EVALUATING THE INNOVATIVE POTENTIAL OF OTA INVESTMENTS

Other Transaction Authorities or OTAs have been leveraged since 1958 as a way to maintain an American advantage in the space age and tap pockets of innovation. Over the past few years as the era of Great Power Competition has matured, we are seeing an increased use of OTA contracting. This has implications on how DoD is approaching innovative companies.

This Govini report examines a key contracting vehicle available to DoD to acquire leading technologies and find military applications for them: OTAs. This report:

• Explores the history and usage of OTAs and compares them to all DoD RDT&E contracting.
• Considers whether the Congressional mandate for OTAs to target NDCs serves as an effective proxy for an innovative company
• Offers three alternative metrics that could be used in addition to NDCs to provide a more comprehensive basis to determine whether a portfolio of OTAs is likely to yield innovation.