THE BREIFING ROOM

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.