The Pentagon is trying ‘to be less hard to work with’ for tech companies

The Pentagon is attempting “to be less hard to work with” on data and IT projects, its chief digital officer said recently.

One way is to hold a series of industry days, starting in mid-July, Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Officer Radha Plumb said Wednesday at the AWS Summit.

But her office has also taken larger steps recently. Last month, the CDAO announced a new ecosystem — Open Data and Applications Government-owned Interoperable Repositories, or Open DAGIR — to coordinate data-sharing with companies and to increase its own data, artificial intelligence, and analytics capabilities. 

Earlier this month, DOD picked Palantir to develop the ecosystem, which will initially be used to support the Pentagon’s connect-everything effort called Combined Joint All Domain Command and Control, or CJADC2. At the time, Plumb said Open DAGIR would help DOD use “innovative solutions from the world-class software developers in both the traditional and nontraditional industrial base to create capabilities for our warfighters and decision makers.”

On Wednesday, Plumb reiterated the importance of that collaborative approach, saying the initiative is intended to help determine “where are those capability gaps that we think technology can solve” across DOD and then work to “set up a routine and repeated process to bring that to partners of industry and help them help us.”

Plumb also pointed to a June 5 memorandum of agreement that CDAO signed with the Defense Innovation Unit that she said is designed to help in “connecting with their commercial sector.”

“That’s really intended to create a clear front door for folks to come in, figure out what technology we need and have that conversation be ongoing so we can broaden the industrial base of support,” she said.

DIU, which helps accelerate DOD’s adoption of commercial technologies for military use, is also working to improve its collaboration with companies. In February, the leader of DIU said the agency was entering “a new phase” that would help the Pentagon meet the challenges posed by China and other adversaries by addressing critical gaps in the military’s technical capabilities.

Plumb served as deputy defense undersecretary for acquisition and sustainment before taking over CDAO in April.