IC Agencies ‘Operate in the Gray’ to Accelerate Acquisition

Federal acquisition professionals have long wrestled with the Sisyphean balance of buying technology specifically tailored to an agency’s mission and trying to field it fast enough through the contracting process for the tools to stay relevant.

It’s a process that often drives results not in months, but years. But with the increased emphasis on procuring commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) technology, Intelligence Community leaders are driving for a contracting environment that can cast off traditional shackles and operate with speed.

“As we shift to commercial-first thinking, our role in [Commercial Space Office] is to help our executives, our program offices think more opportunistically,” said Col. Timothy Trimailo, director of the Commercial Space Office for Space Force’s Space Systems Command, at the AFCEA/INSA Intelligence and National Security Summit Thursday. “So less about the prescriptive requirements and more about, ‘What is the end state?’”

The New Culture of Acquisition

The Trump administration’s recent acquisition reforms and broader embrace of commercial technology are accelerating agencies’ path toward a more service-based technology approach, where contracting officers buy capabilities they can refresh quickly from contractors rather than the traditional tech stack they have to maintain.

The new approach has required the IC to think differently about how it shapes acquisition practices to onboard and refresh its tech quickly.

“It’s been a change in mindset into being able to be more comfortable operating in the gray, thinking outside of the box and trying to move away from that natural tendency that you have to rely on those established processes that can overbuild compliance,” said Efstathia Fragogiannis, chief procurement officer at CIA, on a panel discussing how to speed up the acquisition process.

Since joining the CIA in November 2025, Fragogiannis said the agency has reduced its average acquisition timeline from two to three years to six months, in part by reducing the number of acquisition reviews in the decision process, but also by empowering the workforce to look for areas where operations can be streamlined.

Moving Away From the Program 0f Record

Trimailo said that instead of agencies owning individual contract programs consisting of bespoke technology solutions or commercial solutions, they will utilize a tailored mix of solutions geared toward a broader mission set.

“Every company that I’ve talked to, the pot of gold at the end of the road is, ‘I need to get a program of record.’ I would like to get us away from that terminology completely,” he said.

As a result, Portfolio Acquisition Executives, established in 2025 to replace program executive offices, may move away from more traditional contract programs of record and toward a broader mix of technologies tasked with addressing a mission outcome faster.

“I think what you’ll see with acquisition transformation at SSC and across the Space Force is less an emphasis on programs and more of a focus on mission sets that need to be accomplished. And that will open the door inherently for more commercial-as-a-service, more commercial technology, more opportunistic acquisitions rather than the traditional requirements-bid [resource management decision] production, fielding and length of lead.”

Handling The Cash Flow Problem

For the National Security Agency, the shift toward service-focused delivery offers a solution to a range of challenges, from addressing technology debt to refreshing capabilities more quickly.

But Tammy Griffith, senior acquisition executive and deputy director of business management and acquisition at NSA, said as the agency moved toward the services model, it learned it had to navigate how to pay for the new tools through the limitations of an unpredictable appropriations process.

“With the way the government funds us, especially on Oct. 1, if we are on a continuing resolution, is that live software product. Typically, you don’t like to be paid by 87 days [of] work, you want your full year, so I have a cash flow problem,” she said.

To navigate the challenges of paying for tech services, Griffith said the NSA adjusted its award schedules in January when it’s more likely to have a full-year appropriation as opposed to October.

“We’re being more thoughtful upfront in when we procure the service so that the renewal dates are built in,” she said.

Griffith added that the mindset shift required for acquisition now is to ditch the traditional approach of developing every possible program requirement upfront in a contract solicitation in favor of a more iterative development that allows for contract modifications.

“You’ve got to get the principles right, but don’t go for perfection so that you stall the entire process to get to the perfection,” she said. “You’ve got to be willing to take risks. They know their job, they need to have confidence that they are fully supported, that they can execute it. And if something needs to change, we can do that after the fact.”