Winning Before the Start: Building Night-1 Readiness in a 72-Hour Acquisition Cycle

‍“An 85 percent solution in the hands of our armed forces today is infinitely better than a perfect one stuck in testing or paperwork.” — Secretary of War Pete Hegseth

The era of slow, incremental acquisition reform is over.

Today, under rapid-acquisition authorities such as Section 804, the window between opportunity identification and contract award has compressed from months to days. In this new environment, winning isn’t about reacting faster—it’s about being ready before the start.

At Sentinel Horizon, our trademark Night-1™ Readiness defines that standard. It means being equipped—technically, operationally, and contractually—to execute from day one. Traditional 90-day spin-ups are no longer acceptable; the Department of War now expects results within hours or days, not months or years. More importantly, that speed is what our warfighters deserve.

As Secretary Hegseth recently stated:

‍“Speed to delivery is now our organizing principle… If our warfighters die or our country loses because we took too long to get them what we needed, we have failed.”

Meeting that expectation requires teams fluent in both defense and private-sector disciplines—from contracting and corporate risk to capital markets and policy. The shift underway is profound: acquisition reform is intentionally modeling the efficiency of commercial markets, where readiness, scalability, and relevance determine who wins. This transformation empowers firms that can demonstrate capability and integration readiness over those constrained by outdated bureaucracy and excessive specification.

The Department of War’s role is evolving as well—from gatekeeper to partner, helping clear barriers to integration rather than prolonging testing cycles. That change demands acquisition teams with engineering, operational, financial, and legal expertise—professionals who understand both mission requirements and how private capital enables innovation at scale.

Sentinel Horizon’s Night-1 team embodies this integration. We bring together operational, engineering, acquisition, business leadership, private capital, legal, and policy expertise to help our government and industry partners align around speed, readiness, and risk-informed execution.

Night-1 isn’t a slogan—it’s a capability.

‍“The defense acquisition system as you know it is dead.”

What replaces it will be built by those who are ready on Night-1.