DTRA engages partners, industry at CWMD conference

Photo By Darnell Gardner | Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) Research and Development director delivered a keynote speech at the Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction (CWMD) Consortium General Membership Meeting and Industry Day in Bethesda, Maryland, Nov. 12-13, 2019. DTRA leadership embraces the flexibility and innovation-spurring OTA consortium concept for funding research that enhances warfighter capabilities.  

FORT BELVOIR, VIRGINIA, UNITED STATES

11.15.2019

Story by Darnell Gardner 

Defense Threat Reduction Agency

BETHESDA, Maryland – Senior leaders and experts from the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) participated in the Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction (CWMD) Consortium General Membership Meeting and Industry Day in Bethesda, Maryland, Nov. 12-13.
The event was co-led by DTRA, the Joint Program Executive Office for Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Defense (JPEO-CBRND), and the Department of Homeland Security’s Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction Office (DHS CWMD). It provided members of nontraditional industry, academia and government attendees with a venue to engage in information exchange that address CWMD technologic research funding opportunities.
“DTRA is here to provide the Services and greater DoD with capabilities to counter WMD and improvised devices,” said Dr. Reese Williams, DTRA’s Research and Development (R&D) director. “The CWMD consortium is a great platform to make this happen with the speed of relevancy.”
During kick-off activities, participating federal agencies delivered mission overviews to more than 700 enterprise partners and collaborator attendees. The briefings provided a more focused interaction, facilitating information exchange on upcoming prototyping requirements for the CWMD Other Transaction Agreement (OTA). The OTA provides federal agencies with increased flexibility to work with new industry partners on solutions that provide warfighters with safe and effective WMD countermeasures.
The OTA platform is a legal authority provided to conduct experimentation, research, development, prototyping and production that can lead to the fielding of critical defense capabilities in alternate ways, classified as “Research, Prototypes, and Follow-On Production.”
“We are always looking for rapid acquisition vehicles,” said Sharon Morrow, chief, DTRA Small Business Office. “OTA’s are basically an acquisition tool that allows for increased flexibility when awarding contracts to a performer. This process allows for optimum innovation and collaboration between OTA members and government agencies.”
DTRA collaborates with OTA consortiums to reinforce the need to continually operate within prescribed Department priorities.
“With regards to Department [of Defense] priorities, we see our association with CWMD consortiums as both reform and soldier lethality,” said Dr. Brian Reinhardt, team lead for medical countermeasures (MCM), DTRA R&D’s Chemical and Biological Technologies department. “The MCM technology that we are developing protects the warfighter from chemical or biological threats, so they can fight in contested in areas where the hazards exist, thereby allowing the soldiers to maintain their effectiveness and keep their lethality at an optimum warfighting range.” Furthermore, Reinhardt explained that OTAs reform already present elongated R&D financial procedures which can take more than one year to process.

• Date Taken: 11.15.2019
• Date Posted: 11.15.2019 09:01
• Story ID: 351884
• Location: FORT BELVOIR, VIRGINIA, US