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Of the hundreds of billions of dollars a year that the Pentagon pays for products and services, a flows to established military contractors like Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, and Boeing. Military leaders want to direct more of the contracts to smaller companies.

In the past decade, the number of small businesses with Pentagon contracts has declined, said Farooq Mitha in earlier this year. He directs the Defense Department鈥檚 Office of Small Business Programs.

鈥淭his is an economic and national security risk for our nation,鈥� Mitha said. 鈥淲e risk losing mission critical domestic capabilities, innovation, and strong supply chains.鈥�

The military is trying to attract small businesses in part because they account for the vast majority of companies in the U.S., Mitha said. The efforts across Defense Department agencies to collaborate with outside organizations that may not already have strong ties with the military.

Military leaders said smaller organizations provide key advantages.

鈥淭he biggest one is risk,鈥� said Col. Martin Salinas, chief operating officer for the Air Force鈥檚 innovation arm, AFWERX. 鈥淭hose large bites at risk, at bleeding edge capability are likely coming from the great American small businesses that are trying interesting things.鈥�

It鈥檚 Salinas鈥� job to help bring those firms into the Air Force鈥檚 fold through things like the . It helps government agencies offer varying levels of financial support to smaller businesses developing technology or products an agency wants.

With AFWERX, Salinas manages more than $1 billion a year in this type of funding, the largest SBIR budget in the Department of Defense, he said. It equates to about 1,600 contracts a year.

鈥淲e understand not all of those 1,600 contracts are going to transition to a capability, but if we cast a wide net, you have a higher likelihood of finding that next great thing,鈥� he said. 鈥淚f we are funding that small American company, ideally our adversaries are not.鈥�

Challenges to break in

But the process for companies that want to tap into this pool of cash can be cumbersome and frustrating.

Patrick Hitchins learned that when he first approached AFWERX in 2018 about his company鈥檚 technology around tracking data from wearable fitness devices.

Hitchins, the CEO of Austin-based FitRankings, said he was well-received, but it didn鈥檛 make securing a contract any easier.

鈥淭he people are awesome; they鈥檙e the greatest asset of the military,鈥� he said. 鈥淭he systems in the military, the policies, and the technology itself is the most frustrating ... and the bureaucracy.鈥�

It took Hitchins a couple of months to register his company to work with the government before he could even apply for a contract, he said. His first application was denied.

Hitchins said the process has improved greatly in the past five years, but it鈥檚 still challenging to overcome how the military has traditionally handled working with outside proposals.

鈥淵ou hear this phrase a lot: 'Requirements driven,'鈥� he said. 鈥淪o if you have a great idea, and want to work with the DOD, if they don鈥檛 have a requirement for what you have, typically you cannot work with the government.鈥�

Salinas acknowledges this traditional thinking has hindered progress in the past.

鈥淕ood ideas weren鈥檛 always well received,鈥� he said. 鈥淚f there wasn鈥檛 a requirement, it was typically brushed aside.鈥�

But the mentality has subsided, Salinas said.

He adds there鈥檚 an abundance of innovative ideas, and he鈥檚 working to build demand for them inside the Air Force. That means tightening the development timeline and helping the military see that a new solution might meet most of what its looking for and likely at a better cost, Salinas said.

Military branches also have started accepting proposals from companies which may have a solution to a problem that hasn鈥檛 been explicitly identified.

Hitchins credits this 鈥渙pen topic鈥� route as the reason he was able to get his foot in the door and eventually secure a contract to

However, that contract now is over.

鈥淪ometimes technology outpaces policy or rules and regulations, and then the policy needs to catch up," Hitchins said. "It can be a painful process for that to happen.鈥�

Hitchins said he鈥檚 working with the Air Force under other contracts and seeking business with other military branches too.

鈥業t鈥檚 almost like you need to hire a consultant鈥� 

Open topics allow more companies to propose ideas , but it can also be hard for those businesses to know what they should include in the application.

鈥淭here鈥檚 not much room for creativity to get the larger vision of the product across,鈥� said Ashish Patel, a principal at DroneDomo. 鈥淵ou just don鈥檛 know who鈥檚 reading the applications on the other side; you鈥檙e unsure of 'is this the right way to frame it?鈥欌��

DroneDomo designs and builds "drone ports," small structures where drones can be stored, charged, and maintained. He鈥檚 turning to the military as a potential client because the FAA has tight regulations on civilian drones.

鈥淲e really felt like we had an innovative product and wanted to find a way to utilize it,鈥� he said. 鈥淭he military has the ability to potentially bypass some of the regulator needs.鈥�

Earlier this year, Patel鈥檚 SBIR application was rejected without much constructive feedback, he said.

鈥淭ell me why this isn鈥檛 a good application for the military,鈥� Patel said. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 know how we can change our proposal. It鈥檚 almost like you need to hire a consultant to navigate this.鈥�

Who you know

Patel came away from his experience with the impression that winning military contracts requires having contacts inside the armed services.

Small business owners who have won Pentagon contracts don't necessarily disagree.

鈥淎 lot of our success has come from the fact that we know some of these people out there, or over the years they鈥檝e seen or heard of our work,鈥� said Craig Brooks, the president and chief engineer at AP/ES Inc.

Brooks' St. Louis company has secured SBIR contracts since the late 1990s to provide engineering and analysis to determine how long fleets of aircraft will last.

Before he started AP/ES, Brooks was an industry consultant. He has come to learn that developing an innovation is sometimes the easiest part of working with the military.

鈥淲e were able to do the technology, but were we able to convince the other people to use the technology?鈥� he said. 鈥淭here鈥檚 not just one Navy, there鈥檚 not just one Air Force. You鈥檙e dealing with hundreds of entities that have their own controls, procedures, and processes.鈥�

And those points of contact change frequently because of turnover in the military ranks, Brooks said.

鈥淵ou鈥檙e having to re-introduce yourself every few years, you have to re-educate them,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hey are in a constant motion, because that鈥檚 just the nature of the military.鈥�

Despite the frustrations and challenges, Brooks and the other business owners said the SBIR and Department of Defense programs are positive and bring new technology to the military.

鈥淸The military] is a customer that is worth going through some growing pains, because it鈥檚 for all of our benefit,鈥� Hitchins said.

This story was produced by the American Homefront Project, a public media collaboration that reports on American military life and veterans.

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