Jane Edwards
Kevin Phillips, chairman, president and CEO of ManTech International and a five-time Wash100 Award recipient, said the federal government should continue using other transaction authorities as a way to transition the acquisition process’ focus from contract requirements to an outcome-based approach to help speed up the delivery of commercial innovation to agencies, the Washington Business Journal reported Wednesday.
“I think it is getting closer, but it’s not happening at scale,” Phillips said of OTAs during a panel discussion at GMU’s Innovation that Sticks: Accelerating Culture Change in Contracting and the Workforce event on Wednesday.
He said agencies seeking to gain access to more technology innovation should use indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contracts that would allow them to issue task orders and enable vendors to develop more novel tech platforms.
“The need for technology is going to be moving every three to six months,” Phillips said. “Allow the program to have a [research, testing development and evaluation] fixed-price contract line item that they can develop, and if it needs to move out, they can expand it.”
Emily Murphy, former administrator of the General Services Administration and a three-time Wash100 Award winner, joined Phillips during the discussion and cited the need for risk tolerance in acquisition.
