Discovering a buyer on your product within the Division of Protection is tough: Who do you have to discuss to? How do you get their consideration?
In search of DoD clients
How are you aware if they’ve cash to spend in your product?
It virtually at all times begins with a Program Govt 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 area, cyber, semiconductors, new supplies, and many others.
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 beneath as a “Who buys within the authorities?” cellphone ebook.
The DoD buys lots of of billions of {dollars} of services per yr, and practically all of those purchases are managed by Program Govt Places of work. A Program Govt Workplace could also be chargeable for a particular program (e.g., the Joint Strike Fighter) or for a whole portfolio of comparable applications (e.g., the Navy Program Govt Workplace for Digital and Enterprise Companies). 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 start out.
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 Govt Places of work and their Program Govt Officers and Program/Mission Managers.
Every Program Govt Workplace is headed by a Program Govt 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 serious system, or portfolio of programs, some value billions of {dollars}.
Beneath is a abstract of 75 Program Govt Places of work within the Division of Protection.
You possibly can obtain the complete 64-page doc of Program Govt Places of work and Officers with all 602 names right here.
Caveats
Don’t rely upon this doc for accuracy or completeness.
It’s doubtless incomplete and accommodates errors.
Navy officers sometimes 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 place to begin for startups seeking to work with DoD.
How you can Use The PEO Listing As A part of A Go-To-Market Technique
Whereas it’s useful to know what Program Govt 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 price range is growing, lowering, or remaining the identical.
The most effective place to start out is by trying by an summary of your entire protection price range right here. Then seek for these applications within the linked PEO Listing. You may get an thought whether or not that program has $ Billions, or $ Thousands and 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 Govt Places of work and 500+ program managers to name on.
With some follow you possibly can translate the topline, account, or Program Aspect (PE) Line modifications right into a gross sales Go-To-Market technique, or a minimum of 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 possibly can determine targets for gross sales calls with DoD the place your product has one of the best probability of becoming in.
The individuals and organizations on this record change extra continuously than the cash.
Realizing the individuals is useful solely after you perceive their priorities — and cash is one of the best proxy for that.
Future Work
In the end we need 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 mission will probably be saved up to date by the Stanford Gordian Knot Heart 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 info. They’ve revealed hyperlinks to DoD organizations right here, even itemizing DoD social media accounts. However the record is fragmented and irregularly up to date. Consequently, one of these listing has not existed in a usable format – till now.
Filed below: Air Pressure, Gordian Knot Heart for Nationwide Safety Innovation, Hacking For Protection, Nationwide Safety, Navy |
