OMNI, Rackner Launch SBA-Approved Joint Venture to Support Critical Missions

• SBA has approved the mentor-protege joint venture
• Rackner specializes in DevSecOps, software development and cybersecurity
• OMNI announced a separate joint venture with Bridge Defense

OMNI has formed a second mentor-protege joint venture in a week, teaming with Rackner on a Small Business Administration-approved partnership targeting the Department of War, the intelligence community and national security agencies.

OMNI announced the creation of OMNI-Rackner on Tuesday, after unveiling the formation of OMNI-Bridge Defense Solutions on Oct. 28, its joint venture with Bridge Defense Solutions focused on artificial intelligence-enabled data capabilities, mission-critical applications and cyber defense. OMNI-Rackner’s work will center on advanced technology and software development.

Paul McQuillan, OMNI’s chief growth and strategy officer, said Rackner “brings advanced technologies to mission-critical problems from Cloud to Edge.”

“The partnership will bring critical capabilities and mission outcomes for the Defense and Intelligence Communities, giving the decisive edge to win,” he added.

Operational trust in mission-critical AI decision-making is the focus of a full panel at the Potomac Officers Club’s 2027 Defense R&D Summit on Feb. 4. Additional sessions will examine methods for training high-integrity models using commercial data assets and fortifying the defense industrial innovation base. Save your seat now.

What Does Rackner Bring to the Venture?

Rackner builds AI-enabled software for government customers, combining machine learning operations, DevSecOps and cybersecurity. Its work spans the U.S. Air Force, Army and Navy; the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services; the Food and Drug Administration; the Department of State; and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The company said it holds prime and subcontracts and works with Department of War software factories, including Platform One.

Three University of Maryland graduates — Alex Raul, DJ Gagner and Frank Hackenburg — founded the company in 2015 as a consultancy focused on cloud architecture and web development for startups, then moved into Kubernetes work for large enterprises before a 2019 Air Force contract pushed it into federal work.

“We’re thrilled to begin our work with OMNI,” said Kevin Griffiths, chief technology officer at Rackner. 

“By combining our skills and taking a collaborative approach to innovation, we are creating new solutions and capabilities that will make a real difference to the mission,” he continued.

What Is OMNI?

Founded in 2017, OMNI works with the Department of War, the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency and the National Reconnaissance Office, delivering DevSecOps, rapid software development, enterprise cloud and platform work, alongside offensive and defensive cyber, data, and AI capabilities.

The company won a potential $427 million contract in June 2025 from the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency for cloud and DevSecOps support of the National Background Investigation Services, the government’s system for background investigation applications, adjudication and continuous personnel vetting. It completed a Capability Maturity Model Integration Level 3 benchmark appraisal across all six domains in February.

OMNI acquired Nara Logics in June, expanding its portfolio with Nara Logics’ Synaptic Intelligence Platform, an explainable AI engine designed to translate mission data into actionable insights for analysts, commanders and operators. The platform uses a neuroscience-inspired architecture to produce auditable reasoning behind each recommendation rather than black-box outputs.

OMNI’S portfolio also includes Astoria, a metadata management platform, and ACDC, a real-time data access platform.