Modernization Is a Process Problem

In his Arsenal of Freedom address to industry at the National War College in November 2025, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth warned that the greatest threat to rapid modernization lies not abroad, but within the bureaucratic processes of the Department of War itself. Hegseth framed the modernization challenge not around what the Department buys or builds, but around how it operates. One of the most serious adversaries facing the United States, he argued, was not a foreign power but an internal one: “Pentagon bureaucracy, not the people but the process, not the civilians but the system, not the men and women in uniform but the uniformity of thought and action that is too often imposed on them.”

Hegseth framed modernization of the Department of War as a matter of immense urgency. While technology continues to evolve rapidly, the Department remains hampered by ineffectual processes that stall adoption and limit impact. The result, he argued, is “an absence of urgency, a fear of innovation, and a fundamental lack of trust between the military customer . . .  [and the] defense industrial base.”

For those working inside the defense innovation ecosystem, this assessment is hardly controversial. The greatest barriers to progress are rarely technical; they are procedural. Layers of compliance, opaque requirements, and fragmented systems continue to slow the path from promising capability to operational use.

Small businesses feel this friction most acutely. While startups are often the source of breakthrough technologies, they lack the resources, staffing, capital, and institutional knowledge required to navigate federal acquisition infrastructure. Time that could be spent refining products or responding to mission needs is instead consumed by administrative hurdles. As a result, viable technologies fail to reach the government and, by extension, the field and front lines.

Few systems illustrate this challenge more clearly than SAM.gov. Designed as a centralized portal for doing business with the federal government, the System for Award Management (SAM) has instead become synonymous with complexity. Unintuitive interfaces, unforgiving requirements, annual renewal burdens, limited integration, and minimal human support create a system that is difficult for newcomers to penetrate and exhausting for experienced contractors to maintain.

If modernization repeatedly stalls at the point of process, then the question is not whether the system is broken, but who is positioned to reduce friction while change is made. Structural reform at the national level remains essential, yet the pace of bureaucracy rarely matches the urgency leaders like Secretary Hegseth describe. While policy change works its way forward, the ecosystem must look outward to find those capable of bridging the gap.

Within this environment, companies such as Pryzm have emerged as practical examples of how technology can reduce procedural friction. Founded in Boston by Palantir and Lockheed Martin alumni, Pryzm began as an effort to eliminate PDF-driven data silos across the federal ecosystem. As the team transitioned from their roles within large defense organizations to operating full-time as a small business, the challenges facing the defense innovation ecosystem became apparent to them.

“When we started selling to the government, we quickly realized we didn’t have the resources that larger players had,” said Nick LaRovere, Co-Founder & CEO of Pryzm. “So, we built Pryzm to help us navigate that process, and it soon became clear that many of our peers could benefit from it as well. From there, our goal was simple: ensure the best technology reaches the missions that matter most.”

To fulfill that mission, the Pryzm team created a platform that aggregates, interprets, and contextualizes data across hundreds of sources, including SAM.gov, SBIR, FPDS, USAspending, grants, and budget materials. By learning the intent of the companies using the platform, Pryzm tailors their profiles to surface relevant opportunities and filter noise, turning what has historically been seen as frustrating bureaucracy into a strategic asset.

Building the technology, however, was only part of the challenge. Before Pryzm could help others reduce friction, the team had to navigate the system themselves. Bringing the platform to market required confronting the same procedural hurdles, often referred to as the Valley of Death, that routinely halt early-stage companies in the defense ecosystem.

Ecosystem builders and intermediaries such as the Griffiss Institute play a critical role at this stage. By connecting early-stage companies to government stakeholders, providing access to test beds and customers, and helping startups navigate acquisition realities before scale, organizations like the Griffiss Institute function as translation layers between innovation and implementation. Their value lies not in replacing federal processes, but in helping companies survive them long enough to deliver impact.

Strategic partnerships became key in helping to accelerate Pryzm’s progress. Early trust and support from organizations like Griffiss Institute gave Pryzm access to early-stage startups through programs such as Griffiss Institute’s defense technology accelerator, HUSTLE, providing hands-on opportunities that helped establish the platform’s value.

“Pryzm wouldn’t be where it is today without Griffiss Institute,” LaRovere said. “They took a bet on us early and helped us grow by connecting us with initial customers. What Griffiss Institute does to accelerate talent and innovative companies is incredibly important to modernizing the ecosystem.”

Since 2023, Pryzm’s platform has been adopted by major commercial players such as Forterra and HII, has been fully integrated into Griffiss Institute’s HUSTLE Defense Accelerator, and has also gained the attention of the federal government, including securing a contract with the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU). This progress reflects more than the success of a single startup. It signals what is possible when emerging companies are given pathways to navigate existing systems rather than being stalled by them.

Pryzm’s work continues. Federal acquisition systems remain largely unchanged, and new companies face the same procedural hurdles each year. Pryzm’s goal is to support startups entering the defense ecosystem, and help illuminate acquisition pathways that are clearer, more transparent, and better aligned with the pace of modern innovation.

In 2025, Pryzm closed a $12 million funding round led by Andreessen Horowitz (A16z), bringing their total funding to $15 million. The investment will support continued platform development, expanded data integration, and team growth. The goal is not simply to provide software, but to function as an operational extension that helps businesses navigate complexity rather than amplify it.

The broader implication is clear: modernization is not achieved by technology in isolation, but by technology that reshapes processes. The real challenges lie in bureaucracy, structure, and acquisition design. While companies like Pryzm show how targeted tools can reduce friction, lasting change requires the broader ecosystem to scale what works.

As Secretary Hegseth noted, if there is “a fundamental lack of trust between the military customer . . . [and the] defense industrial base,” the responsibility for closing the gap is shared. Companies, intermediaries, and policymakers each have a role to play. If bureaucracy is the adversary, then reducing friction is not administrative housekeeping. It is a strategic imperative.