Seapower - December 2007

Transitioning Technology
DHS aims for more robust return on research investment

By DAVID W. MUNNS, Associate Editor

Better Business

The collusion of government and industry taking place today in the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology directorate is one President Dwight D. Eisenhower may not have expected in his 1961 farewell address.

During World War II, government and industry had become dependent on one another — forming, along with the nation’s armed forces, what Eisenhower famously dubbed the “military-industrial complex” — and he cautioned the public that the economic interests of the American industrial base must not dictate government action.

But a modern world has bred a modern government, and it seems the tables have turned. The nascent DHS Science and Technology directorate is making “return on investment” a government claim.

Now equipped with some of the brightest minds and talent in scientific research, DHS — the newest federal department — is following industry best practices when it comes to technology development. The directorate intends to institute a new arrangement, called a technology transition agreement (TTA), by the end of the year that will act as a gateway for government research and development.

DHS hopes to have all government customers sign a TTA to initiate their scientific research, but does not foresee TTA signatures as requisite to initiate research. Though not binding, the TTA essentially means government customers will have a “good faith agreement” with Jay M. Cohen, DHS Science and Technology undersecretary, that the technology they request to be developed will be salable if successfully produced.

“What we want to get away from is technologists doing technology because they like technology,” said Richard Kikla, deputy director for transition for DHS’ Science and

Technology directorate.

Cohen brought the TTA framework with him from his prior post as head of the Office of Naval Research (ONR).

As part of that framework, the undersecretary has formed 11 integrated product teams — border security, cargo security, chemical and biological defense, cyber security, explosives prevention, incident management, information sharing, infrastructure protection, interoperability, maritime security and people screening — to serve as “customers” for the directorate’s research and ensure that all parts of DHS are collaborating to solve technology challenges.

As a new organization, connecting the DHS Science and Technology directorate’s divisions with a customer from the onset of research is an easier sell than it might have been in his previous post, because DHS has nonfederal customers.

By being better able to institute “performance, cost and schedule,” Kikla said, the directorate is laying the foundation for a new government business model.

“The TTA is the real instrument,” he said. “If you can fill out a TTA, then what, when, how and why will be in place before anything begins.”

Taking a page from industry, the Department of Homeland Security’s Science and Technology directorate wants technologies developed with specific uses in mind.

■ Government customers will sign a Technology Transition Agreement (TTA) stating that the technology they want developed will be salable if successfully produced.