Radha Plumb, the Pentagon’s AI chief, emphasizes the need for more small, innovative companies to create advanced software for the Department of Defense, spanning everything from administrative functions to combat applications. However, Plumb recognizes that ensuring the protection of proprietary information is crucial—not only from government scrutiny but also from larger prime contractors.
Addressing a DCODE webinar, Plumb referred to the challenge as a solvable issue, but one that remains unresolved, emphasizing that her division cannot tackle it alone. “This is actually a work in progress,” she stated. “We’re really open to feedback here.”
Plumb pointed out that many of these issues could be addressed through standardized contract language. However, she stressed the importance of clearly defining data rights, stating, “That level of detail is what we’re trying to work with industry on.”
This initiative is part of Plumb’s signature project, Open DAGIR, which seeks to reduce the Department of Defense’s reliance on a few major contractors and expand opportunities for smaller enterprises. Plumb likened the current procurement process to needing an entirely new phone for each app, contrasting it with her vision of an app store model where various developers can create applications for the same system. Open DAGIR aims to foster an open architecture that allows for more competition and innovation, letting the DoD maintain large-scale infrastructure while integrating software from various vendors.
For this to succeed, contractors must collaborate and adhere to common technical standards and APIs (Application Programming Interfaces), and share technical information with each other. Plumb described the situation as a complex three-body problem, stating, “We have data infrastructure that we run in a government-owned, contractor-operated way, typically with larger companies; we have government-owned data; and we have typically smaller third-party application developers. How do we manage that ecosystem with three parties?”
In a specific instance, the CDAO decided that smaller firms needed a government-provided software development environment to facilitate their coding efforts. “So,” Plumb explained, “we have a technical initiative underway — we call it ADVANA 1.2 — to actually build up that development DevSecOps pipeline that is government-owned and overseen, rather than contractor operated.”
In numerous other cases, Plumb believes that creating better, more precise contract language can resolve issues. “One solution is to be really clear on who owns what,” she noted. “We own the data, you own the IP rights for your application, the data infrastructure provider owns IP rights to that infrastructure. They owe you, as a third-party developer, the details of how to connect with that infrastructure. And the government then needs to clarify who owns the IP for that integration during the process.”
These legal and technical matters present significant challenges and will vary based on the specifics of each project. For example, Advana is transitioning from a single prime contractor (Booz Allen Hamilton) to a multi-vendor model, allowing direct government contracts with numerous smaller firms. Meanwhile, the military intelligence AI project known as Maven Smart System will retain a single prime (Palantir) but will allow the government to select smaller firms that Palantir will work with as “directed” subcontractors.
Ultimately, Advana and Maven will require distinct contracting arrangements, and the future AI projects being planned by the CDAO might call for further unique solutions. Plumb acknowledged the need for time to resolve these complexities and appealed for industry patience.
“I just want to start acknowledging the elephant in the room, which is that the Department is hard to navigate,” she said. “It is big, it is cumbersome, and especially hard for new companies and new entrants. Please don’t let that deter you.”
“We are working to be less hard to work with,” she assured.
