Technology Investment Agreements (TIAs) can be used to carry out basic, applied, or advanced research projects when it is appropriate to use assistance instruments and the research is to be performed at least in part by for-profit firms, especially as members of consortia. TIAs allow DoD Components to leverage for defense purposes financial investments made by for-profit firms in research related to commercial products and processes.
A major purpose of TIAs is to increase participation in defense research by for-profit firms that have been reluctant to perform under traditional, cost-type Government instruments. The firms' reluctance is related to concerns that complying with the Government-unique requirements of traditional instruments can be unnecessarily burdensome, intrusive, and costly and can therefore harm their competitiveness in the commercial marketplace. But TIAs make it possible to provide more flexibility than traditional instruments in areas where impediments to involving commercial firms exist and where flexibility can be provided without compromising Federal stewardship responsibilities.
TIAs evolved from types of cooperative agreements and "other transactions" developed by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and the Military Departments between 1991 and 1996. DARPA primarily used a type of "other transaction" called a consortium agreement, while the Military Departments principally used a type of cooperative agreement; in both cases, the instruments were specifically tailored to eliminate barriers to involving commercial firms. In 1997, there was a sufficient base of experience with these instruments to judge that they were very similar and that having similar agreements with different names was confusing. The Director of Defense Research and Engineering (DDR&E) therefore issued guidance on December 2, 1997, merging the two types of agreements into a single class of assistance instruments called TIAs.
The guidance that applies to TIAs is interim guidance under a DDR&E policy memorandum. It has evolved considerably since the DDR&E first issued guidance in 1994 covering the types of cooperative agreements and "other transactions" that DARPA and the Military Departments were using before the creation of TIAs. The TIA interim guidance still is evolving; it ultimately is expected to become a formally issued Part 37 of the DoD Grant and Agreement Regulations (DoD 3210.6-R).
The best place to start in understanding the TIA guidance is the most recent update to that guidance. On February 3, 1999, the DDR&E issued Revision 2 titled, "Guidance on Instruments for Support or Stimulation of Research." This revision replaces Revision 1, on March 24, 1998. A copy of Revision 1 is provided for information.
However, the guidance attached to the February 3, 1999, memorandum is only a part of what applies to TIAs. The 1999 guidance incorporates by reference some of the guidance that the DDR&E issued in 1994, specifically those portions covering the "other transactions" and cooperative agreements developed by DARPA and the Military Departments between 1991 and 1996. The pertinent portions of the 1994 DDR&E guidance are described in Defense Grant and Agreement Circular 94-7, (Pg. 1, Pg. 2, Pg. 3) which, while rescinding most of the 1994 guidance (which was superceded by the new DoDGARs in April 1998 for grants and most cooperative agreements), identified those portions of it that remain in effect for TIAs and certain other types of agreements. The portions of the 1994 guidance that remain in effect for TIAs are: