Seeking Nontraditional Approaches to Collaborating and Partnering with Industry

An examination of three candidate concepts for collaboration and partnership between the Army and industry. The Army has a growing need to collaborate and partner with Industry. This document describes three nontraditional approaches to that goal, namely (1) forming real-estate public-private partnerships (PPPs), (2) using Army venture capital mechanisms as a research and development funding and collaborating tool, and (3) spinning off Army activities into federal government corporations (FGCs). The research shows that while the three concepts appear promising, each requires resolution of key issues before it can be seriously considered for implementation. In the case of PPPs issues include whether Army installations can propose financially sound concepts. In the case of venture capital, the potential merits of such a concept to meet the Army’s technology needs must be addressed in further detail. In the case of FGCs, the value of establishing the Army laboratories and depots as FGCs will depend on how many external commercial opportunities exist and further analysis of how best to structure continuing relationships with other Army organizations. Once these key issues are satisfactorily addressed, the Army should create pilot programs to test the concepts.