By Daniel Smoot, Office of Army Prize Competitions and Army Applied SBIR Program

WASHINGTON – Six small-business innovators will help develop the Army Tech Marketplace, an intuitive artificial-intelligence-enabled online portal that seeks to drive the innovation and transition of critical technologies across the Army enterprise.

Unveiled at the October 2022 Association of the United States Army Annual Meeting and Exposition by the Under Secretary of the Army, Hon. Gabe Camarillo, the Army Tech Marketplace will expand the Army’s collaborations with industry. To support this expansion, the Army Small Business Innovation Research Program released a solicitation in March requesting small businesses to submit proposals for participation.

Via the submissions, the Army assessed companies’ proposed portals and their potential ability to easily compile information such as technological capabilities, maturity level and milestone delivery schedules. The Army then selected six businesses with solutions that can offer two distinct levels of information access and platform views for internal Army stakeholders and external, emerging technology vendors.

“The Army Tech Marketplace will increase the speed of innovation by leveraging information on technology research, development and resource opportunities across the Army enterprise,” said Dr. Matt Willis, director of Army Prize Competitions and the Army Applied SBIR Program, in the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics and Technology. “The portal will also support the Soldier by facilitating greater transition of innovative technologies, while mutually benefiting Army offices, labs and acquisitions.”

Capitalizing on the Army SBIR contract structure, the six small businesses will each receive $200,000 for a four-month period of performance. Throughout the Phase I contract period, awardees will coordinate with Army experts who will offer key insight to develop and design the proposed platform.

Army Tech Marketplace Awardees

• Cybernet Systems Corporation; Ann Abor, Mich.; “Army Tech Marketplace”
• Project Syntropy Inc.; Miami; “Syntropy: LLM-Native Interfaces & Search-as-a-Service APIs for the Innovation”
• Technergetics LLC; Utica, N.Y.; “Army Tech Marketplace for Collaborative Innovation”
• Tradespace Inc.; San Francisco; “Facilitating Collaboration, Engagement and Commercialization through an AI-Powered Marketplace”
• Trenchant Analytics LLC.; Chantilly, Va.; “AI Empowered Army Tech Marketplace”
• Unlabel Innovation LLC; Minnetonka, Minn.; “Army Tech Marketplace”

After developing a detailed technical presentation in Phase I, the small businesses will help deliver and deploy a simple and intuitive software platform. Through these solutions, the broader AI-driven portal will improve awareness of research and development efforts, funding and incentives between Army, joint service and innovation economy members to solve mutual technology problems via a rapid, low-cost exchange of information. As a result, the Army Tech Marketplace will foster a broader national defense industrial base by attracting companies unfamiliar with working with the Army and joint services into government contracting.

The Army Applied SBIR Program awards Phase I contracts to small businesses and nontraditional vendors with solutions that offer technical merit, feasibility and commercial potential. The program provides Phase II awards to those that can address Army needs and gain further federal support. Direct to Phase II awards are reserved for mature technologies that are ready for demonstration.

Small businesses can also engage with technical, acquisition and operational subject-matter experts. These specialists offer information regarding the Army’s technological needs and guidance from the Army research and development ecosystem.

Companies capitalize on this resource through collaboration with technical points of contact who serve as resources for businesses while they mature their technologies for eventual insertion into Army acquisition programs.

The Army Applied SBIR Program releases contract opportunities ad hoc to respond to current and anticipated warfighting technology needs. For eligibility information and a list of open topics, please visit armysbir.army.mil and follow @Army_SBIRSTTR.

The Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics and Technology leverages technologies and capabilities to provide U.S. Soldiers a decisive advantage in any environment by developing, acquiring, fielding and sustaining the world’s finest equipment and services. For more information, visit army.mil/asaalt and follow @ArmyASAALT.