Federal research and development assistance can take several forms.
- Grants. Grants are non-dilutive with typically a hypothesis- or objective-drive work plan. Grants allow researchers broad discretion to change the work plan in the pursuit of the research objectives.
- Cooperative Research and Development Agreements (CRADAs) or Cooperative Agreements. Cooperative agreements are made between a public entity, such as a federal lab, and a private entity. CRADAs provide for significant involvement of the federal entity in determining the scope of work, methods, data analysis, and direction of the research project. CRADAs can require the sharing of any generated intellectual property that results from the collaborative research.
- Contracts. R&D contracts are utilized by federal agencies to enjoin the public sphere to develop technologies that serve a particular need for that agency. R&D contracts often lead to procurement contracts where the federal government becomes the customer for the business which produces and sells the developed technology back to the government. Alternatively, the business may license the technology to the government through a technology transfer agreement.
- Other Transactions. Other transactions allow federal agencies to work with non-standard federal contractors by bypassing certain Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) authority. This is especially useful for the development of new technologies through research, development, and deployment activities.
Several agencies possess Other Transactions Authority (OTA) including the Department of Commerce (NOAA), the Department of Energy (ARPA-E), HHS (CDC, NIH, ARPA-H), DOT (FAA), NASA, NSF, and DoD. The DoD especially utilizes OTA for R&D/D work as the DoD has their own stringent version of FAR (i.e., DFAR) which would otherwise preclude most businesses from engaging in contract work. Other Transactions can be made to a non-traditional defense contractor or small business, or to a traditional defense contractor if at least one of the following provisions applies:
- A non-traditional contractor is participating to a significant extent
- All significant participants are small businesses
- The awardee provides a financial or in-kind cost share
- The Service Acquisition Executive makes a written determination that exceptional circumstances justify the use of OT
OT awards may be provided for the following activities:
- Research: basic, applied, and advanced development projects
- Prototype: directly relevant to military operations proposed to be acquired by or developed by the DoD
- Production: non-competitive agreement for production of materials, components, items, etc. for the DoD
OT awards are flexible and fast but accessing these can seem daunting. It may be worth it to consider joining an OTA consortium which publicizes potential opportunities to its members; these opportunities are often not published in other locations. Most OTA consortia are free to join while others have a low (<$500 per year) joining fee. These consortia publicize OTA opportunities as well as hosting events to bring together public-private partners. Talking directly with topic managers is an excellent method for penetrating the OTA environment.