COMMENTARY
industrial base. Across the 12 participating consortia, researchers found 77 percent of their membership is made up of nontradi- tional defense contractors. Going one step further, researchers identified more than 4,500 companies that do not traditionally work with DOD and are participating in those same consortia.
Even more significantly, nontraditional defense contractors are not sitting on the sidelines but, instead, are actively driving inno- vation for America's warfighters. According to GMU’s researchers, 70 percent of awards from the 12 participating consortia went to nontraditional contractors as the prime contractor. For exam- ple, Monte Sano Research Corp., a nontraditional small business based in Huntsville, Alabama, received a $49 million contract award this past November to develop a prototype of the Super- sonic Ramjet Artillery Missile through the Aviation and Missile Technology Consortium based at Army Contracting Command ‒ Redstone Arsenal.
Examples like this provide insight into the consortium-based OTA rapid prototyping model. Consortia help bring innova- tive nontraditional defense contractors and small businesses into the industrial base and provide opportunities for them to collaborate with the government and receive awards. In turn, the nontraditional defense contractors help deliver innovative tech- nology prototypes to give our warfighters a decisive edge on the battlefield.
ACCELERATED ACQUISITION: OPERATION WARP SPEED Another benefit of OTA consortia is they provide the govern- ment with the ability to “respond to unexpected emergencies and rapidly identify sources of supply and scale procurement criti- cal items when time is of the essence.” Te best example of this is the most famous success story of the OTA—Operation Warp Speed and the project's efforts to deliver a COVID-19 vaccine from concept to delivery, as quickly as possible.
“Early in the days of the pandemic, the government needed to reach the breadth of the pharmaceutical industry, determine vaccine capability and capacity, and contract at ‘warp speed,’ ” according to the report. Te authors credited the DOD and the Department of Health and Human Services’ ability to achieve success with an OTA strategy was by using the Medi- cal CBRN Defense Consortium (MCDC). Leveraging the MCDC’s members, DOD was able to secure desperately needed personal protective equipment and solicit white paper proposals on advanced research and manufacturing for 100 million doses of a COVID-19 vaccine.
Te GMU report makes clear that the “MCDC published the solicitation on June 9, 2020, and received 11 white papers. DOD awarded four agreements (Novavax, Pfizer, Sanofi, and Jans- sen Research and Development). Te first agreement on behalf of Operation Warp Speed was awarded within 27 days of the solicitation, and the fourth in less than two months. Te first COVID-19 vaccines were administered in December 2020.”
Operation Warp Speed, with the support of MCDC, was a hercu- lean effort made possible by our nation’s ability to collaborate, innovate and develop solutions to our most pressing problems. Warp Speed leadership also stated that the program’s success would not have come so quickly without the consortium-based OTA. Gen. (Ret.) Gus Perna, chief operating officer of Opera- tion Warp Speed put it best, “Warp Speed would not have gone at warp speed if it was not for the consortium.”
CONCLUSION As the global geopolitical environment heats up, the use of OTAs by the Army and other service branches will continue to increase, and with good reason. Te authority is critical to rapidly develop- ing new technology prototypes that meet the present and future needs of our warfighters.
At the same time, DOD-sponsored consortia will continue to play a pivotal role in developing these technologies. DOD can count on consortia to do what they have always done—promote collaboration, grow the industrial base to include more innova- tive nontraditional defense contractors, and accelerate acquisition at the speed of relevance.
For more information, go to
https://www.nacconsortium.org.
AL ABRAMSON, BRIG. GEN. USA (RET.), serves as the vice president of customer engagement for the National Armaments Consortium. Before that, he served in the military for 30 years in positions within the continental United States as well as overseas. He culminated his career while serving in a dual-hatted role, serving as the joint program executive officer for Armaments and Ammunition, and the commanding general for Picatinny Arsenal, New Jersey. He holds an M.S. in chemistry from Johns Hopkins University; an M.S. in national security and strategic studies from the Naval War College; an M.S. in strategic studies from the Army War College; and a B.S. in chemistry from Virginia State University.
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