The acquisition strategy will depend on the procurement authorities granted to the civilian agency. Other transactions (OTs) are a flexible procurement vehicle can be used by those civilian agencies who have been granted the statutory authority to use them. One viable approach would be if the civilian agency was granted the authority to award an OT for a prototype with a follow-on production OT without competition, similar to what DoD is authorized under title 10, U.S.C., §2371b. GAO detailed the civilian agencies who can award OTs in the following report at https://www.gao.gov/assets/gao-16-209-highlights.pdf

If OTs are not an option, then another possibility is either a small business innovation research (SBIR) or small business technology transfer (STTR) award if the civilian agency has been granted the authority under title 15, U.S.C,  §638. There are differences between these two vehicles, to include the length of Phase I, the employment of the principal investigator, and the involvement of subcontractors. Phase III allows for the right to sole-source contracts and no limit on the dollar size of the Phase III procurement. 

The applicable law in the U.S.C.:  https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/USCODE-2011-title15/pdf/USCODE-2011-title15-chap14A-sec638.pdf

Explanation of the differences between SBIRs and STTRs:  https://www.sbir.gov/sites/all/themes/sbir/dawnbreaker/img/documents/Course1-Tutorial3.pdf

Explanation of Phase III rights:  https://www.sbir.gov/tutorials/data-rights/tutorial-4