Defense Innovation OnRamp Hubs

Attachment 2 DIU OnRamp Hub FY26 Statement of Work 1. Background 1.1 Introduction The Defense Innovation OnRamp Hubs play a critical role in the Defense Innovation Unit’s (DIU) mission to accelerate the adoption and transition of commercial technologies to deliver warfighting advantage. As part of a unified Department of War (DoW) innovation ecosystem, OnRamp Hubs connect validated operational problems with commercially developed solutions and enable the rapid delivery of capabilities to the warfighter. By providing a clear and streamlined path for funders, founders, and talent—particularly those developing commercial and dual-use technologies—to engage with the DoW, OnRamp Hubs reduce barriers to entry and eliminate fragmented points of access. In doing so, they embody DIU’s physical “local front door” to the private sector, academia, and military partners, creating a direct pathway for industry to contribute to mission-critical needs. Aligned with DIU’s role as DoW’s field activity for commercial technology adoption, OnRamp Hubs support the identification, assessment, and transition of scalable, market- ready solutions. These efforts prioritize technologies that deliver impact at the intersection of speed, scale, and lethality, enabling faster decision-making and the rapid delivery of capabilities to the warfighter. 1.2 Mission Statement The OnRamp Hub program is a network of open front doors to quickly identify and evaluate commercial technologies for warfighter needs. Individual OnRamp Hubs serve as centers of gravity within their regions facilitating interactions between the DoW, industry, and academia that result in rapid advances in military capability. 2. OnRamp Hub Standardized Services Standardized Services represent a core set of uniform offerings that each OnRamp Hub will implement to ensure consistency, quality, and scalability across the national network. These services establish a common program model that enables all OnRamp Hubs to deliver high-value support to founders, technologists, and mission partners while maintaining alignment with program objectives. Collectively, these services function together as an integrated funnel of engagement and advancement, designed to attract, assess, develop, and transition commercial capabilities into DoW applications. At the top of the funnel, broad-based activities—such as marketing, outreach, intake, and initial ecosystem engagement—generate a wide and diverse pipeline of companies and technologies. These early-stage engagements reduce barriers to entry and create accessible pathways for nontraditional and dual-use companies to participate in the defense innovation ecosystem. -- 1 of 16 -- As companies progress through the funnel, they receive increasingly targeted support through structured services that refine readiness, translate mission needs and commercial capabilities into aligned applications, and prepare technologies for meaningful engagement with mission partners. At the most advanced stage of the funnel, services focus on alignment, validation, and transition – ensuring that high-potential technologies are rigorously evaluated, de-risked, and positioned for pilots, contracts, and operational deployment. By providing structured, sequential offerings within this model, the program ensures that key capabilities are delivered consistently regardless of OnRamp Hub location or maturity. This approach also enables efficient sharing of best practices, program resources, and performance metrics across all locations, strengthening the overall innovation ecosystem and improving the ability to identify, support, and deliver tangible lethal capabilities to the warfighter at speed and scale. OnRamp Hubs shall execute all Standardized Services in alignment with program-defined playbooks, standard operating procedures (SOPs), and implementation of guidance established by DIU and ARI. These playbooks and SOPs provide a consistent framework for service delivery across the national network, ensuring quality, repeatability, and alignment with program objectives. Playbooks and SOPs will be iteratively refined over time to reflect lessons learned, evolving mission priorities, and programmatic improvements. OnRamp Hubs are expected to adhere to current guidance while actively contributing insights and feedback to support continuous improvement of these resources. The following services represent the core delivery mechanisms: 2.1 Technology Ecosystem Intelligence (Commercial & Mission Partners) OnRamp Hubs will maintain continuous awareness of the regional and national innovation ecosystem to identify, understand, and track commercial and dual-use technologies relevant to DoW priorities. This function represents an ongoing operational expectation and foundational capability of the OnRamp Hub, rather than a discrete, time-bound service offering. Through proactive engagement with startups, industry, academia, and other ecosystem stakeholders, OnRamp Hubs will develop and sustain a dynamic, data-informed understanding of local and extended technology landscapes. This includes maintaining a continuously updated repository of companies, capabilities, and emerging technologies that may be relevant to current or future mission needs. This capability enables OnRamp Hubs to “know their players” within the ecosystem and serves as the data foundation for all downstream standardized services, ensuring that mission-driven activities are informed by real-time, localized, and actionable intelligence. -- 2 of 16 -- Includes: ● Ongoing ecosystem engagement and relationship development ● Identification and cataloging of companies, technologies, and capabilities ● Maintenance of a structured, searchable dataset of ecosystem participants ● Continuous data capture aligned with Digital Backbone requirements ● Monitoring of emerging technologies and regional innovation trends Expected Outcomes: ● C…