short for Command, Control, Computers, Communications, Cyber, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance/Electronic Warfare Modular Open Suite of Standards Mounted Form Factor. It offers both hardware and software designed to converge multiple legacy systems into one chassis in ground and aviation platforms. CMFF is equipped with power, networks and radio frequency to support
The United Kingdom’s National Cyber Security Centre, in partnership with the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, the FBI and other international partners, has published new joint guidance aimed at helping organizations secure their operational technology environments. The document, titled “Creating and Maintaining a Definitive View of Your Operational Technology Architecture,” builds on the recent Foundations for OT Cybersecurity: Asset Inventory Guidance and provides actionable steps to strengthen defenses against cyberthreats, CISA said. CISA is a DHS agency. Potomac Officers Club’s 2025 Homeland Security Summit offers an inside look at the latest programs, technologies and strategies shaping America’s defense against evolving
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has tapped Raytheon for a mission design and feasibility study on weather imagery capabilities under its Near Earth Orbit Network, or NEON, Stratus project. The company will conduct the Stratus critical design review study under an other transaction agreement NOAA signed with Raytheon valued about $5.9 million, the agency said Friday. Raytheon’s CDR study will focus on a U.S. Space Force design adapted to NOAA’s requirements for Stratus. Under NEON, low-Earth orbit environmental satellites will be launched for weather forecasting, environmental observation and public safety. The program also seeks to demonstrate faster data delivery