#399 – $1M TACFI Contract Signed

This week we executed the Tactical Funding Increase (TACFI) for $1M with DoD Platform One to make enhancements to Parabol that will further support the Department of the Air Force (DAF) mission needs.

In an effort to help bridge the “Valley of Death” between Phase II and Phase III, the AFVentures program has developed the Tactical Funding Increase (TACFI) Program. Small businesses that have been awarded a SBIR Phase II contract within the last two years are eligible to apply for this annual notice of opportunity. The program requires various levels of matching funding and avenues for Defense and/or Industry matching.

Having raised a round of funding summer of 2023, and winning the Direct to Phase II SBIR during the 23.4 SBIR round, we presented this TACFI opportunity to their public sector Impact Level 2 (IL2) hosting partner, DoD Platform One (P1). Fast forward nine months later and Parabol and P1 have signed the TACFI contract to make the following enhancements to Parabol that will further support P1’s users.

This TACFI is uniquely designed to automate data collection during cyber engagements, streamline debriefing processes, extract insights from these encounters, and empower the entire organization to identify patterns across a broad spectrum of cyber engagements at scale. In essence, this initiative cultivates the force agility essential for success in the Digital Age by significantly advancing the DAF’s capacity to learn from and respond to cyber threats and missions.

DoD Platform One (P1) has identified a crucial mission requirement in the realm of Rapid, Effective Decision-Making. To bolster the Department of the Air Force’s (DAF’s) proficiency in deriving insights from cyber threats and engagements on a grand scale, we proposed leveraging Parabol’s automation capabilities during cyber missions. This integration will expedite decision-making, enabling the delivery of command-level insights regarding engagement patterns.

The most efficient approach to meet this demand involves integrating and deploying Parabol alongside P1’s ChatOps facility, Mattermost, aimed at enhancing its “Incident Playbook” functionality. Furthermore, it will fortify Parabol’s post-incident summarization capabilities by utilizing a secure, locally hosted large language model capable of generating cyber defense incident briefs at scale, while also identifying patterns in security vulnerabilities or adversary attack vectors. This integrated solution automates operational data collection during cyber engagements, streamlines the debriefing process, and empowers the broader organization to discern patterns across a wide range of cyber engagements at scale.

Ultimately, this initiative paves the way for the force agility required to win in the Information Age.

Not surprisingly, the holiday weekend has meant a dip in meetings across the board this week. We expect this to bounce back up next week!

…demoed Parabol at DoD Platform One’s ‘Party Bus Immersion Series. We answered questions about how Parabol was deployed in Platform One’s Party Bus environment.

…delivered a largely unchanged draft strategy for T2. This a feature, not a bug and tells us our path forward is durable.

…met with DISA, Second Front Systems, and AFRL’s Digital Laboratory Environment to explore expanding Parabol’s to other secure IL4 environments that are used throughout the DoD.

…meet with the Army Software Factory to learn how they are utilizing Parabol for mission needs and receive feedback on how we can enhance Parabol to better support Agile software development.

…finalize our strategy for T2.