SBIR/STTR PROGRAMS: How ETC’s Methodology is Helping The DON

By: Rachel Crespo, Engineer

The Department of the Navy (DON) Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Program Management Office tasked ETC to do some scoping and research and identify areas where we can improve the number of small businesses participating in the Navy’s SBIR/STTR programs. We have a particular emphasis on underrepresented companies, which in the eyes of the DON are Small Disadvantaged Businesses (SDBs), Women-Owned Small Businesses (WOSB), Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Businesses (SDVOSB), and HUBZone certified small businesses.

We started this project by creating a scalable methodology that leverages data and metrics from various sources, calling it the TechFire® Magnifying Glass, also mentioned by Bingo in this issue. The tool assesses different U.S. cities’ ecosystems and picks the best positioned ones for underrepresented firms.

To determine which cities to outreach to, we focus on four key parameters:

City potential – We use the JSA ranking, done by two MIT economists that ranked 102 U.S. cities they have identified to be potential new technology hub cities;

Government investments – We look at the investments made in the area over the last ten years;

Collaborative Partners – We identify the economic development organizations in the area to see who we could partner with;

Company potential – We use census data to see how many socially/economically disadvantaged businesses exist there

Once we choose our initial shock group of cities, we can engage with the local organizations there. The data in the Magnifying Glass gets pulled into automated engagement products. We send partner organizations their Automated TechFire® Ecosystem Assessment Report, which introduces the DON SBIR/STTR programs and provides a snapshot summary of their data. We also send them a TechFire® presentation, allowing them to peak over the fence and view other cities’ in this outreach project’s data.

We have outreached to the Minority Business Development Agencies (MBDA) and/or the Procurement Technical Assistance Centers (PTAC) in Houston, TX, El Paso, TX, Detroit, MI, Omaha, NE, Alexandria, VA, Southwest Pennsylvania, and Montpelier, Vermont with positive results. The cities’ organizations have agreed to collaborate with us on this project. As partners, they have committed to monthly 15-min tag-up meetings where we can discuss progress and successes. These cities have agreed to cc’ ETC on any outreach activities they do. An example of an outreach activity can be the MBDA reaching out to a specific company in their network about a topic they have a matching technical capability.

They will connect us to any other local collaborators in the area and fill out a monthly highlights report where they document the outreach activities, new SBIR participation, and if any of their companies received an award. In return, we will give them multi-city monthly highlights report that will be a roll-up of all cities participating, so they can share lessons learned and best practices.

We are incredibly excited to see the effects of this project and to continue to steadily engage our city partners.

The Dragon’s Jaw Bridge: An Example Of Weapon Effectiveness

By: John Fischer, Principal Scientist

One of the many challenges experienced by military weaponeers is matching available weapons with designated targets. An example of how a challenging target was finally defeated with new technology is the Thanh Hóa (aka Hàm Rồng, Dragon’s Jaw) Bridge, found in the Thanh Hóa Province of former North Vietnam.

A fighter jet in areal combat.
– Jaws of the Dragon – Illustration by Stan Stokes

– Early in the Vietnam war, the Thanh Hóa bridge was identified as a primary supply link for the Communist’s movement of men and war supplies to support South Vietnam operations. Upon designation as a high-value target, American Navy and Air Force airmen flew a total of 873 sorties against the bridge with no success. Missions against this site, which became known as Hàm Rồng, Dragon’s Jaw, resulted in the loss of 104 pilots.

In 1960, the first successful demonstration of a new technology known as the LASER occurred at the Hughes Research Lab in Malibu, CA. At the Army Missile Command’s laboratory at Redstone Arsenal, AL, scientists and engineers became aware of this device and began investigating LASER light to designate targets. Nothing similar had ever been done. Still, these innovators successfully built and demonstrated a prototype LASER designator system in 1964. While not an Army mission at the time, the DoD’s acquisition community immediately saw potential and awarded contracts to the industry for advanced prototypes. Success as an operational system was demonstrated, again, at Eglin AFB in 1966. A production acquisition soon followed it in 1967.

