New Federal Effort to Enable Venture-Backed Tech Companies to Contract with the Government

The federal government is seeking to alter the government procurement process to enable more venture-backed technology startup companies to compete for government contracts, the government's Chief Information Officer, Vivek Kundra told attendees in Washington at a conference sponsored by the Mid-Atlantic Venture Association.

In an article posted on nextgov.com, Kundra was quoted as saying: "We're looking at the procurement process to make sure we're able to tap into some of the best ideas. We cannot continue to spend billions of dollars on IT projects that haven't produced the dividends we've been looking for. The federal government can lead when it comes to innovation."

A key barrier to achieving the objective, Kundra told nextgov, is achieving a balance between the risk of a zero return on investment and the potential for accessing technology that can transform our society.

Former federal government officials speaking at the meeting on Tuesday raised the possibility of involving VCs and private equity investors in helping to bring new technologies to the government.