The Army’s Portfolio Acquisition Executive for Layered Protection and Integration plans to establish a technology accelerator with the goal of linking the private sector and the government with “national High-Performance Computing resources” to create a continuous innovation hub, according to a request for information posted yesterday.

The innovation hub will accelerate the prototyping of biotechnology capabilities and innovations, with a particular focus on medical rapid response priorities, according to the notice.

The initiative, which is being called the VEDDER program, will use an indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity-style other transaction authority to set up the innovation hub, and the government could award up to three agreements for prototype accelerator partners.

VEDDER will carry out a mandate spelled out in the Fiscal Year 2025 National Defense Authorization Act that calls for the defense secretary to establish a pilot program for developing near-term use cases and demonstrations of artificial intelligence for national security-related biotechnology applications using a public-private partnership model.

VEDDER will have the ability to execute “rapid commercial-style Business-to-Business sub-agreements with non-traditional defense contractors and small businesses/startups,” while not being subject to all Federal Acquisition Regulation processes, according to the RFI.