Trends in Big Data OTA Spending

The use of Other Transaction Agreements (OTAs) is gaining traction across federal agencies. These agreements offer a more flexible alternative to the traditional Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) process, enabling agencies with specific OTA authority to more efficiently procure research and prototype solutions. Among federal entities, defense organizations remain the most frequent and prominent users of OTAs.

The popularity of Other Transaction Authority (OTA) contracts is expected to continue rising. In a March memorandum, the Secretary of Defense provided updated guidance on software acquisition reform within the Department of Defense (DoD). Notably, the directive recommends using Commercial Solutions Openings (CSOs) and OTAs as the default approach for soliciting and awarding software development contracts. While this may include some big data-related initiatives, the increased push for OTAs is poised to have an impact across many technology disciplines in general.

Each year, the Federal Market Analysis team analyzes spending on information technology OTAs across technology areas such as cloud, network/communications, AI/ML, and big data. Below is analysis on those OTA transactions from FY 2022 to 2024 identified as big data and analytics in the primary and secondary requirement. Note that the below analysis does not include transactions identified as modeling and simulation.

Total Spending on Big Data OTAs, FY 2022-2024

Sources: Deltek, FPDS

Observations:

• Big data OTA spending totaled $1.4B from FY 2022 to 2024 and increased 42% in the three-year period.
• Of total big data OTA spending from FY 2022-2024, $24M was awarded to small businesses, signaling a slim presence in the small business/startup community within the big data OTA environment.
• Total big data OTA spending from FY 2022-2024 was nearly evenly split among transactions classified as Information Technology or Research and Development.
• Raytheon led big data OTA spending by contractor in the three-year period with $303M, followed by SCITEC with $193M.

Big Data OTAs by Department, FY 2022-2024

Sources: Deltek, FPDS

Observations:

• OTA spending on big data at DHS jumped from $518K in FY 2022 to $7.1M in FY 2024 driven by the requirement, “Threat Intelligence Enterprise Services Cybersecurity Threat Intelligence Platform” at CISA.
• DISA led Defense agency spending in the three-year period with $173M, followed by US Special Operations Command with $91M and DARPA with $87M.
• Top transactions by dollar value in the three-year period stem from orders on, “Future Operationally Resilient Gound Evolution Mission Data Processing Application Framework” at Air Force’s U.S. Space Force. 
• Top big data OTA program by dollar value at Navy from FY 2022-2024 was “ODIN Hardware Productions Support to the F-35” and totaled $46M in the three-year period, with spending peak in FY 2023 of $36M.
• Top big data OTA program by dollar value at Army from FY 2022-2024 was “POTA for UI/UX Prototypes” and totaled $33M in the three-year period, with peak spending in FY 2022 and 2023.  

At agencies, priorities continue to center on data governance and management, particularly as an enabler of AI technologies. Accordingly, given DOD’s emphasis on increased use of OTAs and CSOs for software development and innovation, big data OTA spending is likely to grow. For more analysis on this and the federal big data market, stay tuned for Deltek’s upcoming report, Federal Big Data Market, 2026-2028, set for publish later this month.