On 27 April 1972, Air Force F-4 Phantoms, equipped with the world’s first laser-guided bomb (LGB), flew a single mission against the Thanh Hóa Bridge. The target was destroyed with no loss of American aircraft or casualties. This story illustrates the value of science and technology and the role of the military’s technical base in developing innovative solutions to difficult problems.

As we in ETC continue to build the justification for increased investments in next- generation energetic materials, we should always remember that weapon performance and effectiveness are critical to military success. With existing precision targeting and weapon guidance, warfighters can place a weapon exactly where it needs to go. However, adversaries continue to harden their high-value assets making defeat with available weapons difficult, as was seen with the Dragon’s Jaw. We need to continue our pursuit of improving weapon effectiveness with new energetics and innovative systems design approaches.

COST ANALYSIS OF POLICE BODY-WORN CAMERAS IN MARYLAND: A Review and Results of National Studies Applied to Maryland

By: Matthew Crowe, Economic Development Analyst and Gene Lauer, Economic Development Consultant

Download the full report here.

Executive Summary: The Energetics Technology Center, Inc. undertook a cost analysis of implementing police body worn camera programs in Maryland. Pursuant to Senate Bill 71, the Maryland Police Accountability Act of 2021, all county law enforcement agencies performing the police function, as well as the State Police, must implement body worn camera programs by 2025. Certain counties are required to comply as soon as 2023. While there are some random estimates of costs for a few departments provided in SB 71’s Fiscal and Policy Note, no statewide cost of implementation has been calculated previously to our knowledge. This study provides a range of such costs likely to be incurred in Maryland, collectively and by police component, for all mandated agencies, as well as for municipal police departments that are not yet, at least, covered under the provisions of SB 71.

While the study reviews and provides the results of several national studies conducted on the costs and benefits of body worn cameras, our analysis is limited to costs only, with no attempt to quantify real or perceived benefits. A number of jurisdictions have implemented full or partial body worn camera programs in the State, and the study makes no attempt to adjust for or discount costs downward for those jurisdictions which are already incurring expenses for their programs. The study provides ranges rather than one cost to reflect differences in body worn camera technology options that can be selected. The study also provides contract cost estimates on a per officer/camera basis, as well as an average personnel cost likely to be incurred to staff the program to derive a more accurate cost of implementation. Finally, the study’s cost estimates are derived from a combination of interviews, email responses and publicly available press releases and accounts, informed by the results of the aforementioned national studies.

The study estimates the average annual contract cost of a body worn camera program in Maryland, including support personnel costs, of $2445 per officer/camera. This results in a statewide total cost of $32,415,820, including municipalities. The lower and higher ends of the range of costs are $1791 and $3788 per officer/camera, respectively, reflective of the nature of the technology and storage options selected. Statewide, at the lower end of the range, costs are estimated at $24,176, 524, while costs at the higher technology option range, were all agencies to select that option, and could total as much as $50,016,752.

Finally, the study provides additional considerations regarding relative affordability issues, potential cost offsets, and future artificial intelligence/machine learning applications.

Download the full report here.

ETC In The Community: Port Tobacco River Conservancy

The Port Tobacco River Conservancy (PTRC) is a conservation advocacy group active in Charles County, Maryland. In 2001, residents near the river became alarmed over its unhealthy conditions, resulting mainly from failing septic and sewage systems. Since then, the scope of concerns for PTRC has broadened to cover issues of rainwater runoff, silting and trashing of the river, and the overall environmental health of the river watershed. 

PTRC 1

Our vision is that the Port Tobacco River and its 30,000-acre watershed will be restored to nearly pristine condition, as they were in the 1950s. PTRC’s work is about more than just environmental advocacy – it has taken on numerous conservation projects, each of which may be one small step. Still, together these projects protect and improve the ecological health of the river and its watershed. You can see the lasting impact of many of these completed projects today. Trees planted in five acres near the Northwest corner of Hawthorne Rd., at Mitchell Rd., are now over 15 feet tall and are helping to control erosion that once flowed into the Port Tobacco Creek – just one of several tree planting projects. 

