On this edition of On DoD: a deep dive on other transaction
agreements.  

According to the Federal Procurement Data System DoD’s use
of OTAs has skyrocketed from 342 agreements worth $1.4 billion in 2016 to 3,200
agreements worth more than $16 billion in 2020. Despite that growth, the rules
governing OTAs – what few rules there are – aren’t universally understood even
inside the department’s own acquisition bureaucracy.  

To help demystify OTAs, we’re joined by Hallie Balkin, one
of DoD’s leading experts on OTAs. She is a government procurement attorney who
currently works at Defense Acquisition University, where she’s the learning
director for other transactions. Balkin is also involved in an effort with the
Office of the Secretary of Defense to update and reissue DoD’s Other
Transactions Guide.