Central Ohio Region - CDME 2
Abstract
Under the Budget Control Act 2011, Department of Defense (DoD) spending decreased by $119B from FY12 to FY18. This decrease created uncertainty within Ohio’s defense manufacturing ecosystem and may have driven some manufacturers out of the defense market altogether. There are two obstacles for small to mid-sized manufacturers to doing business with DoD – 1st, the uncertainty noted above and 2nd, the unfamiliarity with DoD and its acquisition practices. Both conspire to drive companies from the DoD market, and with that comes reduced economic activity for the State of Ohio. Success of DoD’s commercialization programs have created an unintended scenario where entire companies are envisioned, created and grown with a business purpose of competing for SBIRs. In the last decade DoD awarded 1253 SBIR Phase 1 & 2s in Ohio, only 95 of which were to new awardees. The remaining 1158 awards were to companies with multiple previous SBIRs – 3 of which received over 235 of the Phase 1 & 2 contracts. There are 2 perspectives on the SBIR program: 1) it will increase diversity of the supply base by adding new companies and ideas to the agency’s portfolio, and 2) it will exposes DoD technology managers to new innovative ideas, commercially ready or not. Regardless of which of these is more accurate, the small number of (new) companies that participated in Ohio’s program suggests that alternative approaches should be evaluated. Given the above, this project proposes to address these issues in a direct one-on-one way with small to mid-sized manufacturers within the State. This project will create a new pathway for companies that do not have a strong/existing relationship with DoD to introduce their technology to the right people, at the right Technology Readiness Level (TRL). To implement the project, CDME will pool new ideas from the regional manufacturing community, down select companies to participate in the program through proposals and oral presentations, and work with the tech owners to create targeted MVPs. MVPs will be demonstrated to DoD representatives at a biannual tech demonstration workshops and, in collaboration with the SBIR program, will be connected to appropriate DoD entities for application deployment. By generating a new path for technology owners into DoD’s network, this program will increase the proportion of dual use technologies and increase the diversification of the supply base, both of which are necessary to ensure the sustainability and on demand lethality of national security and intelligence communities. This project will also be increasing the sustainability and resilience of Ohio’s manufacturing sector while growing the DoD supply base and providing DoD access to novel technologies that are currently outside DoD’s purview.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Jul 09, 2020
- Source ID
- HQ00052010025
Entities
People
- Nathan Ames
Organizations
- Office of Local Defense Community Cooperation
- Office of the Secretary of Defense
- Ohio State University College of Engineering