DoD is addressing IP issues now and reforming to attract more competition in the defense sector

Editorial Director of Air & Space Forces Magazine, with more than 25 years at the publication and more than 34 years in defense journalism; New Pentagon Report Raises Alarm Over Industry Consolidation, Future of Competition; Air & Space Forces Magazine; https://www.airandspaceforces.com/new-pentagon-report-raises-alarm-over-industry-consolidation-future-of-competition/

The Pentagon touted a number of initiatives to attract new entrants, and particularly small businesses, saying it sees opportunities to draw in many companies if it can convince them that it’s reducing red tape and can offer stable timetables for competitions, awards, and production contracts. Intellectual property has been a sticking point in recent years. The Pentagon wants to own as much of the technical baseline for new programs as it can get, which in turn would promote competition for upgrades under an “open mission systems” or “open architecture” approach. Doing so helps prevent “‘vendor lock” and “other undesirable results.” But in the report, it admitted that this policy deters some companies from doing defense work. The National Defense Industrial Association, in its annual “Vital Signs” report on the health of the industry, released Feb. 2, cited the IP issue as one of the key issues deterring companies from doing defense work; the others being red tape and unreliable long-term funding. To address the problem, the Pentagon said it will adopt “best practices” from the commercial world to deal with IP needs “early in the competitive phases of the acquisition process.” It will be an “evaluation factor” in competitive contracts and a “negotiation objective” in sole-source awards. Although it will favor those willing to sell the government IP, the Pentagon will create “procedures that do not result in unnecessary anticompetitive consequences.”