Discovering a buyer in your product within the Division of Protection is tough: Who do you have to speak to? How do you get their consideration?
Searching for DoD clients
How have you learnt if they’ve cash to spend in your product?
It nearly at all times begins with a Program Government Workplace.
The Division of Protection (DoD) not owns all of the applied sciences, services to discourage or win a conflict – e.g. AI, autonomy, drones, biotech, entry to house, cyber, semiconductors, new supplies, and many others.
At this time, a brand new class of startups are trying to promote these merchandise to the Protection Division. Amazingly, there is no such thing as a single DoD-wide telephone ebook out there 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?” telephone ebook.
The DoD buys a whole bunch of billions of {dollars} of services per 12 months, and practically all of those purchases are managed by Program Government Workplaces. A Program Government Workplace could also be chargeable for a particular program (e.g., the Joint Strike Fighter) or for a complete portfolio of comparable applications (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.
This can be a traditional case of data 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 Workplaces 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 navy or a excessive rating civilian – chargeable for the price, schedule, and efficiency of a significant system, or portfolio of methods, some price billions of {dollars}.
Under is a abstract of 75 Program Government Workplaces within the Division of Protection.
You’ll be able to obtain the complete 64-page doc of Program Government Workplaces and Officers with all 602 names right here.
Caveats
Don’t rely on this doc for accuracy or completeness.
It’s doubtless incomplete and accommodates errors.
Army officers usually change jobs each few years.
Program Workplaces get closed and new ones opened as wanted.
This implies this doc was outdated the day it was written. Nonetheless it represents a useful start line for startups trying 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 Workplaces 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 price range is rising, reducing, or remaining the identical.
The perfect place to begin is by trying via an outline of all the protection price range right here. Then seek for these applications within the linked PEO Listing. You may get an concept whether or not that program has $ Billions, or $ Hundreds of thousands.
Subsequent, check out the price range paperwork launched by the DoD Comptroller –
notably the P-1 (Procurement) and R-1 (R&D) price range paperwork.
Combining the price range doc with this PEO listing helps you slender down which of the 75 Program Government Workplaces and 500+ program managers to name on.
With some observe you possibly can translate the topline, account, or Program Factor (PE) Line modifications right into a gross sales Go-To-Market technique, or at the least a speculation of who to name on.
Armed with this system description (it’s filled with jargon and 9-12 months outdated) and the Excel obtain right here and the Appendix right here –– you possibly can determine targets for gross sales calls with DoD the place your product has the perfect probability of becoming in.
The folks and organizations on this checklist change extra regularly than the cash.
Figuring out the folks is useful solely after you perceive their priorities — and cash is the perfect proxy for that.
Future Work
Finally we need to give startups not solely who to name on, and who has the cash, however which Program Workplaces 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 undertaking shall be stored up to date by the Stanford Gordian Knot Middle for Nationwide Safety Innovation.
Within the meantime ship updates, corrections and feedback to sblank@stanford.edu
Credit score The place Credit score Is Due
Clearly, the U.S. authorities intends to speak this data. They’ve revealed hyperlinks to DoD organizations right here, even itemizing DoD social media accounts. However the checklist is fragmented and irregularly up to date. Consequently, this kind of listing has not existed in a usable format – till now.
Filed below: Air Drive, Gordian Knot Middle for Nationwide Safety Innovation, Hacking For Protection, Nationwide Safety, Navy |
