10.25777/DDTA-RC05
Kuchina-Musina, Dolores
Dolores
Kuchina-Musina
Old Dominion University
Other Transaction Authorities: Evaluating Innovation Policy Impact of Alternative Contract Vehicles in the Department of Defense
Old Dominion University Libraries
2022
Dissertation
Since 1958, government agencies have used Other Transactions (OT) to encourage innovation and the development of new technology. OTs' purpose is to help government agencies acquire leading-edge technology from private sector sources in a flexible, goal-oriented manner. This dissertation is a pilot study assessing whether innovation policies, specifically 10 USC 2371b (Pub. L. No. 114-92, 2015) that authorizes DoD prototype OTs, influence the Department of Defense (DoD) alternative contracting activities to promote the development of innovative technologies and products. Using existing literature and interrupted time series analysis, this dissertation examines publicly available contract data to answer the following research question: how can innovation policy outcomes, in the form of other transaction authorities, influence alternative contracting activities to promote the development of innovative technologies and products? Based on the results and the three hypotheses examined, there is support for the research question because the analysis of the award data of OTs showed a statistically significant increase in the number of DoD Prototype awards from 2008-2020. Findings from this study will contribute to the current literature and encourage research from more diverse fields to promote policy innovation and provide policymakers a method of assessing innovation policies using quantitative methods.