> So if the govt already gets a license to the patents, and the tech has been developed with defense purposes in mind, how am I going to profit as a private company?

Let's break that down a bit...

So the government has patent rights. They'd have to exercise them, which requires product development. Are you aware of the government selling many widgets to citizens? They sell road maintenance, insurance, and security services. But they don't really sell citizens "things".

Companies are savvy. If the government approached you and said "we have this patented tech, we want you to use it in this widget", now that you know about CRADAs, wouldn't you be a bit worried about a lawsuit from the other people who have rights on that patent?

Further, without commercialization, the government has rights on that one thing. They don't have rights on version 2, or even version 1.1.

You mention defense. Why? Are you in the defense business? Dept of Transportation might be better for self-driving cars. DoE or NIST might be better high tech partners. USDA or FDA if your in the food space. Etc.

It'll take 6 months to a year to get a CRADA written and signed. They're good for 5 years and can be amended. Budgets are generally side by side, transfer of funds doesn't work well. If you need people on site, working through a DoD staffing agency (e.g. Booz-Allen, one of the military medicine foundations, etc) is worth the overhead because they have the staffing experience.

There are tons of how-tos on line. Keywords are "CRADA", "technology transfer" (T2) and pick a noun or verb of your choice. Every federal department and agency has some sort of "T2" program with people who will even help write the CRADA for you. Commerce, Interior, HHS, all of them.

The key items are to write an effective statement of work and a budget. And understand these things are designed to accomodate big, enormous projects. Act of Congress scale projects. So, if you're going to think, you might as well think big. The paperwork is the same, big or small.