Terry Gerton People may know the Defense Innovation Unit for its technology work, but many may not know the acquisition side. DIU is starting a new program called the Immersive Commercial Acquisition Program. What are you trying to do with that and why now?

Cherissa Tamayori So the Defense Innovation Unit is a Department of War organization focused on accelerating the adoption of commercial technology into the department. We have been executing commercial solutions openings and other transactions for over a decade at this point and have really become the center of excellence in utilizing these authorities to acquire novel commercial technologies for the department and we created the Immersive Commercial Acquisition Program in May of 2022. In partnership with the War Fighting Acquisition University, because we recognize that the bottleneck to acquisition speed and wider adoption of these authorities within the workforce is really the workforce’s awareness of and confidence in utilizing these authorities. And so with ICAP, we provide classroom-based training led by experts within War U. When we reinforce that training, through on-the-job experience by providing our ICAP Fellows experience executing DIU prototype projects. We really wanna share the experience that we have executing these prototype projects, leveraging the CSO process and the OT authority. And then we wanna make sure that we can create change agents and create a pipeline of change agents for these military departments. So that way the military departments have champions within their own organization. Who know how to utilize and execute these types of authorities.

Terry Gerton The program says its goal is to make acquisition professionals a bridge between the Defense Department and the commercial technology sector. You talked a little bit about some practical experience as a result of this program. What does that bridge look like in practice?

Cherissa Tamayori Yeah, so what the bridge really means is that we are training contracting professionals to really think differently, to analyze risks differently, and to ultimately be a better business partner with industry. Within DIU, we focus on the need to really meet industry halfway. We want to communicate to industry what information we need to better understand what industry has to offer us and then work together to establish an agreement that meets the needs of both parties. So when an ICAP fellow really joins us and embeds within our team, they’re not just learning like the CSO process or how to execute OTs. They’re really learning the intangibles of what we do at the Defense Innovation Unit. They learn how to navigate risks. We provide them a new perspective that they may not have seen before, right? The commercial industry perspective and really we’re training them to think differently and to approach problems a little bit differently.

Terry Gerton You mentioned the CSO, the commercial solutions openings, and the OTAs, the other transaction authorities. How does DIU approach those in a way that is different from how the regular services currently use them?

Cherissa Tamayori Yeah, so the CSO was really designed to lower the barriers to entry and to attract non-traditional defense contractors to do business with the government. I think historically, when the acquisition workforce would solicit for requirements, we would be soliciting for a set of government requirements, and we assume that we knew best. And so we would set a lot of requirements, it would be a lot of rules, a lot of regulations, and would often require dozens and dozens of pages in response to our solicitation. DIUCSO processes is unique in that it starts off with a problem statement. We recognize that commercial industry often knows best in certain technology areas. And so it doesn’t really make sense for us to dictate requirements to them. Instead, we want to offer up our problem statement and have industry propose back to us. Solutions that they feel will best fit our needs. And they do this by submitting a five page white paper or a 15 page slide deck. Now this really lowers the barrier to entry for a lot of our non-traditional defense contractors. It doesn’t take much to submit a five-page white paper. And so we really are able to cast a wide net and really incentivize these non-traditionals to do business with us.

Terry Gerton Cherissa Tamayori is the Director of Acquisition for the Defense Innovation Unit. Cherissa, your last response was very much the defense view of commercial technology companies. What about the flip side of that perspective? When a commercial technology company looks at DoD and sees a system that’s slow or complicated, what do you want them to understand about how acquisition is changing?

Cherissa Tamayori Yeah, so one thing that I think I would really want these companies to understand is we are actively working to dismantle the barriers that have historically made working with the department difficult. We are working to change the culture of the acquisition workforce by shifting from a compliance kind of checklist-based approach to a more risk-based approach. We are also emphasizing speed, the need to make decisions quickly. And we are proving that the department can be a fast, serious, and a repeat customer for the commercial sector.

