Finally, it seems that there is some much-needed transparency coming to other transaction agreements.
A new bill from Sens. James Lankford (R-Okla.), Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) and Gary Peters (D-Mich.) passed the upper chamber today requiring public disclosure of OTA awards. That, combined with a provision in the Senate’s version of the National Defense Authorization Act for 2027 requiring similar public sharing of OTA awards, is the strongest signal yet that the frustration with this approach is real.
And while we are talking about the need for transparency, the General Services Administration seems also to have gotten an earful from industry from its January request for information on the purpose and value of value-added resellers.
GSA recently updated the federal community with some high-level insights from the feedback it received from that RFI.
The two actions demonstrate why transparency remains a top issue for agencies and contractors alike.
The government’s love affair with these non-Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) based acquisitions has been well documented over the last decade. The Defense Department and other agencies with the proper authorities love to use OTAs because of their speed, flexibility and the fact OTAs are basically protest proof. Those agencies, such as GSA and the Department of Homeland Security, which do not have Congressional approval now wish they did.
And vendors are all in on OTAs, particularly when they win one.
The problem with OTAs is two-fold. First, DoD too often goes through consortiums to seek proposals and many times these consortiums cost money to belong to. Second, details of OTAs from the initial request to the award are often unavailable to the general public.
“OTAs were designed to move fast. They weren’t designed to operate in the dark,” wrote Jennifer Rowe, the owner of Instatera Consulting and a former auditor at the Defense Contract Audit Agency, in a LinkedIn post. “This would give industry and taxpayers greater visibility into who is receiving OTA awards, how much money is being awarded and where DoD is placing its bets on innovation. OTAs remain an important acquisition tool, but transparency and accountability should grow alongside their increasing use. This is a step in the right direction.”
The Stop Secret Spending Act would require agencies to disclose OTAs in the same manner as grants, contracts, loans and other government expenditures on USASpending.gov. The bill also would require agencies to issue a summary of the total amount of spending that is not publicly disclosed, along with a justification for why it’s not publicly disclosed.
““The Stop Secret Spending Act shines a light on billions of dollars in government spending that has been deliberately kept from taxpayers. Transparency is the first step toward accountability, and accountability is how we stop Washington from wasting the money Americans work hard to earn,” Lankford said in a release.
Spending on OTAs has continued at a steady pace since 2020. The Government Accountability Office found agencies spent $18.2 billion on OTAs in fiscal 2025, down about $700 million from 2024.
Since 2022, GAO says spending on OTAs has increased from $11.8 billion.
The Senate NDAA provision also would mandate DoD to publish OTA spending data on USASpending.gov.
The House version of the NDAA doesn’t include the OTA transparency provision. If the Senate passes its version of the bill with the OTA provision, there still is a chance it could come out during the conference committee.
But Rep. Barry Moore (R-Ala.) is sponsoring the Stop Secret Spending Act companion bill, which the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform passed unanimously in March.
This makes the likelihood of real OTA reform more likely than ever.
3 buckets of VAR RFI feedback
Over at GSA, the RFI and now resulting initial readout is an example of the call for transparency gone right.
If you don’t remember, GSA turned up the scrutiny of value-added resellers in 2025, asking questions and collecting data. The DoD then floated the idea through a draft memo of capping reseller profits to 5%.
GSA’s decision to release the RFI was a step to calm the waters and dig deeper into what VARs do and why they matter.
GSA received 136 responses to the RFI with the feedback falling in three buckets.
- Widely accepted commercial definitions for resellers and value-added resellers
- Value is in the service, not the product markup
- Government work is more costly
“Based on this industry feedback, FAS has identified opportunities to strengthen its pricing practices through solicitation enhancements, workforce training, and additional resources for agency buyers. These actions will allow VARs to clearly communicate the value of their offerings while aligning with commercial practices and minimizing administrative burden,” GSA stated in its notice on its Interact site. “FAS will share additional details, including any planned updates to the MAS solicitation, through GSA Interact in the coming months.”
One industry observer, who requested anonymity, said the feedback showed there is a more complex set of considerations around the value of VAR than GSA may have initially thought.
“Now they can come up with an approach to the issue that will be balanced and address the pricing, value and relationship to what the resellers are doing. It allows GSA to manage this rather than having all kinds of other stakeholders be involved in this,” said the observer. “I think most of us would like to see a transparent process. If they come up with changes to the solicitations, they should share the changes and seek feedback.”
The observer said one of the most important areas of feedback GSA received was around the work VARs do not just for agencies, but for original equipment manufacturers (OEMs).
“These are things OEMs don’t do or want to do in either federal or commercial market,” the observer said.
By receiving this feedback from industry, GSA can now make more informed decisions about the role of VARs and how likely OEMs are to contract directly with the government.
It’s clear from these two examples, shining a light on both the OTA and VAR issues will mean better results for all parties involved.
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