The Defense Department has created a consortium under Better Buying Power 3.0 to spur innovation in ordnances and better facilitate business with non-traditional suppliers.
Jose Gonzalez, deputy director, land warfare and munitions, tactical warfare systems, Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics (AT&L), said Thursday the DoD Ordnance Technology Consortium (DOTC) is facilitated by a legal contract called Other Transaction Agreement (OTA) Section 845. He said as DOTC is a non-Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR)-based contractual mechanism, there is less bureaucracy for non-traditional suppliers to work through, incentivizing these non-traditional suppliers and small businesses to work with traditional contractors. 
Gonzalez said since OTA Section 845 is limited to prototypes, contractors can’t develop end systems. They have to transition their prototype to a FAR-based contract when it reaches engineering and manufacturing development (EMD). Gonzalez said DoD tried develop the Future Combat System (FCS) under OTA Section 845 and learned “it doesn’t work very well.”
Gonzalez said DoD, as part of DOTC, issues an annual requirements plan on Federal Business Opportunities (FBO) to solicit ideas from industry. Interested contractors, he said, can begin a white paper process leading to a contract proposal and an award. Gonzalez said there are currently 200 to 300 industry organizations participating in DOTC, ranging from academia to small business to major contractors.
In addition to cutting through red tape, DOTC also allows DoD to have a frank and open discussion with industry partners on what it needs and what it has in mind, Gonzalez said. DoD, he said, has close to $1 billion in initiatives currently under contract and currently $1.9 million worth of contracts specific to U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM).
Gonzalez’s remarks came at the National Defense Industrial Association (NDIA) Special Operations/Low-Intensity Conflict (SO/LIC) conference in Washington.