OTA benefit: The right balance between flexibility and oversight

OTAs enable extreme efficiency, not anarchy. While they forgo some of the restrictions of the FAR for the sake of rapid R&D work, they don’t do away with rules altogether.

There are formal processes under the OTA model to ensure safety and security, fair competition, and sound stewardship of taxpayer dollars. Research opportunities are widely advertised on FedBizOpps and related sites so that any capable team can pursue them. Solicitation processes are formalized and stringent. The government is responsible for source selection.

Though government and industry roles differ between FAR and OTA acquisitions, both processes seek out the best value offers:

PROCESS	FAR	OTA Consortium
Develop/Approve Research Project Solicitation	This is a government-only activity. End-users communicate technology needs; government program managers translate needs into requirements with little or no real-time industry input.	Industry is aware of government technology interests because of a rich, ongoing dialogue. Government better understands what industry may already be developing. Requirements in the resulting solicitation are developed faster and are better aligned with government’s needs and industry’s capabilities.
Proposal Evaluation	Government technical staff reviews and evaluates proposals, and government financial staff reviews cost proposals. Proposal reviews compete with other staff responsibilities, and little or no “surge” staff is available to expedite the process.	A consortium manager can relieve government of cost and compliance reviews. Larger, more experienced CMFs can surge qualified in-house personnel to expedite reviews, reducing the time required in this step, often by a third or more.
Negotiate Terms and Conditions for Awarded Projects	After source selection, the government and awardee negotiate key terms and conditions as part of a stand-alone contract. Depending on the complexity of the work, intellectual property rights, or other issues that haven’t been previously discussed, the time to “agree on the agreement” can be substantial.	Using single point contracting, key terms and conditions, baseline guidance for intellectual property rights, and other issues have been negotiated and flowed down to the consortium through “Base Agreements” between the consortium manager and members. Negotiations at the time of award are limited to resolving unique circumstances. This streamlined process can save 2-4 weeks or more—much more if FAR-based negotiations become protracted.
Authorized Work on Contract	The final contract must be developed and approved by the government, provided to the awardee for signature, and returned to the government for execution. Internal Government processes compete with other priorities for the contracts staff. An unsuccessful offeror may protest the Government’s source selection decision, causing significant delays.	The consortium manager responds to the government’s agreements staff by putting a Task Order Agreement in place under the existing Base Agreement between the recipient and the consortium manager. This process moves very quickly. Protests are not allowed, avoiding substantial delays.

Published On: June 25th, 2019Categories: NewsTags: OTA

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