Discovering a buyer on your product within the Division of Protection is difficult: Who must you discuss to? How do you get their consideration?
On the lookout for DoD prospects
How are you aware if they’ve cash to spend in your product?
It virtually all the time begins with a Program Government Workplace.
The Division of Protection (DoD) not owns all of the applied sciences, services and products to discourage or win a struggle – e.g. AI, autonomy, drones, biotech, entry to house, cyber, semiconductors, new supplies, and so forth.
At present, a brand new class of startups try to promote these merchandise to the Protection Division. Amazingly, there isn’t any single DoD-wide cellphone ebook obtainable to startups of who to name within the Protection Division.
So I wrote one.
Consider the PEO Listing linked under as a “Who buys within the authorities?” cellphone ebook.
The DoD buys lots of of billions of {dollars} of services and products per 12 months, and practically all of those purchases are managed by Program Government Places of work. A Program Government Workplace could also be accountable for a particular program (e.g., the Joint Strike Fighter) or for a complete portfolio of comparable packages (e.g., the Navy Program Government Workplace for Digital and Enterprise Providers). PEOs outline necessities and their Contracting Officers purchase issues (dealing with the formal buying, issuing requests for proposals (RFPs), and signing contracts with distributors.) Program Managers (PMs) work with the PEO and handle subsets of the bigger program.
Present protection contractors know who these organizations are and have groups of individuals monitoring budgets and contracts. However startups? Most startups don’t have a clue the place to begin.
It is a basic case of info asymmetry and it’s not wholesome for the Division of Protection or the nascent startup protection ecosystem.
That’s why I put this PEO Listing collectively.
This primary model of the listing lists 75 Program Government Places of work and their Program Government Officers and Program/Mission Managers.
Every Program Government Workplace is headed by a Program Government Officer who’s a excessive rating official – both a member of the army or a excessive rating civilian – accountable for the fee, schedule, and efficiency of a serious system, or portfolio of techniques, some price billions of {dollars}.
Under is a abstract of 75 Program Government Places of work within the Division of Protection.
You may obtain the complete 64-page doc of Program Government Places of work and Officers with all 602 names right here.
Caveats
Don’t rely upon this doc for accuracy or completeness.
It’s seemingly incomplete and incorporates errors.
Army officers usually change jobs each few years.
Program Places of work get closed and new ones opened as wanted.
This implies this doc was old-fashioned the day it was written. Nonetheless it represents a useful start line for startups seeking to work with DoD.
The best way to Use The PEO Listing As A part of A Go-To-Market Technique
Whereas it’s useful to know what Program Government Places of work exist and who staffs them, it’s even higher to know the place the cash is, what it’s being spent on, and whether or not the funds is rising, reducing, or remaining the identical.
One of the best place to begin is by trying via an outline of your complete protection funds right here. Then seek for these packages within the linked PEO Listing. You will get an thought whether or not that program has $ Billions, or $ Tens of millions.
Subsequent, check out the funds paperwork launched by the DoD Comptroller –
significantly the P-1 (Procurement) and R-1 (R&D) funds paperwork.
Combining the funds doc with this PEO listing helps you slim down which of the 75 Program Government Places of work and 500+ program managers to name on.
With some follow you may translate the topline, account, or Program Aspect (PE) Line modifications right into a gross sales Go-To-Market technique, or not less than a speculation of who to name on.
Armed with this system description (it’s filled with jargon and 9-12 months old-fashioned) and the Excel obtain right here and the Appendix right here –– you may establish targets for gross sales calls with DoD the place your product has the most effective likelihood of becoming in.
The folks and organizations on this listing change extra often than the cash.
Understanding the folks is useful solely after you perceive their priorities — and cash is the most effective proxy for that.
Future Work
Finally we wish to give startups not solely who to name on, and who has the cash, however which Program Places of work are receptive to new entrants. And which have transformed to portfolio administration, which have tried OTA contracts, in addition to highlighting those that are doing one thing novel with metrics or outcomes.
Going ahead this challenge might be stored up to date by the Stanford Gordian Knot Middle for Nationwide Safety Innovation.
Within the meantime ship updates, corrections and feedback to [email protected]
Credit score The place Credit score Is Due
Clearly, the U.S. authorities intends to speak this info. They’ve revealed hyperlinks to DoD organizations right here, even itemizing DoD social media accounts. However the listing is fragmented and irregularly up to date. Consequently, this kind of listing has not existed in a usable format – till now.
Filed beneath: Air Pressure, Gordian Knot Middle for Nationwide Safety Innovation, Hacking For Protection, Nationwide Safety, Navy |
