By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr. on December 09, 2020 at 4:12 PM The Army remains the leading user of Other Transaction Authority, but the other services are starting to catch up. SOURCE: Center for Strategic & International Studies (CSIS) WASHINGTON: The Pentagon’s use of Other Transaction Authority, which bypasses a sclerotic contracting system, rose 75 percent in fiscal 2019 alone, according to a new analysis of Defense Department data by the Center for Strategic & International Studies. Since 2015 – the year Other Transaction Authority first took off, spurred on by congressional reforms – the annual value obligated under OTAs has soared 712 percent. CSIS scholar Rhys McCormick delved deep into the Federal Procurement Data System database to come up with both those staggering big-picture trendlines and some intriguing caveats.