In this episode Strategic Institute talks about recent Congressional language that seeks to broaden the aperture when it comes to who and what qualifies for OTA awards, while at the same time the bureaucracy is attempting to narrow the thinking around OTAs and kneecap their potential. Who should be served, the will of ‘the people’ as represented by Congress -or- should the bureaucracy take precedent?
Also discussed are clear solutions using OTAs, current lack of incentives, who should be responsible for needed positive change, and a lot of banter that should interest anyone who cares about improving federal R&D outcomes and better delivering new advanced capabilities.
The overarching question is, should DoD develop a robust understanding of what the potential of OTAs is, what they are really for, why they were developed, their history -or- should DoD continue to take a myopic view, not to be bothered by greater perspectives or knowledge? What do you think, is this an institutional-wide case of “missing the forest for the trees”?
For those who want to develop broad understanding and knowledge of OTAs, Strategic Institute is hosting a 3 hour online educational event, July 31 @ 1pm (est).
Thomas Bruneau
Excellent podcast. I especially appreciate use of concepts of “incentives” and “metrics”. I was planning to write a short paper on the topic of new approaches being supported from above, and nothing happening down below, but don’t have the empirical basis to support my argument. With this podcast I am emboldened to go ahead with the short paper. At a minimum, if anybody reads it, the paper might stimulate, as has your podcast, a more analytical look at what, if anything, is going on.