Justin Fanelli

New Hub-and-Spokes post! 🚀 Capitalizing on Critical Technologies: DoD's Office of Strategic Capital and its Plan to Secure America’s Strategic Edge Three key stories shaping U.S. defense and Indo-Pacific alliances this week: 1️⃣ DoD's Office of Strategic Capital Unveils 2025 Investment Plan Focused on supporting critical technologies and national security priorities, OSC's new strategy aims to catalyze private investment in sectors crucial to America’s edge. 2️⃣ $3.6B Sale of Air-to-Air Missiles to Japan A significant step in bolstering U.S.-Japan defense cooperation with the sale of AMRAAMs, ensuring the security of U.S. personnel and regional stability. 3️⃣ NSA Jake Sullivan’s Capstone Trip to India Sullivan's visit underscores the growing U.S.-India relationship, focusing on space cooperation, nuclear collaboration, and emerging technologies. #Defense #NationalSecurity #Technology #USIndia #USJapan #Investment #StrategicAlliances https://lnkd.in/euN3a_Bb

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Michael W. MacKay, MBA announces the launch of Washington Office, a new DC-based strategy firm focused on championing frontier tech companies to advance U.S. security and prosperity. The firm aims to redefine government relations by focusing on emerging technologies and providing strategic support to startups and leading companies. • Innovation - Washington Office is launched to support startups and leading companies in harnessing emerging technologies for U.S. security and prosperity. • Security - The firm will co-host a micro-summit with NATO leaders to discuss the future of technology and its implications for national and international security. • Partnerships - Washington Office is in strategic partnership with Capital Factory, aiming to give 'Little Tech' a voice in the nation's capital. 💡You may want to consider exploring potential collaborations with Washington Office to leverage emerging technologies in defense innovation.

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Boosting, because your time is valuable, & Pete & Matt get right to the point with what you need to know. #acquisition #contracting

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🚨 Announcing the New Implementation Plan for Strengthening America’s Defense Industrial Base 🚨 I’m honored to be an integral part of executing the Department of Defense’s (DoD) new National Defense Industrial Strategy Implementation Plan (NDIS-IP). Today, the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Industrial Base Policy (OASD(IBP)) unveiled this critical plan, detailing the ongoing and future actions needed to modernize and secure our defense industrial base. This initiative outlines six cross-cutting programs designed to ensure a more resilient defense ecosystem. From collaboration across DoD components and Services to vital partnerships with industry, international allies, and stakeholders, this strategy underpins the effort required to reinforce our industrial base. 📈 The NDIS-IP addresses a unified commitment to strengthening industrial capacity, building resilience, and reducing risks across the board. This will involve: • Key partnerships with private industry, academia, and international allies, • New OTAs under the Defense Industrial Base Consortium (DIBC) for rapid research, including the recently announced request for white papers on “Critical Chemicals for Defense,” • Support from Congress as a cornerstone of sustainable security. For those interested, the unclassified NDIS-IP document is available here: NDIS-IP FY2025. https://lnkd.in/dUmSt7yd I’m inspired by the opportunity to help lead this strategic vision forward, ensuring our nation’s industrial base remains robust and capable. #NationalSecurity #IndustrialBase #DefenseStrategy #Innovation #DoD

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ICYMI: On Thursday, the Biden-Harris administration issued a National Security Memorandum on Artificial Intelligence. I had the privilege of being present for the rollout by Jake Sullivan at NDU that morning. My initial thoughts: it's good to see the conversations around this have moved past where we were just two years ago talking about AI being the end of humanity. To be sure, there are risks - people doing bad things with AI, people doing bad things to AI, and just bad/shoddy AI. However, the risk of the United States falling behind strategic competitors both in national security applications as well as broader applications that ripple throughout our economy is far greater than any Skynet scenario we might dream up. The NSM strikes a good balance here, summed up as: we need to manage the risks prudently (and have a framework for doing so) but ABSOLUTELY need to gain and maintain the lead (not only in training better models but also directly related areas such as chips and energy). https://lnkd.in/eFwJ7yZm

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The DoD Inaugural Human-Machine Interfaces CTA now has an approved Roadmap and Vision & Strategy document. They can be found here (CAC enabled). https://lnkd.in/eZU2kZan For those without a CAC, request via the DoD CTO Website, Critical Technologies page (at the bottom). https://lnkd.in/eey4y2BP There are too many Stakeholders across our Department, Industry, Partner Nations and Academia to thank for their support in 2024 to help refine, scope, prioritize and deliver this as a collaborative Strategy. We had over 300 Stakeholder engagements, 5 deliberate HMI CTA Workshops and numerous Key Leader Engagements to get this right. We will continue to refine with our Ecosystem as we drive to accelerate these technologies and set the conditions across the Department for a persistent and endemic focus on these Critical Technologies in our primary Mission Focus Areas. 2024 was great, but now the real work begins. Get Ready.

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A few things to digest here: 1. Thank you Robert Metzger for volunteering all of your time to help make things happen. 2. A tax rebate or reduction is only available AFTER the fact, so that's not going to help much at all. Small businesses live or die on cash flow. 3. Any kind of loan - with interest - doesn't help the business, it just puts it further in debt. 4. Even if a business goes through with all of this, there is NO GUARANTEE they will ever win or renew a DiB contract. Ideas: Why not just have the government front the cost, and then deduct it from the payment? This would incentivize the government and prime contractors to use many different sub-contractors. Why not just use DIBCAC assessors to do the third party attestations? There is no training necessary.

