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One Prevalent Barrier Is the Department of Defense's (DoD's) Cumbersome Bid and Selection Processes

• These processes often require that bidders employ specialized units or employees.

Another Barrier Is DoD's Limited Communication with Potential or Actual Bidders

• Access points within DoD are lacking, and bidders reportedly have difficulty getting answers to questions about design specifications.

A Third Barrier Is Contract Administration and Management That Created Extra Work and Delays

• Delays in final payments often caused particular hardship for small businesses.

A Fourth Barrier Is a Lengthy Funding Time Line and Final Payments That Often Also Involved Delays and Gaps

• The extensive time between initial bid and initial funding can be difficult to bridge, especially for small businesses with little capital that have to cover employees' time.

The report seeks to identify barriers that companies face when attempting to enter into contracts with the Department of Defense (DoD), especially when they are not traditional DoD suppliers. To learn more about barriers, the authors interviewed personnel in companies that are in industries of likely interest to DoD and interviewed DoD personnel who work with suppliers. The interviews revealed some shared experiences that reportedly made some suppliers less willing to bid on DoD contracts: lack of access to and communication from DoD; DoD's complex and inefficient bid and selection process; the extra work and delays entailed in DoD's administration and management of contracts; and the lengthy funding time line and delays in final payments. DoD personnel interviewed had different perceptions, although they did confirm the existence of some barriers.

• Chapter One

  Nontraditional Suppliers to the Department of Defense

• Chapter Two

  Attracting Nontraditional Suppliers: A Recurring Problem

• Chapter Three

  Industries of Greatest Interest to the Department of Defense

• Chapter Four

  Interview Results

• Chapter Five

  Conclusions and Recommendations

• Appendix A

  Industries Linked to Future DoD Technologies

• Appendix B

  Interview Protocols: Business Interview Protocol for RAND Study