OTA Today

Chris is an instructor at DAU who provides Other Transaction Authority (OTA) training to DoD acquisition professionals as part of the OTA Team. He also works with start-ups to help them develop strategies to navigate public sector procurement processes. Before his current work at DAU and in industry, Chris served as the Senior Contracting Official for the Defense Innovation Unit.  While there, he focused on minimizing the barriers to entry for commercial technology into the government and maximizing the paths to scale successful prototypes for DoD partners. His experience in government contracting includes past leadership roles within the US Army Corps of Engineers (LA District), Installation and Contingency Contracting organizations, and the Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Army for Procurement.

Brian Serra is a lover of finding better ways to get things done and really likes that OTAs and nontraditional acquisition let people do that!. After spending over a decade working as a contracting professional for the Army Contracting Command, he recently transitioned to private industry. As an Agreements Officer for the Government, he was a co-founder of the Training and Readiness Accelerator (TReX) and has helped to develop and execute OTAs in support of the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, and Air Force.