Mission Solutions and the Impact on Federal Law Enforcement - Market Trends and Observations
September 05, 2024
As the digital age progresses, crime has evolved alongside it, with cybercriminals leveraging technology to carry out increasingly complex and widespread offenses. While traditional law enforcement methods remain essential, they must be augmented by similarly sophisticated technical strategies to counter these new threats. The need for comprehensive, adaptive, and scalable solutions has never been more critical. The federal law enforcement community requires tools and partnerships to improve collaboration and deliver results. The industry must be able to deliver solutions that optimize efficiency and facilitate success for everyone in the federal law enforcement ecosystem, from agents and analysts to the highest executives.
Building on its established reputation for investing in technology-enabled services within the federal market, NewSpring Holdings is now expanding its reach by developing a new platform to support federal law enforcement. To lead this initiative, NewSpring Holdings is collaborating with Yusuf Abdul-Salaam and Amaha Tsegaye, two prominent federal leaders who possess extensive knowledge, experience, and relationships with federal law enforcement customers and the technology community. With their executive leadership experience in technical solutions, mission prowess, and having been part of multiple M&A transactions, Yusuf and Amaha offer a unique perspective on the specific needs of federal law enforcement agencies and the existing gaps in the market.
Here they offer key insights into the most pressing trends and challenges currently shaping the industry:
1. Federal law enforcement needs new approaches to existing problems.
In the evolving landscape of federal law enforcement, service providers often misunderstand the role of technology within the criminal justice effort. While innovation across every technological discipline is critical, it is only half of the battle. Just as critical is the ability to recognize risks and mitigate those risks through the thoughtful application of insight and lessons learned. The federal law enforcement community has diverse mission areas, and each subcomponent requires a partner that can support its unique objectives, constraints, and regulatory framework, delivering value that directly aligns with its specific goals. The ideal partner will have both the deep customer relationships and the breadth of capabilities to deliver custom solutions, informed by the component’s specific mission requirements, and provide comprehensive support to facilitate adoption and, ultimately, mission success.
2. The evolving threat landscape poses challenges for both large and small businesses to consistently meet the mission.
The mission landscape is rapidly evolving, necessitating a diverse array of technology to support federal law enforcement agencies. The current vendor community is ill-equipped to address these dynamic requirements because larger companies can lack the agility to react quickly, and smaller vendors can lack the resources to deliver their innovative solutions at scale. The market needs a partner who can deliver holistic innovation solutions while keeping pace with the evolving mission landscape. Mission partners who provide customer-centric approaches by integrating top-tier offerings can deliver a distinctly unique value.
3. Artificial intelligence is a powerful tool that needs to be carefully deployed and is not an out-of-the-box COTS solution.
For a federal law enforcement agency to be successful, its chain of activity must be legally sound, and its integrity must be beyond reproach. Artificial Intelligence represents a tremendous opportunity, but the balance of enabling criminal justice efforts and protecting civil liberties requires that it be applied carefully. For agencies to successfully evaluate and integrate AI into their tech stack, they need to develop robust governance and standards to ensure they meet the DOJ’s stringent legal framework. By collaborating with a mission partner who possesses in-depth expertise across the technological landscape, agencies can leverage best practices while mitigating the risks and challenges often associated with technology implementation. Properly implemented, AI can be a powerful asset in law enforcement, but it requires thoughtful and precise application to balance its potential benefits with the need for accountability and transparency.
Industry Leader Partnerships Unlock Opportunities and Accelerate Growth
By partnering with skilled operators and experienced management teams with domain expertise in highly fragmented markets, NewSpring Holdings helps lower-middle-market companies scale through investments in infrastructure, operational rigor, and strategic M&A. This method, known as the Industry Leader Approach, is a key aspect of the NewSpring Holdings platform build strategy. This partnership with Yusuf Abdul-Salaam and Amaha Tsegaye accelerates growth in the fast-paced mission enablement for the federal law enforcement sector, where relationships matter. Their customer intimacy, ability to attract and retain top talent, and deep understanding of customer missions will help NewSpring build a platform that addresses these challenges and bridges the gap between mission and technology.
About NewSpring Holdings' Federal Investment Strategy
NewSpring Holdings, NewSpring's majority investment strategy centered on platform builds, has significantly expanded into the Federal sector. This growth is driven by a multi-platform investment approach aimed at scaling companies that deliver critical services and solutions to meet the diverse and complex needs of the U.S. Government. In 2022, NewSpring Holdings successfully exited Avantus Federal, a mid-market data, cyber, and space platform, in a $590 million sale. In July 2023, the Bcore platform, focused on serving the intelligence community, was launched by acquiring BridgeCore and three additional companies: GeoYeti,teKnoluxion, and 2 Twelve Solutions. To further support Bcore and a newly established platform dedicated to federal law enforcement, NewSpring Holdings has created a Federal Advisory Board. This Board provides strategic direction to help navigate industry challenges and develop mission-relevant solutions for federal partners. Led by Chairman Andy Maner, former CEO of Avantus, and NewSpring Holdings Federal Operating Partner Chris Blahm, former Chief Growth Officer of Avantus, the NewSpring Holdings Federal Advisory Board's founding members consist of Senator Roy Blunt, Lieutenant General Kevin McLaughlin (USAF ret.), Luanne Pavco, and Jeremy King.
