Michael Brown, director of the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU), said he believes the Department of Defense should reform its system of procurement to address the “DOD valley of death” between developing a prototype and deploying a program of record, the Washington Business Journal reported Wednesday.
He said DOD should change how it identifies systems for procurement through contract requirements, how it buys systems through its acquisition process and how it budgets for acquisition programs.
“The DOD-unique valley of death is when we bring a company through a successful prototype, and when they are ready to scale, the Department says, ‘Wait, I haven’t budgeted for that yet,'” Brown said at an event Tuesday.
“So that process, the two-and-a-half years of budgeting, really needs to be condensed and we need some flexibility around the edges so that successful technology can scale more quickly,” he added.
Brown is scheduled to speak at the Potomac Officers Club’s 8th Annual Defense and Research Summit on Jan. 19th. Click here to register for the event to hear from government and industry leaders as they discuss DOD’s innovation priorities, tech advancements and strategies to improve its defense capabilities and maintain its competitive edge.
