Towards DIUx 2.1 or 3.0? Examining Defense Innovation Unit Experimental's Progress Towards Procurement Innovation
Abstract/Contents
- Abstract
- Defense contracting is responsible for procuring the tools used by the defense community. Defense procurement, however, has become emblematic of scheduling delays and cost overruns, fueled by the outsized influence of traditional Beltway military contractors in defense acquisition. As American adversaries utilize novel technologies across domains physical and cyber, the DoD faces pressure to match this pace of innovation in their defense strategies. In 2015, then-Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter announced the creation of Defense Innovation Unit Experimental (DIUx), an outfit within the DoD to expedite contracting with small technology outfits pioneering defensive technologies. DIUx has faced criticism for not addressing the federal acquisition regulations that render the DoD a difficult customer for small technology outfits, in addition to challenges in continued engagement with defense startups. This thesis examines the realities underlying these criticisms. Specifically, it argues that DIUx occupies a previously missing junction in the defense innovation ecosystem: namely, the process of connecting DoD-supported R&D to defense community customers and facilitating contracts between these two entities. It also finds that DIUx has made marked improvements in facilitating relationships with small technology firms by utilizing Other Transaction Authorities (OTAs) to expedite contracting. OTA contracts, however, may not be conducive to longer-term business relationships between the DoD and small technology vendors. The adoption of OTAs raises further questions about DIUx’s balance between serving as a federal acquisition regulation reformer versus serving as a relationship manager between the DoD and high-technology firms.
Description
| Type of resource | text |
|---|---|
| Date created | June 2017 |
Creators/Contributors
| Author | Fisher, Gabriele |
|---|---|
| Advisor | Lin, Herb |
Subjects
| Subject | Center for International Security and Cooperation |
|---|---|
| Subject | Defense Contracting |
| Subject | Defense Innovation |
| Genre | Thesis |
Bibliographic information
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- License
- This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial 3.0 Unported license (CC BY-NC).
Preferred citation
- Preferred Citation
- Fisher, Gabriele and Lin, Herb. (2017). Towards DIUx 2.1 or 3.0? Examining Defense Innovation Unit Experimental's Progress Towards Procurement Innovation. Stanford Digital Repository. Available at: https://purl.stanford.edu/db016tf9227
Collection
Stanford University, Center for International Security and Cooperation, Interschool Honors Program in International Security Studies, Theses
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- Contact
- gabbifisher@gmail.com
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