Through literature reviews, interviews, and case studies, researchers reviewed recent U.S. Air Force experience in using other transactions for prototype projects (OTs), identifying lessons for acquisition professionals and improvements for use.

The U.S. military forces currently face a nontraditional threat from insurgents and terrorists who primarily employ improvised explosive devices, and have shown a cycle of adaptation of less than 12 months to responses by U.S. forces to counter these attacks. This constantly evolving threat requires U.S. military forces to adapt and respond more rapidly with modified tactics, technologies, and/or equipment. In response to this need for new technologies, the Rapid Reaction Technology Office (RRTO) was established in 2006 to develop technologies that can mature in 6 to 18 months for purposes of counterterrorism. Although RRTO appears to be successfully fulfilling its mission, the agency seeks to understand and address barriers to and opportunities for meeting future counterterrorism needs-including the need to accelerate the transition of technologies for counterterrorism with an eye to countering emerging and anticipated threats. This book reviews RRTO approaches and provides a set of recommendations for potential improvements to help meet these needs for rapid technology development.

This volume is the first in a series which aims to contribute to the wider dissemination of the results of research and development in database systems for non-traditional applications and non-traditional machine organizations. It contains updated versions of selected papers from the First International Symposium on Database Systems for Advanced Applications.

This timely book provides the first systematic analysis of global public procurement regulation and policy during and beyond the COVID-19 pandemic. Through both thematic chapters and national case studies, this book: - explores the adequacy of traditional legal frameworks for emergency procurement; - examines how governments and international organisations have responded specifically to the pandemic; and - considers how the experience of the pandemic and the political impetus for reform might be leveraged to improve public procurement more broadly. Public procurement has been critical in delivering vital frontline public services both in the health sector and elsewhere, with procurement of ventilators, protective equipment and new hospitals all hitting the headlines. At the same time, procurers have faced the challenge of adjusting existing contracts to a new reality where, for example, some contracted services can no longer operate. Further, efficient and effective procurement will be an essential, and not a luxury, in the economic recovery. With case studies on Italy, the UK, the USA, India, Singapore, Africa, Latin America and China, the book brings together the world's leading academics and practitioners from across Europe, the Americas, Asia and Africa to examine these issues, providing an essential resource for policy makers, legislators, international organisations and academics.

The federal government’s use of Other Transaction Authority (OTA) agreements has exploded in recent years, thanks in large part to a surge in popularity within the Department of Defense (DoD). Rather than a contract, grant, or cooperative agreement, OTAs are an acquisition approach that pursues innovation by enabling certain federal agencies to access goods and services outside of the traditional acquisition system. This CSIS report examines the notable trends in DoD OTA usage since the DoD's authority to enter into OTAs was expanded by the statuary changes in the FY 2015 and FY 2016 NDAAs. It seeks to provide insight into how the DoD is using OTAs to pursue innovation, how DoD spending under an OTA is organized, and to whom the majority of OTA obligations go.

Do you spend a lot of time during the design process wondering what users really need? Do you hate those endless meetings where you argue how the interface should work? Have you ever developed something that later had to be completely redesigned? Paper Prototyping can help. Written by a usability engineer with a long and successful paper prototyping history, this book is a practical, how-to guide that will prepare you to create and test paper prototypes of all kinds of user interfaces. You'll see how to simulate various kinds of interface elements and interactions. You'll learn about the practical aspects of paper prototyping, such as deciding when the technique is appropriate, scheduling the activities, and handling the skepticism of others in your organization. Numerous case studies and images throughout the book show you real world examples of paper prototyping at work. Learn how to use this powerful technique to develop products that are more useful, intuitive, efficient, and pleasing: * Save time and money - solve key problems before implementation begins * Get user feedback early - use it to focus the development process * Communicate better - involve development team members from a variety of disciplines * Be more creative - experiment with many ideas before committing to one*Enables designers to solve design problems before implementation begins *Five case studies provide real world examples of paper prototyping at work *Delves into the specifics of what types of projects paper prototyping is and isn't good for.