DVIDS – News – Maritime Sustainment Technology Innovation Consortium Reaches its 300th Member Milestone

The Naval Surface Warfare Center, Philadelphia Division-created Maritime Sustainment Technology Innovation Consortium (MSTIC) recently reached its 300th member milestone as Systel, Inc. based in Sugar Land, Texas was recently added to the membership.

Established in June 2021, the MSTIC has worked to promote a culture of open communication through the Other Transaction Authority (OTA). According to the MSTIC website (mstic.org), the OT is a “streamlined purchasing vehicle that brings innovative research findings and state-of-the-art prototypes from industry to the federal government. OT-based collaborations are not subject to some of the regulations that apply to Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR)-based acquisitions,” which, “allows government and industry to communicate more openly, from requirement generation to the proposal stage.”

With the added freedom the OTA affords, the MSTIC can boast a diverse group of traditional and non-traditional defense contractors, allowing NSWCPD to stay at the forefront of technological advancements.

“The MSTIC is a collection of traditional and non-traditional Defense Contractors, large and small businesses that are well qualified, providing a unique capability in relevant technology areas and accelerating the developmental path to greater innovative solutions and ideas to government requirements,” MSTIC Agreements Officer Alicia McPeters said.

Advanced Technology International (ATI), a non-profit, was awarded the NSWCPD’s first OTA back in June 2021 to create and manage the MSTIC under the OT Authority.

McPeters and the rest of the team tasked with awarding the OT Agreement along with ATI added four more members to the MSTIC since the milestone membership count was reached.

To date, the 304 MSTIC members include six academic institutions, five non-profit organizations, 102 large businesses, and 191 small businesses. The OTA continues to help foster innovation for NSWCPD with 242 of the MSTIC members categorized as nontraditional contractors.

“Ultimately, the MSTIC will bring best-in-class solutions to our warfighters and missions by utilizing the OTA for prototype projects. The OTA is the tool to our success and MSTIC is the collaboration team of innovators that will develop the sustainment solutions to address current and future threats in our maritime environments,” McPeters said on the OTA’s usefulness and the MSTIC’s importance to the NSWCPD.

The MSTIC’s future only looks brighter with many developments planned in the coming years and large amounts of funding being given to members.

“To date, the team has awarded seven Prototype Project Orders with an estimated value of $7.3 million. These Prototype Projects support various solutions across the command, including a range of efforts such as research and development prototype solutions for energy-efficient thermal technology management, data collection, and analytics of various ships systems, as well as commercial solutions for form, fit, and function on standard Navy components. An additional 21 Project Order awards are anticipated for Fiscal Year 2023 Quarter 1, valued at approximately $56.9 million,” McPeters said.

NSWCPD employs approximately 2,800 civilian engineers, scientists, technicians, and support personnel. The NSWCPD team does the research and development, test and evaluation, acquisition support, and in-service and logistics engineering for the non-nuclear machinery, ship machinery systems, and related equipment and material for Navy surface ships and submarines. NSWCPD is also the lead organization providing cybersecurity for all ship systems.

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