# 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. Published 2026-10-30 by TGOs. Canonical: https://tgos.io/news/2026/10/30/pentagon-plans-public-private-partnerships-to-offset-fortress-america/ 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] 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.[1] 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.[1] 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] ## Why it matters Marks described a partnership model intended to avoid another appeal to Congress for money, Breaking Defense reported.[1] He said partnerships would probably allow the effort to move with a little more speed and scale.[1] The report gives no dollar total, solicitation or schedule for those partnerships.[1] ## Sources 1. Breaking Defense: Pentagon eyes ‘public-private partnerships’ to help fund FORTRESS America homeland base plan