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Contracts · Installations

Pentagon plans public-private partnerships to offset FORTRESS America costs, Breaking Defense reports

The services are developing a way to prioritize work that could benefit from commercial offtake, a senior Pentagon official told Breaking Defense.

The Department of War plans to pursue public-private partnerships to help cover the cost of FORTRESS America, its homeland base-hardening initiative, Breaking Defense reported Oct. 30.1

Breaking Defense reports the Pentagon is planning to pursue public-private partnerships

FORTRESS America homeland base-hardening initiative

public-private partnershipsplanning to pursueplanned

the Pentagon is planning to pursue public-private partnerships to offset the cost of the FORTRESS America homeland base-hardening initiative

commercial offtakeprioritization schemeplanned

the services are working on a prioritization scheme for portions of the effort that could benefit from commercial offtake

Reported by Breaking Defense

Sources
TGOs tgos.io

Dale Marks, the Pentagon’s assistant secretary for energy, installations and environment, told the outlet the services are developing a way to prioritize work that could benefit from commercial offtake. He spoke on the sidelines of the Installation Innovation conference in Tampa, Florida, this week.1

FORTRESS America includes strengthening strategic reserves such as ammunition and spare parts and better dispersing them around the country. Breaking Defense identified factories and depots as potential public-private opportunities within that effort; in the interview, Marks did not specify which areas or projects might be suited to partnerships.1

Marks said his work with other senior leaders focuses on identifying priorities and ways to drive down costs, rather than mandating a completion date for every existing U.S. installation to comply with FORTRESS America.1

Marks described a partnership model intended to avoid another appeal to Congress for money, Breaking Defense reported. He said partnerships would probably allow the effort to move with a little more speed and scale. The report gives no dollar total, solicitation or schedule for those partnerships.1

Sources (1)
  1. Breaking Defense: Pentagon eyes ‘public-private partnerships’ to help fund FORTRESS America homeland base plan breakingdefense.com
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Budget

Pentagon acquisition chief names his deputy nominee interim head of FORTRESS America office

Michael Duffey designated Matt O'Malley and told eight senior officials to name liaisons, DefenseScoop reported. The homeland program's office reports directly to Duffey and starts as a lean core cell.

The Department of War's FORTRESS America program office has an interim director. Michael Duffey, the Under Secretary of War for Acquisition and Sustainment, designated Matt O'Malley in an Oct. 6 directive, DefenseScoop reported.3 Secretary of War Pete Hegseth's Sept. 30 memo creating the program has the office report directly to Duffey's post.1–2 The department calls FORTRESS America its "national insurance policy for the American homeland."2 The memo organizes it around five pillars: energy independence, supply chains, a strategic defense reserve, installation hardening, and space and spectrum.1

Duffey designated Richard "Matt" O'Malley as Interim Director of the FORTRESS America Program Office

DefenseScoop reported, quoting Duffey's implementation directive dated Oct. 6

Program Officebegins as a lean core cell
report directly toplanned
Under Secretary of War for Acquisition and SustainmentMichael Duffey
O’MalleyInterim Director
oversee strategic milestone trackingplanned
Program Officebegins as a lean core cell
Two-star military advisor
assistplanned
O’MalleyInterim Director

the program office will concentrate on selective implementation efforts across the five pillars set out in Hegseth's prior directive

DefenseScoop reported that President Trump nominated O'Malley earlier this year as deputy under secretary for acquisition and sustainment and that the Senate has not confirmed him.

Sources: Secretary of War memo, Sept. 30, 2026; reported by DefenseScoop, Oct. 7, 2026, quoting Duffey's Oct. 6 directive. As of Oct. 8, 2026.

Sources
TGOs tgos.io

For now, the office is built to coordinate. The memo calls for "a lean core cell" that reaches full operating capability "within months."1 Duffey's directive made O'Malley "the principal integrator among all stakeholders," DefenseScoop reported, and gave eight senior officials until Oct. 7 to name liaisons. The comptroller and the assistant secretary for industrial base policy were among them.3 The memo's only resourcing reference calls the program "Future Year Defense Program-aligned," tying it to the department's five-year spending plan.1, 6 Neither the memo nor DefenseScoop's account names a budget or acquisition authority for the office.1, 3

President Trump nominated O'Malley earlier this year as Duffey's deputy, and the Senate has not confirmed him, DefenseScoop reported. As interim director, he will oversee strategic milestone tracking, with a two-star military adviser to assist him.3 He told senators in July that he became senior adviser to the acquisition under secretary in March, after supporting Hegseth's Arsenal of Freedom tour as a special assistant.2, 4–5

The founding memo gives Duffey until Friday, Oct. 30, to stand up the office.1, 3 DefenseScoop reported that the office will concentrate on "selective implementation efforts" across all five pillars, and the implementation plan now being developed is the document that could show what those efforts are.3

Sources (6)
  1. Secretary of War memo: Establishment of FORTRESS America as a Department of War Program for the Defense of the American Homeland (Sept. 30, 2026) media.defense.gov
  2. Department of War: Secretary Hegseth Announces Six Major Initiatives at Quantico Speech www.war.gov
  3. DefenseScoop: Pentagon memo outlines plan to operationalize new 'FORTRESS America' program office (Oct. 7, 2026) defensescoop.com
  4. Senate Armed Services Committee: nomination hearing, including Richard M. O'Malley (July 14, 2026) www.armed-services.senate.gov
  5. Richard M. O'Malley: opening statement to the Senate Armed Services Committee www.armed-services.senate.gov
  6. Defense Acquisition University glossary: Future Years Defense Program www.dau.edu
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Contracts · Cyber infrastructure

DISA seeks cloud identity and access prototype for Department of War

Responses are due Nov. 30 for a commercial identity-management prototype. It would operate across IL5 and IL6 environments.

The Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) is seeking a commercial, cloud-hosted identity and access management prototype to modernize the Department of War’s legacy identity infrastructure.1

DISA seeks solutions to prototype a Next Generation E-ICAM capability

Enterprise Identity, Credential, and Access Management (E-ICAM)

modernize legacy identity infrastructuremodular, cloud-hostedplanned

This effort will modernize legacy identity infrastructure with a modular, cloud-hosted commercial off-the-shelf/software-as-a-service solution operating across IL5 and IL6 environments.

The prototype must address the Federated Identity Provider, Automated Account Provisioning, Master Entitlement Record, and Federation Hub core capabilities.

Response deadline is Nov. 30, 2026, 5:00 p.m. America/Chicago (Monday)

Source: SAM.gov. As of Nov. 7, 2026.

Sources
TGOs tgos.io

DISA is seeking the capability through a prototype Other Transaction opportunity linked to its competitive Commercial Solutions Opening.1–3

The Next Generation Enterprise Identity, Credential, and Access Management (E-ICAM) effort calls for a modular commercial off-the-shelf or software-as-a-service solution. The solution would operate across Impact Level 5 (IL5) and Impact Level 6 (IL6) environments. The prototype must address four core capabilities: Federated Identity Provider, Automated Account Provisioning, Master Entitlement Record and Federation Hub.1

Responses to the Area of Interest are due Nov. 30 at 5 p.m. Central.1

DISA’s Commercial Solutions Opening and any Other Transactions awarded through it are not subject to the Federal Acquisition Regulation or its supplements.3

Sources (3)
  1. SAM.gov notice record sam.gov
  2. SAM.gov notice history sam.gov
  3. SAM.gov: DISA Commercial Solutions Opening (HC108425S0001) sam.gov
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