DoD Seeks Multiple Silicon Valley Firms to Help Store, Manage Vast Data

The Department of Defense intends to work with a group of contractors from Silicon Valley to share and handle the large volume of data the agency collects from its missions, C4ISRNet reported Sunday. Officials from the Defense Innovation Unit said sharing data across multiple contractors would help DoD avoid relying on a single system to store information, which may lead to issues on data usage rights. 

“It’s that if they make that data accessible to everyone, they lose a significant advantage over keeping the department locked into using their system, and they’re worried about being able to recoup their investment,” said Josh Marcuse, executive director on the Pentagon’s Defense Innovation Board.

Marcuse believes allowing a single company to manage all data for DoD could lead to vendor lock requiring the agency to only work with the company that locked in the first contract and access potentially filtered data. 

“It makes it that much harder for the department to improve the quality of the products and services that it provides the war fighter,” Marcuse said. 

He suggested that DoD seek a new business model to enter multiple deals with different contractors and reduce concerns with data rights and vendor lock.