The UK MoD is seeking to transform procurement. DSEI Gateway speaks with the head of Commercial X about the steps being taken to make it happen.

Defence procurement is often criticised for being slow and challenging for small firms to penetrate.

To help turn this around, the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) established Commercial X to speed up the adoption of innovative technologies and lower barriers for smaller firms.

DSEI Gateway spoke with the founder and head of Commercial X, Dina Kakaras, to delve into how the organisation is trying to achieve this.
 

What is Commercial X?

Founded three years ago, Commercial X can be broken down into three core functions.

The first involves discovering and testing new commercial ways of working to support faster procurement and applying these learnings across the MoD commercial teams.

The second centres on improving “exploitation”, specifically focused on scaling successful innovative technologies, including from the MoD’s various tech accelerators, Kakaras explained. 

Commercial X can “spot if something works well and amplify it if it’s something entirely usable by other communities within the commercial teams”.

One example of their technology-scaling efforts is the experimental extra-large uncrewed undersea vessel XV Excalibur, delivered to the Royal Navy in May and supported by Commercial X and the Submarine Delivery Agency during trials and experimentation.

With the help of their Commercial X officers, who are inserted in the various accelerators, the team can also spot synergies between the frontline commands and their stated requirements, thereby reducing duplication. Being a part of the new National Armaments Directorate Group, helps with this too, she added.

Currently, over 40 Commercial X officers are working across 434 projects with the frontline commands as well as Defence Digital and Defence Equipment & Support – feedback is “really positive”, Kakaras said.

Thirdly, Commercial X focuses on making it easier for smaller suppliers to do business with defence, by designing and implementing commercial solutions that help them identify opportunities and bid for projects more effectively.

Dina Kakaras, the head of Commercial X, speaking at DSEI UK 2025. (DSEI UK)

Recognising the issues SMEs face, Kakaras noted that “it’s not just about proof of concept”. While smaller firms can demonstrate a proof of concept, the real difficulty lies in scaling their technology and transcending the ‘valley of death’ due to complex and lengthy procurement processes.

The valley of death refers to the challenges of turning technology from a concept or prototype into a scalable capability – what Kakaras called bridging the “say, do gap”.

Commercial X is attempting to address this and “find tangible ways” to overcome this barrier. Efforts include the Dynamic Market, simplified terms and conditions for SMEs, and the ‘Neutral Vendor Framework for Innovation’ (NVFi).

Dynamic Market – A marketplace for SMEs

Launched in July, the Dynamic Market is described by Kakaras as a “marketplace for innovation,” designed to connect suppliers – especially SMEs – and defence buyers in a single space.

Defence buyers can quickly identify technology that meets their needs, while suppliers can discover new procurement opportunities and gain visibility of current requirements – making the platform both a procurement tool and an “information space”, she said.

Ultimately, this “dynamic marketplace is an ecosystem of suppliers that we build around specific capabilities, or categories.” These span everything from hardware to software.

This market, she emphasised, is not like traditional MoD commercial frameworks, as it remains continuously open. Buyers can launch mini-competitions and onboard suppliers at any time, while suppliers can spot relevant opportunities before having to onboard and be locked into rigid timelines, procurement processes, and frameworks. This allows new entrants into the market while also “lowering that barrier to entry as well”, she added.  

“It’s more than this though, it’s not just like a supermarket where people can buy equipment off the shelf, it’s about going out to industry with a problem or an ambition and working with them to deliver it, sometimes in partnerships with multiple suppliers where we’re pooling the best of our talent and capabilities.”

This model is notable considering commercial frameworks are typically heralded by MoD officials as being an innovative approach to procurement. Once suppliers are downselected, the military can quickly source from them without lengthy processes.

However, with technology now evolving so rapidly, sometimes in a matter of weeks, this model seems less suited to discovering the best innovations, especially when new entrants can only join during select periods. The Dynamic Market, therefore, appears better suited to the rapidly evolving technology environment.

It also has similarities with Ukraine’s recently formed online Brave1 marketplace, essentially an online store like Amazon where military users can independently select and order weapons.

Or the US’s ‘Innovation Marketplace’, an online portal that acts as a single access point for industry, academia, and other partners to discover the US Department of Defense’s technology priorities and what funding opportunities and competitions are open.

A screenshot of the Brave1 marketplace. 

While the Dynamic Market is aimed at the MoD community, Commercial X has also set up a different marketplace – NVFi – designed for use across government to source the latest innovations from micro and SME suppliers.

NVFi

Launched in September 2024, the NVFi works by appointing a single ‘Neutral Vendor’ – Constellia – to manage a marketplace of pre-accredited, third-party technology providers in an effort to enable faster and more flexible procurement of innovative technology and services across 14 different science and technology areas.

Technology areas include behavioural analysis, internet of things, robotics, future computing, and cyber security, among others.

Importantly, NVFi is not limited to the MoD, rather it’s a UK Government-wide initiative, where different departments can access the marketplace through Constellia. These include the Department for Science Innovation and Technology; Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office; and the Home Office – and the list is growing.

So far, 12 contracts have been awarded worth around GBP8 million, with an additional GBP65 million in estimated demand from cross-Government teams looking to use NVFI to acquire capability. 90% of projects delivered by the Neutral Vendor Solution were from the micro and SME community, Kakaras said.

While encouraging to see new initiatives prop up that enable SME integration across the government enterprise, winning contracts can be just the start for a small firm. Helping to address the next stage of their journey is the Defence Tech Scaler.
 

The Defence Tech Scaler

While the Defence Tech Scaler is a Defence Digital initiative (the MoD department driving digitisation across defence) rather than a Commercial X one, it is important to highlight, Kakaras said, because it helps companies transcend the challenges of exploitation and scale. Especially since winning a contract is often just the beginning of a lengthy process that includes onboarding and meeting strict security standards – “it’s not the end of the gauntlet”, she added.

Launched in May by the Secretary of State for Defence, John Healey, the Defence Tech Scaler is designed to function much like AWS’s marketplace – where thousands of independent software vendors are listed for purchasers – by bringing more established organisations together on a single platform, she explained. Initially for software, data, and AI providers, the initiative plans on expanding in the future.

For the military, the platform offers a way to more easily identify established suppliers. The first companies on the platform are Adarga, Hadean, Oxford Dynamics and WhiteSpace, which already hold enterprise agreements with the MoD.

The initiative also gives approved suppliers an accreditation badge, she said, so buyers can recognise their authenticity.

NATO announced something similar in June as part of its ongoing procurement reform, called the ‘NATO Innovation Badge’.
 

Stamps of authenticity

These NATO badges act as a stamp of authenticity for their capabilities, demonstrating to potential investors or buyers that their technology has been used by NATO, John Ridge, the Chief Adoption Officer for the NATO Innovation Fund previously told DSEI Gateway.

When asked about this, Kakaras explained that the team is adopting something similar: “We want to give companies a ‘defence ready’ stamp… and we're also looking to promote even within our marketplace where [else] they've already got those rubber stamps.”

Even if the company has not necessarily worked with the UK, but with one of its allies, it is still valuable for the military to be aware of that, she added.

Ultimately, it’s promising to see Commercial X taking agile procurement seriously – actively exploring new approaches, challenging mindsets, and embracing a willingness to experiment, even if it means breaking things. However, its greatest challenge may lie in shifting the MoD’s deeply rooted cultural resistance to change and ensuring SMEs understand the myriad paths of entry into defence.