THE BREIFING ROOM

Share-in-Savings contracts allow firms to fund modernization through the inefficiencies they eliminate. It is a high-risk, high-reward model that bypasses budget constraints by turning waste into revenue. Success requires deep financial engineering and the ability to prove value before getting paid.

A commercial pitch deck sells a vision; a DoD Quad Chart sells a solution. To win in defense, founders must trade their slides for "capture artifacts"—dense, government-literate documents that answer the Program Manager's specific questions on requirements, integration, and funding. Here is how to build your "Jump Kit."

Traditional contracts pay for effort; Performance-Based contracts pay for results. This shift allows technology firms to compete on value rather than labor rates. Winning requires shaping the metrics to reward innovation, not just compliance. Here is how to navigate the shift from SOW to PWS.

A "fair price" is not necessarily a "winnable price." Firms that price based on internal costs consistently lose to competitors who price based on market intelligence. Pricing to Win (PTW) is the discipline of finding the market's price point first, then reverse-engineering a profitable solution to meet it.

Fixed-price contracts punish risk; cost-plus contracts often subsidize inefficiency. The Incentive Contract bridges this gap, aligning profit with performance. For mature firms, it is the mechanism to turn operational efficiency into higher margins. Here is the calculus behind the deal.

The PEO signs the contract, but they rarely make the decision alone. The "hidden ecosystem" of FFRDCs, UARCs, and Service Labs validates the technology and writes the requirements. Winning requires influencing the architects, not just pitching the buyer.

Innovation is unpredictable; fixed-price contracts are not. For deep-tech founders, the Cost Plus Fixed Fee contract is the essential "safe harbor" that shifts financial risk to the government. However, accessing this funding requires surviving the DCAA audit. Here is how to operationalize your back office to secure the contract that funds your moonshot.

The DoD doesn't buy on enthusiasm; it buys on a calendar. Founders who treat defense sales as a quarterly sprint will starve. Success requires aligning with the 36-month PPBE cycle—a campaign that begins two years before the RFP is ever written. If you aren't in the POM, you aren't in the market.

A federal proposal is not a white paper; it is an answer key to a strict test. Firms that write to showcase their brilliance lose to firms that write to make the evaluator's job easy. Winning requires stopping the "marketing" and starting the rigorous mapping of requirements to solutions.

A federal proposal is not a white paper; it is an answer key to a strict test. Firms that write to showcase their brilliance lose to firms that write to make the evaluator's job easy. Winning requires stopping the "marketing" and starting the rigorous mapping of requirements to solutions.

For deep-tech firms, Firm-Fixed-Price contracts are a risk; Cost-Plus contracts are a safe harbor. However, accessing this funding requires mastering the DCAA audit. Success lies in building the operational rigor to manage cost-reimbursement structures before the bid is submitted.

Waiting for the RFP is a losing strategy. By the time requirements are published, they have likely been written to describe the incumbent's solution. Ethical shaping is not lobbying; it is the proactive process of educating the government on the "art of the possible" to ensure the final solicitation allows for innovation.

The Firm-Fixed-Price contract is a binary instrument: it rewards efficiency with uncapped margins but punishes miscalculation with insolvency. Unlike cost-plus vehicles that subsidize effort, FFP demands outcomes. Success requires knowing when to leverage its "black box" simplicity and when to reject it for high-risk R&D.

The gap between commercial innovation and national security is a translation problem, not a technology problem. Introducing the launch of DualSight, a boutique advisory firm focused on providing the strategic clarity and operational rigor required to bridge that divide.