Rain Gardens have been completed in a few locations – a meditation garden at Christ Church in La Plata (available to all) and educational gardens at McDonough High School and Craik Elementary School. PTRC was a significant contributor to the pavilion that Charles County erected in the Port Tobacco River Park. We plant and maintain native plant pollinator attractors at the park.

We worked with United Way of Charles County on the “Watershed Discovery and Exploration” project, providing kayak and canoeing adventures for children of low-income families. The kids learned about native plants and animals in our watershed and how to protect them. North Point High School students participated in an invasive plant control program, including hands-on training on removing these harmful plants. PTRC has just finished the construction of an “outdoor classroom” at Craik Elementary School, which it will use for instruction about the environment. These are just a few examples of the many educational and environmental activities the organization conducts. We also organize activities that promote appreciation of the beauty and importance of the river, its watershed, and its ecosystem. Each year, with the help of many students and citizen volunteers, we conduct trash cleanups along the shoreline. PTRC worked with the county to install an “Eagle Webcam” focused on a nest that is used each year by a pair of eagles named “Hope” and “Chandler.” You can live-view their nest on the PTRC webpage.  

PTRC’s success in pursuing its vision of a healthy river and environment relies on two essential components: its volunteers’ work and the financial support of sponsors such as the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, the principal financial sponsor of our projects. PTRC is very grateful to ETC for being one of the most consistent, strongest, generous, and reliable corporate sponsors for many years!  Additional Information at: porttobaccoriver.org

PRTC 2

Is it Possible to Move the Needle? How ETC Can Make Substantial Impact On National Security?

By: Emerson Kesler

We are proud to support the United States National Security Enterprise! Those are words you will hear on videos from the ETC website interviews that go to the heart of what this organization is all about. Still, the National Security Enterprise is big, bureaucratic and it is slow to change and react. Often it is overwhelming to believe that an organization the size of ETC can make a substantial impact. I am here to tell you that it can! Sometimes, all it takes is to overcome inertia and start the ball rolling to make significant changes.  

We have just concluded a substantial study on the state of energetics. Energetics is a critical component to our national defense’s future and a necessary technology moving forward in our nation’s space and energy portfolio. The study identified seven overarching recommendations that are essential toward achieving this end. But it will not happen without establishing national advocacy, sizable financial investments, and radical changes to how the Government manages this technology. All seemingly overwhelming objectives. Is it possible to move the needle?  

Entrepreneurs have had such a significant impact on this country. Just look around us. We have phones that are mini-computers, and every app you can think of streams videos. We can search anything, record high-resolution images, communicate with multiple people, track your current and future location, and even monitor your health. It was all almost unimaginable twenty-five years ago. 

What does this have to do with ETC and Energetics? Like entrepreneurs, intrapreneurs are catalysts for change, the innovators working within a company or organization. They have many of the same traits. They create an idea or product, sell it, garner support, are proactive, become committed, and are almost obsessed with driving toward their vision. Intrapreneurs are motivated by the greater good over personal financial achievement.  

Here is the example of a small group of government employees who, as part of a master’s program assignment in the early ’90s, had the idea of using the internet to create a contracting portal. All solicitations and contracts were now in the system, potentially saving millions of dollars in distribution costs and substantially reducing contracting time. Six weeks later, and with only a $150K investment from a senior leader, the site became operational. It was the Federal Government’s first e-commerce site. That portal would soon service the Army, Navy, Commerce, State, and Interior Department before being given to the General Service Administration in 2001 and becoming FedBiz Opportunities and now SAM.Gov. Moved the needle? Absolutely! 

There are dozen similar examples within the Government, where a few individuals made significant changes with limited resources and without initial support from senior leadership. Still, they accomplished extraordinary things!