Utilization of Middle Tier for Acquisition: Speeding Operational Capabilities to the War Fighter

Abstract

The Department of Defense’s (DoD’s) Middle Tier of Acquisition (MTA) authority was established by Congress to streamline rapid prototyping and rapid fielding of operational capabilities. The House Armed Services Committee (H.R. 118-125) asked how much MTA programs have produced operational capabilities versus conducting research and development (R&D) for prototypes. This paper provides the results of our research using the DoD’s Defense Acquisition Visibility Environment (DAVE), Federal Procurement Data System (FPDS) and the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) Business Directory for company Commercial and Government Entity (CAGE) codes or the company name in online database searches to provide answers to their questions.