Overview:
Effective decision making across defense missions depends on fast, reliable access to integrated data from diverse systems and sources. Currently, without a Blue Object Management System, tracking and managing friendly assets relies on manual processes and disparate systems, leading to potential delays, inaccuracies, and reduced system interoperability. The Defense Innovation Unit (DIU), in partnership with U.S. Indo-Pacific Command (USINDOPACOM), presents the 2025 Blue Object Management Challenge, focused on advancing AI-enabled decision-making capabilities that improve how mission-critical data is integrated, accessed, and used across Department of Defense (DoD) platforms and forces.
In military operations, “blue objects” refer to friendly forces which include U.S. warfighters, equipment, and infrastructure. Blue object management involves the real-time tracking and coordination of these assets, providing commanders with accurate, up-to-date operational awareness, particularly in dynamic or contested environments.
This challenge seeks companies that are developing dynamic data integration solutions, smart databases, and sensing to enable AI-powered insights that provide insight into Blue Objects, at the speed of mission need.
Participation and selection in the challenge cohort serves as the entry point to a 12- week accelerator program designed for direct engagement with the DoD mission partners to understand real-world challenges, work closely with the accelerator team to test and validate technologies against national security applications, and build a foundation for doing business with the DoD. Selected companies will also gain access to a robust network of private investors and commercial partners.
Applicants will be evaluated through a competitive downselect process, with up to ten finalists eligible to participate in the accelerator program. Finalists will receive a share of the $500,000 in prize awards. This challenge will close on September 5, 2025, at 11:59:59 pm ET.
Submit Now:
Applications are being accepted through Airtable until September 5, 2025 at 11:59:59 pm EST.
Benefits of Participating:
$500,000 prize pool
Entry into a 12 week accelerator program designed to allow companies to demonstrate working capabilities to the DoD mission partner(s) by the end of the program.
Structured programming designed to equip participants with foundational knowledge for doing business with the government from crafting a compelling value proposition to navigating the acquisition and procurement process.
1:1 mentorship and weekly guest speakers to further enhance programming.
A pitch event planned in California and (2) demonstration events planned with DoD mission partner in Hawaii.
Opportunities for cross-startup collaboration.
Potential for follow-on opportunities such as Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grants, Other Transaction (OT) agreements, FAR-based contracts, and Cooperative Research and Development Agreements (CRADAs).
Upon successful completion of the accelerator, select companies may be chosen to participate in a test and evaluation (T&E) exercise run by USINDOPACOM
Eligibility Requirements:
Each eligible entity shall be a U.S. owned nontraditional defense contractor or U.S. small business and have a demonstrable prototype. Companies must identify as one of the following:
Small Business: The U.S. Government typically considers a business to be “small” when it is organized for profit with a place of business located in the US; more than 50% owned and controlled by one or more individuals who are citizens or permanent resident aliens of the United States (or by other small business concerns that are each more than 50% owned and controlled by one or more individuals who are citizens or permanent resident aliens of the United States); and has no more than 500 employees, including affiliates.
Non-Traditional Defense Contractor (NDC): A NDC is a company that is not currently performing and has not performed, for at least the preceding year, any contract or subcontract for the Department of Defense that is subject to full coverage under the cost accounting standards pursuant to 41 U.S. Code 1502.
Ability to commit to the 12 week accelerator program.
Ability or plan to test with a minimal viable product (MVP) for a DoD use case by Demo Day.
Registration in Sam.gov must be initiated prior to submission. A Commercial and Government Entity (CAGE) code is required for payment distribution to commercial entities that have previously done business with the DoD. SAM UEI and CAGE Code must be assigned no later than 30 September. To register, renew your entity, or check your entity status, visit SAM.gov.
NOTE: There will be a bi-weekly cadence of virtual programming and three in-person planned events (1) Pitch Event at SF Tech Week in California and (2) AFCEA TechNet + Mission Partner Trial Demo in Hawaii (3) Final Demo Day in Hawaii.
Selected companies must be physically on-site for in-person events. No other in person programming is currently planned as part of the accelerator. Companies selected will be given appropriate lead time to accommodate travel needs for participants.
Who Should Apply:
Companies seeking an opportunity to expand into the federal market with technologies developed for commercial critical infrastructure applications. Companies with the following attributes are highly encouraged to apply:
Ability or plan to test with a MVP for a DoD use case by Demo Day.
