Potawatomi Ventures Federal Group Launches Advanced Capabilities Engineering to Move Emerging Technology into the Field
MILWAUKEE, July 21, 2026 — Potawatomi Ventures Federal Group (PVFG) today launched Advanced Capabilities Engineering (ACE), a federal technology company built to close the gap between successful demonstrations and fielded capabilities.
ACE is a 100% American Indian tribally owned small business, and inherits the contracting, accounting, cybersecurity, and compliance infrastructure of a parent enterprise with more than $2 billion in past performance, 220 active contracts, and 800 employees. Roughly $98 million of that past performance is in emerging technology work across the federal defense landscape.
"Agencies have no shortage of good demos. But they need ways to buy what comes after the demo," said Benjamin Bell, Ph.D., General Manager of ACE. "That is one part we handle."
Small innovators struggle finding a realistic path to awards, due to lacking contract vehicles, past performance, compliant accounting systems, and cleared personnel. There are also limits to a company’s capacity. “A small company wins an award to demonstrate a capability, the technology performs, and then the effort stalls,” Bell added. “The company has to split its attention between building its core tech and meeting specific sponsor requirements for a custom solution.”
ACE supplies those elements from day one, so the government can keep buying the capability and the innovator can keep building it.
For technology partners, that means working with an established contractor rather than spending two or three years becoming one. For government customers, it means a delivery organization accountable for performance, security, sustainment, and scaling, with several contract paths available across the PVFG family of companies, including Other Transaction Authority agreements, Commercial Solutions Openings, and set-aside and direct-award authorities held by sister subsidiaries.
ACE is currently concentrating on four areas where government demand and a transition path exist: human performance and training readiness, digital twins and human-machine decision support, visual intelligence and exploitation, and uncrewed systems and counter-UAS.
Bell, who holds a Ph.D. in AI and has spent over 20 years in defense tech innovation, added "We are not a showcase for innovation. We are transitioning it.”
“ACE is not a research business,” said Greg Kolean, CEO of Potawatomi Ventures Federal Group, “It exists to get real technology into the hands of the people who need it, on contract, and to build durable capability for our customers and our family of companies.”
About Advanced Capabilities Engineering
Advanced Capabilities Engineering, LLC connects government mission requirements with vetted emerging technologies and the enterprise resources needed to field them. ACE is a 100 percent American Indian tribally owned, self-certified small business and a subsidiary of Potawatomi Ventures Federal Group. Learn more at www.advanced-capabilities.com.
About Potawatomi Ventures Federal Group
Potawatomi Ventures Federal Group was established in 2002 as the economic development and income diversification business of the Forest County Potawatomi Community. The Federal Group serves more than 80 active federal customers across defense, health, cyber, and technology services. Learn more at www.potawatomiventures.com/federal.
Media Contact
Benjamin Bell, Ph.D. General Manager, Advanced Capabilities Engineering. benjamin.bell@advanced-capabilities.com