Other Transaction Authority | The Contracting Education Academy

January 7, 2019 By AMK

How OTA collaborations are streamlining government acquisitions

Other Transaction Authorities (OTAs) have garnered significant attention recently because they help our government acquire innovative technologies much faster than typical Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR)-based acquisitions, which can take years to complete.

Some have called OTAs the “cool new thing” in acquisition — words you wouldn’t normally hear when talking about federal contracting.

So, what are OTAs? And more importantly, why should agencies make these agreements part of their procurement process?

Keep reading this article at: https://federalnewsnetwork.com/commentary/2018/12/how-ota-collaborations-are-streamlining-government-acquisitions/

January 3, 2019 By AMK

DoD’s new rules of the road for ‘other transactions’

For over 60 years, the U.S. government has entered into agreements called “other transactions.”

The Other Transaction Authority, or OTA, permits specific agencies, including the U.S. Department of Defense, to enter into agreements “other than standard government contracts or other traditional mechanisms” like procurement contracts, grants and cooperative agreements.

While OT activity continues to increase, formal guidance regarding the effective use of such agreements has been sparse. In an effort to articulate some rules of the road, on Dec. 3, 2018, the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment issued its broad “Other Transaction (OT) Guide.”

While the OTA has been available to the DoD since the late eighties, the DoD has ramped up its OT activity in recent years to obtain research, cutting edge technology and even full production of military hardware, awarding “$21 billion through 148 OTAs between 2015 and 2017.”

Congress has stated that the DoD “has authority to use OTAs with the most flexible possible interpretation.” As observed by the Government Accountability Office, OT agreements “can be useful in attracting … companies that have traditionally not done business with federal agencies.”

By its own terms, the guide was not intended to – and does not — provide step-by-step, mandatory instructions for the exercise of OTA by the DoD similar to the instructions in the Federal Acquisition Regulation, or FAR, for traditional procurement contracts. The guide cautions readers that it “is not a formal policy statement,” and does not purport to offer a final “interpretation of statutory, regulatory and formal policy requirements.” The guide states that those seeking to enter into an OT agreement “should consult with legal counsel.”

Nevertheless, the guide covers the waterfront of the DoD’s OT tools, and provides helpful examples, definition and context. This advisory highlights some key aspects of the guide.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.mondaq.com/unitedstates/x/766534

January 2, 2019 By AMK

What to expect from ‘other transaction authorities’ in 2019

If there is one term that has punctuated government contracting in 2018, it is “OTA.”

The use of OTAs or “other transaction authority” agreements has grown significantly in the federal government over the last year, due to this contract vehicle’s ability to help federal agencies rapidly incorporate new technologies required to ensure the success of today’s complex missions.

Although this style of contract is not new to the federal contracting community (in fact, it was brought onto the scene in the 1950s to aid NASA in the space race), we can expect to see additional use of OTAs to gain access to groundbreaking technologies faster and more efficiently in 2019.

There are three things you can expect to see from OTAs in the next year and beyond.

Keep reading this article at: https://www.nextgov.com/ideas/2018/12/what-expect-other-transaction-authorities-2019/153713/

December 14, 2018 By AMK

Marine cyber command is getting in on other transaction contracting

The Marine Corps cyber arm is about ready to sign its first contract using the lightly regulated Other Transaction Authority given to select agencies to spur research, development and acquisition of bleeding-edge technologies without having to abide by the Federal Acquisition Regulation.

Marine Corps Forces Cyberspace Command, or MARFORCYBER, officials expect to sign their first OT contract on or before Dec. 17, Command Executive Director Gregg Kendrick told Nextgov. Kendrick said MARFORCYBER, in conjunction with Marine Corps Systems Command, has been working on the contract since May, though the hard work began in earnest in July.

The project will focus on cybersecurity and big data, including how to protect the Marines’ troves of data, as well as how to use that data to better protect the rest of the enterprise.

Keep reading this article at: https://www.nextgov.com/it-modernization/2018/12/marine-cyber-command-getting-other-transaction-contracting/153339/

December 11, 2018 By AMK

Don’t get carried away with OTAs, experts caution

Other Transaction Agreements (OTAs) have been all the rage in the federal acquisition community in 2018.

The acquisition instrument allows agencies to sidestep the Federal Acquisition Regulation and work with innovative companies that don’t normally do business with the government, and it can be developed with a speed that would make most contracting officers salivate — 60 days or less in some cases.

But like most trends, because it’s currently in vogue, it runs the risk of being dramatically overused. And acquisition officials from the departments of Defense and Homeland Security are concerned that the OTA’s innovative reputation could become as cool as cargo shorts if agencies abuse it.

“I think that’s the biggest risk,” Soraya Correa, DHS chief procurement officer, said Thursday. “That people use them properly, that we don’t overuse them, that we don’t abuse them, so they are around for the long haul. How I manage that is by making sure that we understand the authorities that we have been given, we really think about what that authority is for and then we educate.”

Keep reading this article at: https://www.fedscoop.com/other-transaction-agreements-otas-soraya-correa-dhs-scott-stewart-disa-affirm/

Other Transaction Authorities (OTAs) have garnered significant attention recently because they help our government acquire innovative technologies much faster than typical Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR)-based acquisitions, which can take years to complete.

For over 60 years, the U.S. government has entered into agreements called “other transactions.”

If there is one term that has punctuated government contracting in 2018, it is “OTA.”

The Marine Corps cyber arm is about ready to sign its first contract using the lightly regulated Other Transaction Authority given to select agencies to spur research, development and acquisition of bleeding-edge technologies without having to abide by the Federal Acquisition Regulation.

Other Transaction Agreements (OTAs) have been all the rage in the federal acquisition community in 2018.

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