December 12, 2022 (Mountain View, CA; Washington, DC)—The Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) and the National Contract Management Association (NCMA) have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to collaborate and exchange information and resources on programs and activities surrounding best practices on acquiring emerging commercial technologies.
“Contract management is integral to providing innovative capabilities and approaches to government and commercial organizations worldwide. This partnership brings robust and powerful education and networking opportunities for the community to best deliver innovation,” said Kraig Conrad, NCMA Chief Executive Officer. “We already have begun including DIU presenters at our national conferences and look forward to new avenues for collaboration.“
DIU is a United States Department of Defense (DoD) organization founded to first help accelerate the adoption of emerging commercial technologies into the DoD by leveraging different collaboration models with industry, and second, to strengthen the national security innovation base. NCMA is the world’s leading professional resource for those in the field of contract management dedicated to the professional growth and educational advancement of procurement and acquisition personnel worldwide.
“Over the past 6 years, DIU has refined our process around our Commercial Solutions Opening (CSO), providing new capabilities to the DoD at speed,” said Cherissa Tamayori, DIU’s director of acquisition. “Working with NCMA, we want to scale this acquisition process to meet tomorrow’s conflicts and help continue to prototype and scale technologies.”
NCMA and DIU will co-develop and share content on best practices for the DoD and U.S. government contracting communities, specifically stemming from DIU and its use of the Other Transaction (OT) authority. Watch our spaces for webinars, articles, and other events.