Pushing the Acquisition Innovation Envelope at the Office of Naval Research

Abstract

Developing prototypes may require performers, all with different areas of expertise, working together to address the complexity required for a successful development effort. Current Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) policy makes it difficult for these collaborations to assemble efficiently. Complex research projects, such as the Office of Naval Research's Incapacitation Prediction in Expeditionary Domains: An Integrated Software Tool (I-PREDICT) project, which seeks to develop a computational model to predict human injury and functional incapacitation as a result of military hazards, often face difficulty when attempting to transition across the valley of death from development to adoption. A decision framework was developed and implemented for I-PREDICT to select the appropriate acquisition strategy aligned with the technical needs of the program. A three-phase implementation strategy was also designed, which included the use of an Other Transaction Authority (OTA) and the use of a Technical Committee to promote communication between performers. The resulting decision framework and implementation strategy may be used Navy-wide or across other military Services for R&D programs requiring acquisition flexibility coupled with collaborative technology development. Additionally, the research produced a customizable method for leveraging OTAs as a mechanism for development of complex prototypes depending on disparate kinds and sources of expertise.