Pentagon Struggles To Get Small-Biz Tech

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http://breakingdefense.com/2014/08/pentagon-struggles-to-get-small-biz-tech/



Pentagon Struggles To Get Small-Biz Tech
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr. on August 08, 2014 at 3:57 PM

WASHINGTON: The Pentagon is not nimble. That’s more of a problem than ever in an era where even terrorist groups can increasingly download, buy, or steal sophisticated technology. So how can America’s bureaucratic military stay ahead? While Congress is wrestling with acquisition reform, some experts both inside the Pentagon and out argue that there’s more freedom to innovate within the existing system than most people think.

“Don’t let the contracting officer or acquisition officer tell you something without showing it to you in print,” said Alan Shaffer, the acting assistant secretary of defense for research and engineering, in remarks to industry group AFCEA this week. “A lot of times the government person wraps themselves around the DFARS (Defense Acquisition Regulation System) and the tyranny of acquisition regulations when in fact they’re not restricted from doing something.”

“There’s a tremendous amount of flexibility in the existing tools that are available,” lawyer Fernand Lavallee told another industry audience on Thursday. Even in traditional procurement contracts, there’s a lot more flexibility than most contractors and agencies take advantage of,” he said. “But there are also tools that are meant specifically to be extremely flexible,” such as Other Transaction Authority (OTA).

The barriers are often less legal or regulatory than cultural and psychological, both men agreed. “It’s not that they don’t know about it” (OTA), said Lavallee. “They’re afraid to use it.”