The decisions that shape American defense — where money flows, what gets built, who can compete, and where capability gets deployed — are made long before a contract is signed. The industrial base is being rebuilt. Acquisition is being reformed. Defense dollars are moving. Where they land depends on who understood the environment first.
The U.S. military acquisition system was not built for the pace of modern technology. What commercial markets adopt in months can take defense acquisition years — and by the time a capability clears program requirements, budget cycles, and procurement timelines, the threat environment it was designed for may have already changed. That gap is reshaping procurement priorities, technology policy, and industrial base strategy.
The technologies driving that reshaping — artificial intelligence, autonomous systems, next-generation communications, and spectrum-dependent capabilities — are active procurement priorities. The policy fights around them now reach beyond defense agencies into commercial technology companies, manufacturers, and investors — determining market access, vendor eligibility, and whether the right capabilities reach the field in time.
Meanwhile, decades of consolidation, offshoring, and supply chain dependency have weakened parts of the industrial base the country urgently needs. Reshoring defense and aerospace manufacturing is no longer a policy debate — it is a national security priority unfolding across Congress, the Pentagon, and state capitals.
Vertex helps companies, investors, and defense-adjacent organizations navigate the policy, funding, acquisition, and state-level market environments that determine whether capabilities move from promising technology to operational reality.
North Carolina Spotlight
- Fort Bragg, Camp Lejeune, Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, Cherry Point, and Pope Army Airfield represent one of the densest concentrations of military presence in the United States — making North Carolina a defining operating environment for defense policy, procurement, and technology deployment.
- North Carolina’s defense economy generates more than $60 billion in annual economic impact, over 800,000 defense-tied jobs, and billions in annual DoD contract obligations — ranking the state among the top recipients of defense spending in the country and making basing decisions, investment attraction, and manufacturing expansion directly consequential to the broader regional economy.
Specialty Areas
- Defense and aerospace policy, investment, and military community engagement — including North Carolina military installation engagement, defense manufacturing investment, economic development incentives, state defense investment, federal defense community engagement, state-federal coordination, military installation compatibility, encroachment mitigation, mission protection, and military community engagement.
- Defense authorization, appropriations, and program funding strategy — including NDAA positioning, program funding advocacy, PPBE process engagement, JCIDS requirements shaping, OMB and President’s Budget coordination, and Defense Production Act strategy.
- Defense innovation, dual-use transition, and acquisition pathways — including dual-use technology, public-private partnerships, SBIR/STTR, STRATFI/TACFI bridge funding, Program Executive Office (PEO) engagement, pathways into Programs of Record, Other Transaction Authority (OTA), Middle Tier of Acquisition (MTA), Commercial Solutions Opening, IARPA and Intelligence Community acquisition vehicles, and technology transition pathways.
- Defense procurement, contracting, and market access — including FAR and DFARS requirements, Buy American, Trade Agreements Act (TAA) considerations, defense manufacturing requirements, small business set-asides, approved vendor positioning, federal contracting vehicles such as GSA MAS, IDIQs, GWACs, and BPAs, cooperative purchasing where applicable, and government market-entry strategy for defense-adjacent technologies.
- Defense cybersecurity, supply-chain security, and trusted technology — including CMMC, NIST SP 800-171, SPRS scoring, DFARS cybersecurity clauses, FedRAMP and ATO strategy, FISMA, state cloud-security requirements, trusted microelectronics, domestic sourcing, semiconductor supply-chain risk, and NDAA Sections 889 and 5949.
- Export controls, foreign investment, and allied technology transfer — including ITAR and EAR compliance, BIS licensing, Entity List considerations, dual-use technology restrictions, CFIUS review, foreign ownership and control issues, NATO interoperability, and allied technology-transfer considerations.
- DoD, Intelligence Community, and commercial spectrum policy — including military-commercial 5G and FutureG coexistence, electromagnetic spectrum operations, satellite communications, FCC coordination, spectrum competition, and national-security considerations affecting shared spectrum access.
- Defense AI, autonomous systems, and UAS policy — including CDAO and Responsible AI alignment, unmanned systems and counter-UAS policy, FAA Part 107, BVLOS, Remote ID, UAS certification and airworthiness considerations, waiver and COA pathways, Blue and Green UAS compliance, NDAA-compliant procurement, trusted UAS supply-chain requirements, and Army Future Vertical Lift and Air Launched Effects engagement.
- Advanced air mobility, eVTOL, and airspace modernization — including FAA BVLOS rulemaking, eVTOL certification and operational approvals, AAM and UAM corridor designation, vertiport siting policy, DoD and military AAM integration, state aviation coordination, federal interagency engagement, noise and community impact policy, and National Airspace System modernization.
- Aerospace, airline operations, and airport regulatory policy — including FAA reauthorization, aircraft certification and airworthiness issues, Part 121 and Part 135 operations, Part 145 repair station requirements, airport funding, DOT consumer protection rules, aviation workforce policy, and federal and state decisions affecting carriers, airports, MRO providers, aerospace suppliers, and aviation technology companies.
Relevant Regulatory & Government Bodies
Federal
- Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS)
- Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS)
- Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)
- General Services Administration (GSA)
- Office of Management and Budget (OMB)
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
- National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)
- U.S. Coast Guard (USCG)
- U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC)
- U.S. Department of Defense (DoD)
- Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office (CDAO)
- Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)
- Defense Contract Audit Agency (DCAA)
- Defense Contract Management Agency (DCMA)
- Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA)
- Defense Innovation Hubs (AFWERX, SpaceWERX, NavalX, AAL, SOFWERX)
- Defense Innovation Unit (DIU)
- Defense Logistics Agency (DLA)
- Defense Research Laboratories and Warfare Centers (AFRL, ONR, NAVSEA, DEVCOM, MCWL)
- U.S. Military Branches (Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, Space Force)
- U.S. Department of State
- U.S. Senate & House Armed Services & Appropriations Committees
North Carolina
- Economic Development Partnership of North Carolina (EDPNC)
- Local Governments, Planning Boards, Municipal Utility Authorities, and Economic Development Authorities
- North Carolina Department of Administration (NCDOA)
- North Carolina Department of Commerce (NCDOC)
- North Carolina Department of Information Technology (NCDIT)
- North Carolina Department of Military and Veterans Affairs (NCDMVA)
- North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT)
- North Carolina General Assembly (NCGA)
- North Carolina Global TransPark Authority
- North Carolina Military Affairs Commission (NCMAC)
- North Carolina National Guard (NCNG)
- North Carolina Office of State Budget and Management (OSBM)