U.S. Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson has urged the military service to promote competition among vendors and accelerate the process for buying platforms, National Defense Magazine reported Wednesday.“If we are able to encourage more companies to participate in competition for procurement that helps to not only drive innovation to get the best out of American industry, but also drives competitive pricing,†Wilson told the National Press Club during a speech Wednesday.
She added the Air Force seeks to increase innovation through the use of “other transaction” agreements and partnership with OTA consortia.
The branch formed a consortium early this year in a push to engage commercial space companies in the Defense Department‘s prototyping projects.
“Prototyping we think in many circumstances is actually a much better way to do procurement because you understand the limitations and the realm of the possible from the beginning,†added Wilson, a 2018 Wash100 recipient.
