Contracting, innovation, and acquisition improvement with Victor Deal

In this first episode of Acquisition Talk, Eric Lofgren speaks with guest Victor Deal, who is currently the director of contracts and grants at the Universities Space Research Association, and before that, was an Acquisition Innovation Advocate in the Office of the Secretary of Defense. Victor has played an integral role in developing and deploying contracting methods which allow the Government to move quickly, harness new technologies, and bring in firms that traditionally would not have worked with the Government. In this episode, we will talk about innovation in the Department of Defense, and how that relates to Commercial Solutions Openings (CSOs) and Other Transactions Authorities (OTAs). The discussion also addresses the role of the contract officer in an innovative environment, what part trust plays in contracting and culture in acquisition, how the DoD is looking to take advantage of platform concepts from Silicon Valley, and more. We learn about contract proposal evaluation, and why cost realism might not make sense in R&D. Victor tells us how problems that arise when no one is accountable for end-to-end program success. And he addresses what effect the reorganization of the Undersecretary for Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics (AT&L) might have on the dreaded "valley of death" problem. We learn about how Victor got his start in the DoD, and what interesting projects are going on at USRA. This podcast was produced by Eric Lofgren. Soundtrack by urmymuse: "reflections of u". You can follow us on Twitter @AcqTalk and find more information at https://AcquisitionTalk.com.