The U.S. Navy is now allowing all of its system commands to issue Other Transaction Authorities of up to $100M, Federal News Radio reported Wednesday.
James Geurts, the service’s assistant secretary for research, development and acquisition, said at the Modern Day Marine conference in Quantico, Va., that the challenge on the part of the Navy system commands is to determine which OTAs they need to address specific issues.
According to the report, the Defense Department has increasingly used OTAs to pay for product designs and preliminary models and acquired the services of small-scale defense companies.
The assistant secretary said the service needs to leverage various procurement methods available to facilitate rapid development, acquisition and deployment of new military tools and technologies.
The service branch has five system commands, meaning the Navy has given its commands the authority to release a combined amount of up to $500M for OTA agreements.
The Navy permitted the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command to issue OTAs in June, the report said.