EL SEGUNDO, Calif. -- The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) held the final consortium meeting of its BRIDGES program on July 24–25, 2025, marking the culmination of a 30-month pilot project aimed at reducing security clearance barriers for innovative small and nontraditional companies seeking acquisition partnership opportunities with U.S. agencies and military service branches.
According to Tim Lockhart, a technical advisor to DARPA, BRIDGES was conceived to address a long-standing catch-22 in defense contracting: companies need a classified contract to obtain a clearance, but they need a clearance to win a classified contract.
“The idea behind BRIDGES is that we wanted to find top talent and get them cleared before we actually need them cleared, so they can get in the room faster and help us deliver warfighting solutions with greater speed,” said Lockhart.
Defense acquisition has long faced challenges created by the security clearance system. While large contractors maintain deep benches of cleared personnel, smaller companies often struggle to enter classified work. These barriers can slow the flow of emerging ideas into national security programs and underscore the need for a more inclusive industrial base.
“Meeting these challenges meant creating ways for smaller and nontraditional firms to participate earlier,” said Lockhart.
Through BRIDGES, DARPA developed a process to identify promising innovators, sponsor them for security clearances, and connect them with the Defense Department’s most challenging classified needs. The BRIDGES process notably included a plain-language solicitation approach that significantly streamlined paperwork and shortened timeframes for proposal evaluations.
Throughout, the program provided access to classified spaces, secure networks, and quarterly consortium meetings where government officials and industry representatives exchanged ideas. Matchmaking was a key component, as nontraditional firms were connected with defense program offices seeking new solutions. BRIDGES also piloted supporting tools, such as “TurboFCL,” a software platform designed to simplify the Facility Clearance process.
To test and prove out the BRIDGES approach, 19 companies were selected and sponsored for security clearances that will remain in effect through September 2026.
While BRIDGES began at DARPA, its future may lie with the U.S. Space Force. Space Systems Command’s (SSC) Commercial Space Office (COMSO) is already preparing to adapt the model, seeing it as a way to expand opportunities with non-traditional industry partners and strengthen overall collaboration with industry.
“I’m really interested in being a transition agent for BRIDGES and replicating it at SSC because it gets after barriers-to-entry for our small businesses and non-traditional companies; increases innovation and collaboration; and incorporates greater speed into our processes; and most importantly, delivers the most cutting-edge capabilities to the joint warfighter,” said U.S. Space Force Col. Tim Trimailo, director of COMSO.
Established in 2023, COMSO is designed to help the U.S. Space Force and its partners meet the challenges of an increasingly contested and complex space domain. Key COMSO initiatives include:
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Proliferated LEO Services: $1 billion already obligated under a $13 billion contract ceiling; an enterprise-wide plan launching in FY26 will aggregate demand across the Joint Force and provide volume efficiencies.
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Commercial Augmentation Space Reserve (CASR): A framework for integrating commercial capabilities in crisis. Through contracts, training, and wargames, CASR ensures industry can surge capacity when needed.
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Space Force Front Door: A portal that makes it easier for companies of all sizes to access contracting opportunities such as SpaceWERX, SBIR, TacFI, and StratFI. It also shares Space Force priorities with the investment community to align resources.
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Orbital Watch: Introduced in March 2025, this initiative delivers unclassified threat updates to more than 900 commercial providers, helping industry anticipate challenges such as cyber intrusions and on-orbit interference — and build resilience against them.
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Small Business Support: In 2025, 26 companies were selected for Strategic Funding Increase opportunities, helping them move from prototypes to operational systems and meet national security needs at scale.
While DARPA will close out BRIDGES in September, the novel processes and lessons learned will continue to have impact as SSC’s COMSO and other federal agencies build on a new playbook for leveraging the full breadth of American innovation to meet the nation’s most critical security needs.