Mn3364 Essay

1310 Words3 Pages

What have I learned in MN3364 that will help me at work if implemented? If I were to implement it then what barriers exist? How can the barriers be overcome? In the MN3364 class, I learnt about Other Transaction Authority (OTA), a different type of legally binding instruments that may be used to engage industry and academia for a broad range of research and prototyping activities. Other transactions (OTs) are typically defined by what they are not: they are not standard procurement contracts, grants, or cooperative agreements. As such, they are generally not subject to the federal laws and regulations that apply to government procurement contracts (e.g., FAR/DFARS). The need for establishing a more flexible contract vehicle type started in the 1980s, when it became apparent that in some areas civilian technology was rapidly outpacing military technology. Shrinking defense industrial base forced more and more reliance on commercial firms; soon the public–private partnerships became the new reality of science and technology innovation. Many private firms with large R&D budgets and big commercial market were becoming reluctant to do business with DOD as they did not want to subject themselves to the terms of Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR), which apply to government purchases of goods and services. FAR was …show more content…

Since these agreements are exempted from FAR/DFAR, only a limited guidance is available when dealing with data rights and other terms/conditions which is negotiable ninety percent of the time. Lack of formal training, legal guidance and experienced staff creates a status quo when officials do not show much interest in getting involved in the OT agreements. Since other transaction agreements were used infrequently, they faced challenges in making officials involved in the agreements aware of the flexibilities afforded by other transaction

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