Government Contracts: Other Transaction Authority

This article was originally posted in April 2022 and has been updated.

While the US government can fund research and development in cooperative agreements and grants, these traditional funding mechanisms have dissuaded many companies from partnering with the federal government due to the government’s inflexible contracting requirements, especially regarding intellectual property provisions. This Note discusses the “other transaction” (OT) authority available to certain US government agencies, particularly the Department of Defense (DOD) to enter into other transaction agreements (OTAs) with contactors to perform research and develop prototypes of new inventions and technologies.