Defense Department Event to Seek Vendor Proposals on Contested Logistics

Col. Matt Strohmeyer, the Department of Defense’s director for the Global Information Dominance Experiments, disclosed that the DOD will hold an inaugural GIDE Challenge in the fall for industry proposals on solutions for contested logistics and contested sustainment. 

Strohmeyer, a speaker at a past Potomac Officers Club event, told DefenseScoop on the sidelines of the Air Defense Summit that the POC hosted on Tuesday that the DOD plans to use the Tradewinds Solutions Marketplace to manage the challenge, which Pentagon hopes to bring more vendor participants in GIDE. 

The upcoming event is the 12th for GIDE, and its holding has become more frequent recently, with the Pentagon’s increased focus on capabilities supporting the Combined Joint All-Domain Command and Control warfighting concept, DefenseScoop reported. 

CJADC2’s priorities include the seamless connection of the data streams among the U.S. military services and key allies and partners to support improved and faster decision-making. 

According to Strohmeyer, his office is eying multiple venues for the initial evaluation of submitted vendor proposals in the lead-up to GIDE 12 and subsequent events, which may involve weekly and monthly technical workshops. Rather than just holding numbered GIDEs, the new approach improves upon previous events with the regular discussions and feedback it aims to generate, the DOD official explained. 

The Pentagon’s Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office hosted the previous GIDE, which was billed as an industry insights forum held on July 16, to foster DOD collaboration with private industry.