Readiness to adapt solutions based on DoD mission partner feedback.
Ability to effectively engage with DoD Mission Partners.
Key Dates:
August 14, 2025: Solicitation Release- Challenge.gov, DIU Website
August 21, 2025: “Ask Me Anything” Session at 3:30 PM ET
September 5, 2025: Solicitation Closes and Down-Selection Begins at 11:59:59 pm ET
Week of September 22, 2025: Finalists Announced
Late September 2025: Accelerator Program Launches
October 7-9, 2025: SF Tech Week and DIU Site Visit
Late October 2025: AFCEA Tech Net IndoPacific
Early December 2025: Accelerator Program Concludes
Background:
The US Indo-Pacific Command (USINDOPACOM) is committed to advancing a free and open Indo-Pacific by deterring aggression, strengthening alliances and partnerships, and ensuring readiness to respond to any threat. Through joint and combined operations, they promote regional security, stability, and prosperity, supporting U.S. national interests and upholding international rules and norms.
Admiral Samuel Paparo, Commander, USINDOPACOM has highlighted the necessary interoperability of joint functions, the need for robust sustainment capabilities, and the transformative potential of AI in modern warfare. This effort is designed to support USINDOPACOM in meeting outlined priorities by identifying AI tools to enhance decision-making and optimize joint force operations.
Problem Statement:
To operate effectively in an evolving electromagnetic and information battlespace, USINDOPACOM must be able to sense, interpret, and act on diverse data that spans from RF, acoustic, visual, cyber, and even socio-political domains. However, current approaches to data integration, modeling, and simulation are constrained by antiquated infrastructure, fragmented data standards, and siloed systems. These limitations hamper the DoD’s ability to rapidly generate insights, model scenarios, and deploy AI-augmented decision-making to operational commands.
The increasing importance of non-traditional data such as open-source intelligence (OSINT), correlation of multi-modal sensor data into unified data frameworks, and use of synthetic models and environments compounds the challenge. USINDOPACOM needs agile, trusted, and intelligent data frameworks that enable seamless, shareable, and real-time insight across mission environments to allow for rapid synthesis of various data sources into new formats.
This program seeks companies developing breakthrough capabilities that can transform how the DoD collects, conditions, and fuses multimodal data into a common operational picture to support modeling, simulation, and operations.
Prospective solutions may include, but are not limited to:
Synthetic and Non-Traditional Data Generation for Decision Superiority: Solutions that collect, generate, and validate synthetic data reflecting both traditional (e.g., ISR sensors, RF) and non-traditional (e.g., foreign social media, speech, video, economic indicators) sources to support predictive model pre-training, predictive modeling, environmental insight, and information operations. Technologies should support automated metadata tagging, semantic search, and dynamic generation of modular data objects that unlock a single source of truth for operations and simulation. Outputs should align to existing DoD formats (e.g., JSON MSG) and support API-based access across legacy systems and modern AI workflows.
AI-Ready, Multimodal Data Infrastructure: Edge-deployable architectures and tools that enable dynamic fusion, translation, and conditioning of multimodal data into a resilient, object-based data layer or “Dynamic Smart Database.” Solutions should support real-time processing, human-machine teaming, and “trust and verify” principles where humans remain the ultimate risk owners. Emphasis on interoperable data schemas, AI/ML compatibility, and integration with existing models/simulations (e.g., JTLS-GO, JCATS) to enable seamless planning, analysis, and decision support at scale.
Evaluation Criteria:
Applications will be evaluated on four criteria:
Solution Capabilities: As listed in the Technical Capabilities List below
Feasibility of Solution: Demonstrates technical feasibility and distinct competitive advantages of the technology relative to existing solutions (Note: Startups should have the capacity to produce a working capability / minimum viable product by Demo Day)
Team Composition and Expertise: Leaders in their field with technical expertise to develop the technology and to grow the business
Problem Significance: Solution aligns with one of the focus areas and provides strategic impact to the DoD
Viability of Business Model: Has a clear plan for growth in DoD and/or the private sector, identified risks and plan to overcome barriers to entry
Technical Capabilities:
Solutions should demonstrate the following capabilities:
Required Capabilities
Integration of innovative technologies addressing the above problem statement.
Feasibility for rapid prototyping and field testing.
