Valid Eval awarded GSA contract to help U.S. Army streamline and modernize acquisition process

DENVER and WASHINGTON, June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Valid Eval, a provider of secure SaaS platform solutions that help manage complex group evaluations with transparency, efficiency and accountability, announced today it was awarded the SBIR Phase III contract through the General Services Agency (GSA) to implement large-scale evaluation services for the Department of Defense (DoD) Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics, and Technology [ASA(ALT)] in support of the U.S. Army's Applied Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) program and the Army's xTech prize competition program.

This contract award supports ASA(ALT) and the U.S. Army Futures Command, Army Research Laboratory by providing the Valid Eval tool and services to assist traditional source selection technical evaluators in assessing and selecting innovative defense technologies and solutions. Valid Eval will continue to help the Army bring innovative commercial technology to achieve Army Modernization Priorities as the engine behind assessing small business technical solutions through xTech, the Army's expeditionary technology search prize competition program to engage non-defense businesses.

"Valid Eval helps DoD bring speed, integrity and the analytic underpinnings to acquisition process and programs," said Adam Rentschler, CEO and co-founder of Valid Eval. "We must ensure our servicemen and women are the best equipped in the world. Now, more than ever, battlefield advantages are rooted in technology overmatch. As technical breakthroughs accelerate globally, acquisition professionals are more important than ever. At Valid Eval, we believe we can help support DoD's modernization with a modern, agile and evidence-based acquisition methodology. We do so across the materiel developments process from basic research through sustainment."

The Army's flagship xTech prize competition – xTechSearch - allows selected small businesses access to pitch novel technology solutions directly to Army leadership, with open calls for white papers solicited twice per calendar year. In order to improve the efficiency and quality of evaluations and feedback to the companies, the Valid Eval assessment and feedback tool was selected back in 2019 to execute evaluations, conduct data analysis, and provide company and evaluator feedback for xTechSearch.  Valid Eval has now been adopted for the broader Army xTech prize competition program to support all Army-sponsored prize competitions with 11 competitions supported to date.

"With the Applied SBIR program and Army prize competitions, our goals are to dramatically accelerate the Army's adoption of cutting-edge technologies and to build excellent relationships with non-traditional defense contractors," said Dr. Matt Willis, Director, Army Applied SBIR and Prize Competitions at HQDA ASA(ALT). "This tool allows us to take the proven workflows and capabilities from xTech and apply them more broadly. It unlocks the ability to seamlessly pull in experts from across the Army: warfighters, technologists and acquisition professionals. We're building a template for more agile, nimble and better-informed acquisition for DoD and the rest of the U.S. government." 

The Valid Eval assessment and feedback tool was first piloted for xTechSearch in 2019, leading to its adoption for the Army SBIR program. In 2021, the Army will conduct evaluations, data analysis and provide company and evaluator feedback for xTech and SBIR topics using Valid Eval.

"Not only does Valid Eval collect and analyze decision-making data, it provides quality feedback to industry so they can then improve their products and better serve the mission," said Jacob Ablowitz, CTO and COO of Valid Eval. "Our technology simplifies complex acquisition processes to defend against adversaries and improve capability development while hardening processes to easily complete audits and withstand bid protests. We do so in a cutting-edge DevSecOps environment."

The Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics, and Technology supports continuous modernization of the U.S. Army through the timely development and delivery of overmatch capability to deter adversaries and win our Nation's wars. The U.S. Army Futures Command was established in 2018 to lead Army modernization, providing future warfighters with the concepts, capabilities and organization they need to dominate future battlefields. Valid Eval's support of the Army SBIR and xTech programs is part of this rapid modernization process by transforming source selection and evaluation processes. By modernizing the acquisition process, Valid Eval serves as a model for how defense acquisitions can accelerate and improve integrity and outcomes at the same time.

The company also supports innovation pipelines for the U.S. Space Force, Department of Transportation and Department of Energy.

About Valid Eval 

Valid Eval is an online evaluation system for organizations that make and defend tough decisions. Its secure SaaS platform works efficiently at virtually any scale to allow customers in the private and government sectors to involve a wide range of applicants, subjects, domain experts, and judges in evaluation and decision-making processes —all with an unprecedented degree of transparency, efficiency and accountability that builds trust in the process. Combining best practices from the learning sciences and systems engineering, Valid Eval delivers defensible, data driven results and provides robust reporting tools that help measure and monitor performance and demonstrate mission alignment.

Learn more at: https://valideval.com/

CONTACT:
B.J. Talley
[email protected]

SOURCE Valid Eval