DHS's chief of commercialization: competition for contracts stiffer than ever before
The good news is that there is an abundance of private-sector companies that want to work with DHS; the bad news is that with competition being stiffer than ever before, companies seeking business have to try harder to differentiate themselves from the crowded field
Thomas Cellucci, chief of commercialization for DHS, said he routinely gets about 650 e-mails daily, nearly all of them starting the same way: “Dr. Cellucci: We are the only company in the world that does …”
Cellucci is in charge of figuring what technologies and services can best help DHS do its job better, faster, and cheaper. San Diego Business Journal’s Mike Allen writes that Celluci, speaking at the seventh annual Security Summit held 10 March at the Courtyard by Marriott San Diego Airport/Liberty Station, Cellucci made it clear his agency wants to hear from innovative entrepreneurs, but they should realize there are loads of competitors out there doing much the same thing.
The Security Summit is a yearly forum to highlight and promote the rapid utilization of innovative, dual-usage security products, and services to support the $1.4 trillion security market, according to a news release promoting the event.
Allen quotes Celluci to say that the good news about what has been happening at DHS in recent years is that there is an abundance of private-sector companies that want to work with the agency. The bad news is that with competition being stiffer than ever before, companies seeking business have to try harder to differentiate themselves from the crowded field.
In a way, DHS has turned the traditional procurement process the government has long used for defense and other purposes on its head, said Cellucci. The same acquisition system used for building an aircraft carrier may be effective, though expensive, but when creating devices and services that could number in the thousands or millions of units, DHS has learned to adapt methods and processes that are more common to the private sector.
These new methods are working splendidly, he said. “We’re now developing products and services at virtually no cost to the taxpayers,” he said. Changing the mindset at some of the federal departments has not been easy, he said of his employer, which has an annual budget of $53.1 billion.
