One Digital Destination, Millions of Opportunities

View Online One Digital Destination, Millions of Opportunities April 3, 2025 | By Devon Bistarkey, Defense Innovation Unit Companies and academic institutions will soon be able to match their technologies and products to real Defense Department business opportunities using the latest generative artificial intelligence tools in a secure platform.   For the department, this means platform users can discover commercial and academic capabilities that meet their mission needs in one digital location. The Defense Innovation Unit is partnering with commercial technology companies to develop the DOD Digital OnRamp platform in collaboration with organizations across the department, including service members, acquisition professionals, research scientists and the innovation community. Leveraging the latest advancements in AI and large language model technologies, the OnRamp tool will be a single sign-on platform that simplifies and enhances the process of matching private sector capabilities with defense opportunities. "As a matching tool for commercial technology and the department, we are seamlessly and securely integrating data sets to help the commercial sector find the best fit for their technology matched to a defense need with the training and support needed while also making commercial and academic solutions visible to department employees trying to solve a mission problem," said Cheryl Ingstad, DIU deputy director of digital platforms and developer ecosystem. The goal is to ease the burden of navigating the disconnected ecosystem of websites that serve as entry points to DOD solicitations. It is a key step in how the department is providing a low-barrier-of-entry capability for the private sector to discover defense opportunities. Rapid and frictionless discovery of opportunities, aligned with training resources, will accelerate the adoption of commercial technologies at scale.   American innovators with dual-use technologies want to engage with DOD but encounter complexities in the bureaucracy, Ingstad said. By surveying and analyzing how private sector users find opportunities across the defense marketplace, Ingstad's team discovered that many nontraditional technology companies spend significant time networking through human contacts to arrive at the appropriate opportunity. Many others devote numerous hours to multiple DOD websites and platforms, all with different search functions and entry requirements. OnRamp aims to simplify the search process by using AI-powered conversational search tools to make matches instantly. "Imagine the speed and scale of innovation that can be achieved when an AI-enabled platform connects countless companies, professors and students to billions of dollars of DOD opportunities," Ingstad said. "This platform will offer a free, intuitive pathway for companies to find an opportunity — and for DOD employees to find commercial solutions to mission problems." For industry, the platform represents a transformative shift in how the department historically, and sometimes disjointedly, shares opportunities for doing business with the government. The OnRamp platform is analogous to travel search websites, which save users from searching individual airline or hotel sites to find the best fares. Likewise, the platform represents a single entry point for DOD to an ever-growing number of enormous data sources, including DOD platforms with commercial technology data. OnRamp will also direct users to helpful training while reducing the burden of having users learn multiple website interfaces and the need to apply for multiple accounts to find opportunities.   As a single navigation point, the platform will also push opportunities to innovators versus relying on them to conduct independent searches at the exact release time of an opportunity. The platform will maintain a real-time repository of private sector capabilities within its secure database that government users can search. This capability enhances the conduct of due diligence activities in a secure environment. DIU is evaluating user experience surveys and technical data from a December 2024 technology demonstration to develop requirements for the next phase — delivering the minimum viable product later this year. "DIU, in partnership with the greater Defense Innovation Community of Entities, is excited to bring speed and scale through this digital platform to the commercial innovators across America," Ingstad said. Signups are available here for those interested in becoming a test user.

ABOUT   NEWS   HELP CENTER   PRESS PRODUCTS

Unsubscribe | Contact Us

 

This email was sent to stevenmagallanes520.nims@blogger.com using GovDelivery Communications Cloud on behalf of: U.S. Department of Defense 1400 Defense Pentagon Washington, DC 20301-1400