The Commercial Solutions Opening is how the Defense Innovation Unit buys commercial and dual-use technology: it posts real operational problems (Areas of Interest) and invites any company to propose a solution, then awards a non-dilutive prototype contract under Other Transaction authority.
Everything starts with a short brief, typically about five pages or fifteen slides, written against one specific Area of Interest. This is not a company overview. It answers the challenge directly: what your commercial product does, how it adapts to the mission, and why it will work. Plan two to six weeks to align the technical, programmatic, and compliance content.
Selected teams get a short pitch session with the DIU program team and the sponsoring military component. This is where they probe whether you truly understand the operational problem and can hit the timeline. Expect hard engineering questions.
Before you write the brief, model the hardest physics claim you're making. One CFD or FEA figure in a five-page brief signals engineering maturity — ask us about an Ansys evaluation and support to produce it.
See if you qualify for an Ansys eval The MVP playbook →If the pitch lands, you're invited to submit a full proposal, and DIU negotiates an Other Transaction prototype agreement. DIU aims to award in as little as 60–90 days, though the recent average runs closer to 120 days — still dramatically faster than a traditional contract.
Speed is the whole point. A CSO can move from posting to prototype kickoff in a few months, versus a year or more for other paths. That compresses your runway risk — but it also means you need your technical case ready before you submit, not after. Watch the open solicitations page continuously, because Areas of Interest appear and close on their own schedules.
Any commercial entity with an applicable solution — no small-business set-aside, and nontraditional contractors are actively preferred. That makes the CSO one of the widest front doors into DoD funding. See how it compares in DIU vs SBIR.
The biggest one is treating the brief as a marketing document. Reviewers are looking for a solution to their problem, not a tour of your company. Answer the Area of Interest line by line. The second mistake is vagueness on performance: if the AoI asks for range, endurance, or detection distance, give numbers, and be ready to defend them. The third is ignoring the transition path — DIU cares whether a sponsoring component actually wants to buy this, so show you understand who the end user is.
Once the Other Transaction is signed, you execute against the success metrics baked into the agreement. Hit them and you're positioned for a production OT — the sole-source follow-on that makes the whole exercise worth it. Miss them and the relationship typically ends there, which is why front-loading your technical proof matters so much. Roughly 51% of completed DIU prototypes transition to production, so the odds reward teams that deliver.
Official sources: DIU — Work With Us (Commercial) · DIU — Open Solicitations. Figures change; confirm on the official page before relying on them.
