Congress Pushes to Broaden OTAs Applicability, DoD Response is to Narrow It Artwork

Innovation in Government Business

Hosted by: Strategic Institute for Innovation in Government Contracting - Few subjects have been studied more than federal acquisition for the development and delivering of new capability and innovation. Since the 1980's the system has empirically and anecdotally demonstrated abysmal performance. The best and brightest have proffered solutions and Congress has followed with polices and mandates to encourage these. Leadership, specifically within the DoD has chosen to ignore these mandates. This is a rare case, where polices are far more advanced than practice, yet the stagnation continues and even gets worse. This podcast is for those interested in solving our Nation's critical technological challenges, by offering solutions, lessons learned, and highlighting the incredible potential of Other Transactions Agreements for fielding new advanced capability. If you are a federal acquisition professional or industry partner we invite you to explore the art of the possible.

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Innovation in Government Business

Congress Pushes to Broaden OTAs Applicability, DoD Response is to Narrow It

July 16, 2025 • Strategic Institute for Innovation in Government Contracting • Season 3 • Episode 9

In this episode Strategic Institute talks about recent Congressional language that seeks to broaden the aperture when it comes to who and what qualifies for OTA awards, while at the same time the bureaucracy is attempting to narrow the thinking around OTAs and kneecap their potential. Who should be served, the will of 'the people' as represented by Congress -or- should the bureaucracy take precedent?

Also discussed are clear solutions using OTAs, current lack of incentives, who should be responsible for needed positive change, and a lot of banter that should interest anyone who cares about improving federal R&D outcomes and better delivering new advanced capabilities.

The overarching question is, should DoD develop a robust understanding of what the potential of OTAs are, what they are really for, why they were developed, their history -or- should DoD continue to take a myopic view, not to be bothered by greater perspectives or knowledge? What do you think, is this an institutional wide case of "missing the forest for the trees"?