Terry Gerton One of the case studies that you mentioned is the prime SUSV case study. Talk us through that and how that illustrates that point that you just made, that acquisition professionals are trying to do this faster and get technology to the operator more quickly.

Cherissa Tamayori Yes, so the Prime SUSV prototype project is a great example of us aligning our demand signal with the right technologies. In this particular effort, DIU partnered with the Navy to prototype a set of next generation unmanned surface vehicles. From the contracting perspective, this was a success because we were able to utilize our competitive commercial solutions opening process with the transaction authority to execute a prototype to production pipeline in less than a year. That is really unheard of in traditional acquisition cycles. And I think the ultimate lesson for contracting professionals is really clear. When you have a clear demand signal from a mission partner, you can utilize these authorities to not only prototype technologies, but then to scale those technologies and get them into the hands of the warfighter. Faster than anyone ever thought possible, right? And that’s kind of the ultimate goal of DIU. We’re looking to not only prototype technologies, but prototype them quickly and get them into the hands of the war fighter as soon as possible.

Terry Gerton So today, when we think about defense acquisition, there’s a lot of tension between legacy major platforms and this new high-volume, low-tech maybe, technology that’s bringing in. How does DIU sit at the middle of that? And how are you trying to rationalize when do you need a major platform program? And when is this new light approach to technology the best way to go?

Cherissa Tamayori So I think where DIU sits is we are really looking to execute fast, execute and leverage commercial technology, right? So that’s kind of the niche where we sit in, where if there is a commercial technology case out there, we are focused on leveraging that commercial investment and utilizing it for defense purposes. So I this from our perspective, we focus mainly on leveraging investment that has already been made, versus creating something new and maybe investing in some of the earlier stage technology. So we’re leveraging the technology like artificial intelligence and things that the commercial sector is really investing in right now, we’re leveraging that investment and just adjusting it for defense purposes.

Terry Gerton And do you find opportunities to infuse that new technology into legacy platforms?

Cherissa Tamayori Yes, we see that often. It depends on the department program that comes to us, but there’s often areas where we can integrate new artificial technology information, new software programs. We can integrate into legacy systems, and we have seen that as part of our prototype projects.

Terry Gerton So bringing this back to the ICAP program, applications for the next cohort just opened. What skills and mindsets are you looking for?

Cherissa Tamayori Yeah, so for the next cohort, we are looking for middle to senior level contracting professionals that’s generally about the GS13 to 14 level or their military equivalents who are really experts in their field, who want to be challenged, who are open to thinking differently, and who honestly possess the grit necessary to lead acquisition transformation initiatives within their organization.

Terry Gerton When you say the grit to lead acquisition transformation, talk to me a little bit about what the biggest challenges are in bringing the ICAP mentality into the acquisition practice.

Cherissa Tamayori Like I’ve stated multiple times, I think the biggest thing that we’re often asked to do is to think differently. And I think it takes a little bit of grit to be able to try new things, to maybe go against the grain, to try different approaches, to think outside of the box. And so we need to have experienced personnel who understand the basics, but who also have the confidence to take that step, to try something new and to really push the envelope because that’s ultimately how culture changes across the department.

Terry Gerton And just circling back to the way you described standard acquisition practices, risk-averse compliance-focused is the introduction of ICAP and this new mentality expanding that window a little bit so there is more room for innovative acquisition as opposed to compliance-focused acquisition.

Cherissa Tamayori Yeah, that’s 100% the purpose of the program and our way of helping the rest of the department do business the way that we do business at DIU. We have a unique organization who have a mix of personnel from across all different types of skill sets. We have lot of commercial industry experts that work with us. We have some defense acquisition personnel like myself. And what that drives is it drives all of us to constantly be better and to constantly think differently. For other organizations who might not have that sort of dynamic within their organization, by having their employees sit alongside with us and kind of feel that dynamic, experience that dynamic, they’re exposed to this type of thinking. And then hopefully they can go back to their home organizations and share that experience and share thought process with their home organization to help push forward some of these. Acquisition transformation initiatives.