Innovation in Government Business

In this podcast episode, Rick Dunn, former DARPA General Counsel, addresses the 2022 Breakthrough Energetics Conference highlighting the most critical innovation the DoD can focus its energies on is business process reform already supported by policies and mandates.  This is the innovation in which delivering all other innovations efficiently, effectively, and affordably rely.     

“Rules for thee but not for me.” – DoD   The Department of Defense acquisition system can be defined by its separateness.  It is a whole universe unto itself, walled off and apart from the rest of industry and the ways other organizations work.  In a similar vein, when Congress passes a law on citizens and corporations they are expected to comply, with threat of punishment.  However, DoD acquisiti...

The defense acquisition system prioritizes cost in its business transactions to the point of making the entire system unaffordable.   In this episode Strategic Institute discusses the difference between 'cost' and 'value', and the real cost of all this focus on price tags.  The DoD by-and-large engages in the rudimentary business of procurement, establishing a buyer/seller rela...

In this podcast episode Strategic Institute's Founder, Rick Dunn talks with  Amanda Bresler and Alex Bresler with PW Communications about their latest research - Analyzing the Composition of the Defense Small Business Industrial Base.   The findings are eye-opening as the stated goals of many small business policies and programs are not being served.  Small business programs attempt to make u...

In this episode Strategic Institute talks about DoD's continued reliance on a procurement system for R&D and advancing new capability.   "When the only tool you use is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail."    The DoD habitually uses the wrong contractual instrument to achieve its stated  goals for the important work of advancing knowledge and delivering new capability to t...

In this episode the Strategic Institute team talks about " innovation, " a buzz term that has become ubiquitous in the federal government.  Using an article as a basis of discussion, the team relates and connects it to Other Transactions authorities and federal government acquisition. Article: Stop Saying Innovation - Here's Why - by author Scott Berkun  "People with good ideas...

Join Strategic Institute in discussing why the defense acquisition system for R&D and delivering new capabilities is persistently stuck in first gear and getting passed by on the rapid 21st century highway.   The DoD once had a functional acquisition system capable of expediency and creativity, i.e. going to the Moon in less than a decade, producing a nuclear bomb just six years after splittin...

In this episode Strategic Institute discusses the most common question we hear from federal contracting personnel... How do I do an OT?  Unlike the traditional system based on the Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR), Other Transactions have no plug-n-play option, there is no cut-n-paste and that's the point.  OTs are FAR out, and OTs make you think.  OTs are flexible contracts that allow fo...

In effort to fix the critically serious and empirically known problems that has plagued DoD acquisition for R&D and delivering new capability for decades, the DoD unveiled The Adaptive Acquisition Framework as a remedy.  However, the graphic representation of the framework clearly  shows that all acquisition pathways lead back to the same place, the traditional acquisition system, while obfusc...

In this episode Strategic Institute discusses why private sector funding of government R&D and in the development of new capability is not only permissible using Other Transactions but also why it makes a lot of sense.   With so many dollars (debt) being created out of thin air, funneling their way into asset classes across the board, does it really makes sense for taxpayers to take on all the...

In this episode the Strategic Institute team talks about Other Transactions (OT) education.  More specifically the lack thereof and how this tantamount to shooting oneself in the foot.   It has been almost FIVE YEARS since Congress mandated that the DoD develop a 'preference' for using OTs for R&D and prototype projects.  At the same time in 2018 they mandated that program, technical...

Extensive study of the defense acquisition system has produced numerous recommendations for its improvement.  A recommendation found throughout is the need for empowered and protected teams .  When it comes to R&D, innovation, and delivering new capabilities, teaming strategies as well as skill-sets are vital to doing it well.  Equipped with flexible contracting authorities, the government can...

 YES!  This episode begins with a snippet of President Eisenhower's farewell address warning the public of the corrupting influence of the Military Industrial Complex, and ends with his warning about squandering future generation's resources for present day comforts.   Strategic Institute refers to the mission statement of the Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR 1.1) to illustrate how t...

In this episode of Innovation in Government Business, Strategic Institute discusses OTAs and compliance issues and myths.  Other Transactions Agreements (OTA) are unlike procurement contracts under the Federal Acquisition Regulations System (FAR).  The primary objective under FAR system is to ensure compliance with the myriad of rules and regulations that grew, often nonsensically, over time.  OTA...

Other Transactions for experimental purposes 10 USC 2373 (now 4023) is rarely used by Federal program offices. The authority allows DoD to quickly access commercially available technologies and products for test, experimentation and residual use. The authority is ideal for assessing current technologies and state-of-the-art, and to gain insight to inform program and project development.    "T...

Richard Dunn former DARPA General Counsel and pioneer of  DoD's Other Transactions Authorities discusses why Federal research and development  organizations should explore and use flexible agreements to spur innovation, drive culture change, engage with the larger industrial base and talents, and deliver better solutions in more timely fashion.   Win/win scenarios and business arrangements ar...