The Defense Electronics Consortium (DEC) is a DoD–sponsored consortium of industry and academia members with a mission to strengthen the economic and force posture of the U.S. defense electronics industrial base. The DEC provides direct links between the electronics industry, the DoD, and other government agencies. Through funded projects and a variety of programs such as conferences, networking events, and white papers, the DEC, in partnership with the Industrial Base Analysis and Sustainment Program (IBAS), is working to bolster the security and resiliency of the defense electronics supply chain.
The DEC is led by USPAE with support from ATI, both also introduced below. The DEC works with the DoD and other agency leadership to help identify challenges, needs, and opportunities in defense electronics. Projects selected by the government to address those issues can be funded through DEC under the authority of the Cornerstone OTA, which allows for research, prototyping and potential follow-on production where competition may be waived by the DoD, under the authority of the OTA enabling legislation. A secure member portal facilitates the entire process, which gives smaller and non-traditional defense suppliers and academia greater access to DoD opportunities.
Learn more here: https://deconsortium.org