Official: Pentagon realities challenge new tech contractors

Defending the nation against 21st-century threats requires products and services from high-tech companies that have never worked with the Pentagon before, Defense Department officials told industry representatives on Friday. But they cautioned that bringing those nontraditional firms into the loop would not be easy.

"We've got to improve our ability to reach out," John Stenbit, Defense's chief information officer, said at a conference sponsored by the Northern Virginia Technology Council, adding that the high-tech industry must be part of the "coalition" fighting the war on terrorism.

"That's why I'm here," Stenbit told the crowd of roughly 100. A show of hands indicated that most of the attendees had never done business with Defense.

Stenbit said it is "extremely difficult" for smaller, specialized technology firms to penetrate the defense market, in part because the Pentagon is largely stuck in the Cold War era when it comes to business practices.

"We're still in the old mode, but transformation requires that we go into the new mode," Stenbit said, referring to Defense's efforts to transform its military and administrative capabilities in a manner that reflects the global transition from the industrial age to the information age.

Deirdre Lee, director of defense procurement for the Pentagon's Acquisitions, Technology and Logistics office, noted that roughly 12,500 companies responded to last October's request for new technological ideas to help combat global terrorism.

"We are going through those, and we are identifying some of them for funding as we speak," Lee said, adding that her office plans to issue at least one more broad agency announcement this year to "welcome in" any other high-tech companies with innovative ideas.

Lee also had some advice for technology firms that are trying to reach into the defense market. "Very frequently, companies come in and say, 'We do this,' but they don't tell us how their product or service solves a specific Defense Department problem, or how it would fit into our system," Lee said.

Before making their marketing pitch, she added, companies should "do the research to understand where we are, where we're trying to go, and how your product or service will scratch that itch."

One itch that needs scratching is the Pentagon's top-priority goal of building a global Internet network that would use optical switches to transmit huge amounts of data at lightning speed.

"There's an enormous opportunity for creative people to think about what happens when we actually get into a networked world," Stenbit said, noting that the fiscal 2002 Defense budget calls for $1 billion to plant the seeds for that optical network, beginning in October. "The stuff you guys provide has to allow people to become dependent on this trusted network, whether they're writing paychecks or shooting a Tomahawk [missile]."

Stenbit told the crowd that the war on terrorism, and the military's transformational needs, have created a "real marketplace" for nontraditional defense contractors specializing in information technology. "I'm really confident that there are open ears for good ideas," he said. "But I don't suggest it's easy."