NTSA seeks disruptive technologies for Launch Pad at I/ITSEC

Team Orlando has taken the lead to create a Launch Pad forumwhere industry, academia and government participants can display their latestand greatest technologies to conference attendees, to include key governmentacquisition stakeholders, with focused presentations during I/ITSEC 2019. Theobjective is to showcase innovative and disruptive initiatives that may beincluded in future acquisition efforts.

This is the second year of the Launch Pad initiative. Basedon comments from key leaders during past I/ITSECs, there is a desire to createa venue to showcase new technologies that could transform the way NTSA conductsfuture training. The company is seeking disruptive game changing solutions(things, processes, applications), which after introduction, makes the currentmarket obsolete and eventually displaces established competitive solutions oralternate approaches. The new technology may be something that is in the earlydevelopment stage, or something that comes from a non-traditional source thathas not been included in previous acquisition efforts.

The Launch Pad initiative will target both I/ITSEC attendeesand also select government acquisition stakeholders. Current acquisitionprograms as well as Science and Technology programs will be at I/ITSEC toassess Launch Pad technologies depending on the technology readiness levels ofresponses submitted. Speed to the market is a key acquisition principle, andLaunch Pad will provide an opportunity to highlight technology that may beappropriate for rapid prototyping/rapid fielding acquisition initiatives.

NTSA is looking at a two-phased approach to creating thisvenue: 1) a public demonstration on the show floor and 2) an invitation-onlyconference room demonstration.

The public demonstration affords the opportunity to showcasetechnology/processes to a larger audience, one that a non-traditional sourcemay not normally encounter. Launch Pad will provide a demonstration space witha 220 volt power receptacle and a six-foot table. A 50-inch monitor will beavailable for display, as well as two microphones (one wired). The sessionshould consist of a 20-minute presentation followed by a 10-minute question andanswer period. Up to 10 public demonstrations will be selected.

The invitation-only demonstration addresses an importantarea of concern regarding the safeguarding of intellectual property. The LaunchPad initiative will also utilize non-disclosure agreements. Launch Pad willprovide a conference room for a live demonstration/presentation (no more than30 minutes), and work to vet an attendee list with the chosen participant.

Selected participants will conduct a public or invite-onlydemonstration based upon their desired format identified in their submission.

Participants from Industry, Government and Academia willprovide white paper proposals for evaluation utilizing the NTSA abstractsubmittal tool. CDR Nick Hackard, the only person with access to the abstractsubmittal tool, will review the proposals, remove company identifications wherepossible, and provide the proposals to a review team for blind-evaluation. Theinvite-only proposals can be submitted via email to nick.hackard@navy.mil.