Army Both Keen, Cautious About OTA Agreements.

• Author: Harper, Jon
• Position: NEWS BRIEFS

MONTEREY, Calif.--The Army is enthusiastic about using other transaction authority agreements to fast-track procurement, but it wants to avoid overplaying its hand, said a senior service official.

OTA agreements enable the Defense Department to cut through some of the bureaucratic red tape associated with the Pentagon's traditional acquisition system. Congress gave the department the expanded authority in the fiscal year 2016 National Defense Authorization Act to help speed the delivery of new capabilities.

"The OTA initiative is proving to be a highly effective business tool for the Army" for research, prototyping and production efforts, said Jeff White, principal deputy to the assistant secretary of the Army for acquisition, logistics and technology.

The agreements are contracting mechanisms that "you're going to see the Army explore in greater detail and probably do a lot more of," he told attendees at the Tactical Wheeled Vehicles Conference in Monterey, California, which was hosted by the National Defense Industrial Association.

The authority helps the service broaden its industrial base and work with innovative nontraditional companies that would otherwise not want to do business with the department's bureaucracy, he added.

However, the Army can't lean on OTAs for every initiative. There's also a time and place for traditional...