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We have the opportunity to collaborate with some of the best technology companies in the industry to match capabilities to critical government needs. In discussion with government, one of the common questions that you will hear is, "What TRL is the technology." Technology Readiness Level, or TRL, determines whether a technology in mature enough to include in a larger system. In 1999, the GAO published an influential report called, Best Practices: Better Management of Technology Can Improve Weapon System Outcomes. This report concluded that using immature technology increased program risk and recommended wider use of TRLs. The revised and reissued report is a great reminder of best practices for evaluating the readiness of technology for use in acquisition programs and projects. The Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering also published a Technology Readiness Assessment Guidebook in June 2023. C5BDI Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering NavalXDoD SBIR/STTR Program Office Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA)Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) Marine Corps Systems Command

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🚨 DOD Funding Course for University Researchers coming soon: Thank you to everyone who voted in my recent poll on what topics you would like help with this summer. Rather than hold a webinar for this topic, because it was the most popular, I decided to go ahead and make that material into a video course. The slides are done and I'll be recording it over the next couple weeks. You can expect it to be available mid-late June. 👉 Request: If you have any specific DOD-funding-related questions or concerns, please leave them in the comments or send me a DM. That way I can make sure I answer these questions in the course. The course will be FREE. The structure will be as follows: 1. Why Consider DOD Funding 2. The DOD Approach to Funding 3. DOD Funding Organizations 4. DOD Programs 5. How to Search for DOD Funding 6. How to Learn what DOD has Funded 7. Connecting with People at DOD 8. Taking the Next Steps I look forward to getting this badly needed resource out to PIs. 👍

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Hey GOVCON Small Business Leaders! Mount Indie has helped many small businesses grow. Some of our clients we have taking from 30 to over 100 people. We have done this multiple times. I know what you are thinking... sounds like you badge flipped people after a proposal win... Or this was all on Prime contract work which is easier to fill. Nope. This is usually across competitive IDIQ's for sub-contractors across a variety of skills and geographically dispersed programs. This is the type of growth any SB GOVCON would strive for. Doubling the size of your business in 18 months while avoiding placement fees. So How do we do this. 🚀 We are extremely good at recruiting cleared candidates 🚀 We understand the ins and outs of GOVCON like no other 🚀 We build strong partnerships with our clients (Partners) I have actually hesitated throwing this out there for some time because the results almost seem to good to be true. But if you are tired of working with recruiting firms in the cleared space that don't deliver, it might be time to call Mount Indie  

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A review of 2024 in DoD Acquisition and Sustainment by William LaPlante, Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment. Examples of building resilience include: Joint Production Accelerator Cell (JPAC) and its impact on multiple weapons systems including Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile (JASSM), Long-Range Anti-Ship Mis­sile (LRASM), Tomahawk, Harpoon, and F-16. Regional Sustainment Framework (RSF), which established with international allies & partners "a distrib­uted maintenance, repair, and over­haul (MRO) network placed closer geographically to the point of opera­tional need." Publishing of the first evert National Defense Industrial Strategy (NDIS) in order to "guide genera­tional change toward a more robust, resilient, and modernized defense in­dustrial ecosystem..." Competitive Advantage Pathfinders (CAPs), "which employ modular open systems approaches and cross-Service integration to streamline development and fielding." Re-energizing nuclear and biodefense capabilities through work by the Nuclear Weapons Council (NWC) and the Biodefense Council (BDC). #defenseindustry #Acquisitionreform https://lnkd.in/eDrypNGy 

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DOD to further scale out ADVANA, a multi-domain analytics and AI platform with a multiple award, $15 Billion, 10 year program to between 50 to 70 companies of all shapes and sizes. https://lnkd.in/gGzUj962

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Comprised of former DoD and A&D startup operators, Approach's mission is to enable founding teams building the future of frontier technology to achieve their full potential. Next week's Field of View newsletter will publish on January 2. Several topics within our venture section are included below - subscribe to receive to your inbox each month: - Clean Capital Certification (Future Union) - New American Industrial Alliance - National Security / Defense-Focused Venture Fund Announcements by America’s Frontier Fund ($175mm) and Humba Ventures ($40mm) 𝘈𝘥𝘥𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴: Attio, AFWERX, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), Susa Ventures, The Wall Street Journal, United States Space Force, United States Air Force, US Army, US Navy, Palantir Technologies, Narya, 8VC, Hadrian, General Catalyst, Eclipse, Oklo Inc, Impulse Space, Tamarack Global, Y Combinator, Atomic Industries, JLL, Joby Aviation 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦. #aerospaceanddefense #approachventure #earlystage #venturecapital #startups https://lnkd.in/eudgSUtm

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🌟 A Veteran's Perspective: How Data-Driven Support Transforms My VA Experience 🌟 As a proud veteran and beneficiary of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) services, I am continually inspired by the transformative power of data-driven support in enhancing my total business experiences within the VA ecosystem. 🇺🇸💼 The personalized care and seamless journey I have experienced at the VA are a direct result of their strategic use of data analytics. From streamlined healthcare access to tailored educational benefits and career guidance, every interaction is optimized to meet my unique needs as a veteran. 📊💡 Through data-driven insights, the VA ensures that my benefits are processed efficiently, my appointments are scheduled promptly, and my overall well-being is prioritized. The commitment to leveraging data to improve services has not only made my experience as a veteran more convenient but also more meaningful and impactful. 🌟🤝 I am grateful for the VA's dedication to empowering veterans like myself through data-driven support. By continuously refining their services based on data analysis, the VA exemplifies a commitment to excellence and a deep respect for those who have served our country. 🙌🎖️ #VeteranVoices #DataTransforms #CustomerExperience #VAExcellence

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