The Defense Information Systems Agency plans to use a new contracting authority called Other Transaction Agreements starting next quarter in an effort to speed up acquisitions, C4ISRNET reported Wednesday.DISA obtained permission to use OTAs in May but the agency did not immediately exercise the authority because of the need to establish new processes, the report said.
OTAs include deals that are executed outside the Defense Department‘s traditional acquisition system.
“One of the challenges with OTA is we actually have to build our workforce to understand how to use this capability, this contracting,” DISA Vice Director Rear Adm. Nancy Norton said Tuesday at the annual MilCom conference in Baltimore, Maryland.
“We’re building up that contingent within DISA to be able to understand how to most flex this capability and authority that we have now,” Norton added.
She noted that DISA has yet to define how it will use OTAs, but the agency might award follow-on contracts for existing rapid prototype initiatives through the new procurement vehicle.