Desired Capabilities
Multimodal data fusion across disparate sensor types and formats
Real-time AI/ML-driven signal detection, classification, and contextualization
Data frameworks that support modular, shareable, and versioned data objects
Interfaces for semantic search, auto-tagging, and precision metadata management
Scalable, interoperable database architectures compatible with legacy and modern systems
Support for simulation-informed decision-making and mission planning
Scalability for large-scale implementation
Fusion agnostic
Pitch Deck Submission Requirements:
Teams will submit a pitch deck outlining their solution that addresses the evaluation criteria and technical capabilities listed above. Pitch decks should include a business model that clearly describes how your company generates revenue including pricing, unit economics, and key success metrics while outlining your path to long-term profitability, intended go-to-market approach (e.g., selling to the government as a system-of-systems provider or integrator), projected commercial vs. government revenue split, and any traction to date that validates your model. Pitch decks should meet the following format requirements:
Sized 16:9 (1920x1080 pixels)
Horizontal presentation
PDF file
Maximum 15 slides
Ask Me Anything Session:
An AMA session will be held on August 21, 2025. This session will provide clarity on technical requirements, eligibility criteria, challenge mechanics, and administrative processes. Engaging in the AMA will foster a deeper understanding of the challenge and the follow-on accelerator’s primary objectives, allowing participants to tailor their submissions effectively. We will begin our AMA with a brief overview from each of the DIU OnRamp Hub. In addition expect to hear from our Mission Partner, DIU, and an alumni company from a previous program at this session.
You can submit questions ahead of time to prizechallenge@diu.mil
Please sign up for this session here: Register for AMA
Submit Now:
Applications are being accepted through Airtable until September 5, 2025 at 11:59:59 pm EST.
Questions
Please direct your questions to prizechallenge@diu.mil
About the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command
The United States Indo-Pacific Command (USINDOPACOM) persistently integrates and employs credible, all-domain combat power in order to deter aggression, prevent and respond to crisis, and, if necessary, conduct decisive joint and combined operations to prevail in conflict. Integrating our operations in support of and supported by other U.S. Government agencies, the Joint Force will persistently operate in and across all domains to defend the homeland, deter strategic attack, counter aggression, protect U.S. interests throughout the Indo-Pacific, and enhance U.S. alliances and partnerships.
About the Defense Innovation Unit
The Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) strengthens national security by accelerating the adoption of commercial technology in the Department of Defense and bolstering our allied and national security innovation bases. DIU partners with organizations across the DoD to rapidly prototype and field dual-use capabilities that solve operational challenges at speed and scale. With offices in Silicon Valley, Boston, Austin, Chicago and Washington, DC, DIU is the Department’s gateway to leading technology companies across the country.
Intellectual Property Considerations: Applicants retain ownership of existing Intellectual Property (IP) submitted under this Challenge and agree that their submissions are their original work. Applicants are presumed to have sufficient rights to submit the submission. For any submission made to the Challenge, you grant DIU a limited license to use this IP for testing and evaluation for efforts specifically related to the Challenge. DIU will negotiate with individual competitors in the event additional usage, integration, or development is contemplated.
Other Transaction Authority: This DIU Challenge public announcement is an open call to small businesses and non-traditional defense contractors seeking innovative, commercial technologies proposed to create new DoD solutions or potential new capabilities fulfilling requirements, closing capability gaps, or providing potential technological advancements, technologies fueled by commercial or strategic investment, but also concept demonstrations, pilots, and agile development activities improving commercial technologies, existing Government-owned capabilities, or concepts for broad Defense application(s). As such, the Government reserves the right to award a contract or an Other Transaction agreement, to include a prototype or research, under this public announcement. The Federal Government is not responsible for any monies expended by the applicant before award and is under no obligation to pursue such Other Transactions.
Satisfying Competition Requirements: This DIU Challenge Open Call Announcement is considered to have potential for further efforts that may be accomplished via FAR-based contracting instruments, Other Transaction Authority (OTA) for Prototype Projects 10 USC 4022 and Research 10 USC 4021 and/or Prizes for advanced technology achievements 10 USC 4025. The public open call announcement made on the DIU website is considered to satisfy the reasonable effort to obtain competition in accordance with 10 USC 4025(b) and 10 USC 4022 (b)(2). Accordingly, FAR-based actions will follow announcement procedures per FAR 5.201(b).
DIU reserves the right to cancel, suspend, and/or modify the Challenge, or any part of it, for any reason, at DIU’s sole discretion.