The U.S. Army is making changes to a major software development effort to make it easier for commercial companies to participate. The Army had announced plans in May to award over $1 billion in software development contracts in the next 10 years. But some commercial firms were worried that the Army’s contracting strategy would not work well for companies backed by venture capital firms.
Venture capital-backed companies often prefer fixed-price deals. Tara Murphy Dougherty, CEO of defense software company Govini, said at the Aspen Security Forum in Colorado that these companies can’t bid on the Army’s contracts until the Pentagon’s acquisition offices understand how to work with them. In response to this feedback, the Army is working to clarify and rethink how it buys software through this new contract.
Jennifer Swanson, deputy assistant secretary of the Army for data, engineering, and software, said at AFCEA’s TechNet conference in Augusta, Georgia, that the Army likely won’t offer fixed-price contracts for software development. But it is looking at other flexible contracting options.
Army updates software contract strategy
“We want to make sure that non-traditionals and smalls, others without certified cost accounting systems, have the opportunity to compete,” Swanson said. The Army’s contracting command is thinking about letting companies suggest the contract type that works best for their bid. “If your solution is the one that’s chosen, then that’s the contract type that we use,” she added.
Non-traditional firms also had concerns about workforce requirements in the draft software modernization solicitation. It included labor categories requiring education levels that many commercial companies don’t have. Swanson said those requirements were included by mistake and don’t reflect what the Army needs.
The service plans to release an updated draft this week. “That’s a government requirement that we’re removing. And there are a lot of examples that way,” Swanson said.
