Wednesday, May 28, 2025, 9:00 ET, 14:00 UK, 15:00 CET
Please join George Washington University Law School’s Government Procurement Law Program for a one-hour special webinar on procurement-for-innovation, focusing on the NATO DIANA (Defense Innovation Accelerator for the North Atlantic) initiative as a case study in effective use of public procurement to generate innovation. NATO DIANA was established by NATO to find and accelerate dual-use (commercial and military) innovation capacity across the Alliance. Procurement-for-innovation is a key emerging issue in global procurement policy, in both the European Union and the United States, and the NATO DIANA initiative provides an excellent case study.
Panel
Tom McSorley, General Counsel, NATO DIANA – DIANA’s Procurement Strategy
Maj. Gen. Paul Peyton (ret.), NATO DIANA – DIANA’s Goals
Lucian Cernat, Head of Global Regulatory Cooperation and International Procurement Negotiations at the European Commission – Procurement-for-Innovation in the EU
Sonia Tabriz, Arnold & Porter – U.S. solutions for innovation, including “Other Transactions” and “Commercial Solutions Opening”
Moderators – Profs. Christopher Yukins (GW Law), Gabriella Racca (U. Turin) & Daniel Schoeni (GW Law – U. Dayton/Aug. 2025)
Resources
- Defense Acquisition University, Commercial Solutions Opening (DFARS 212.70)
- European Commission, Enrico Letta’s Report on the Future of the Single Market (2024)
- European Commission, European Assistance For Innovation Procurement (EAFIP) (resources on procurement for innovation)
- European Commission, The future of European competitiveness: Report by Mario Draghi (2024)
- Thomas McSorley, Maciej Macenowicz, Matthew Maddison & Christopher Yukins, Allies Bridging The Valley Of Death: How NATO’s Defence Innovation Accelerator For The North Atlantic Will Help Maintain NATO’s Technological Edge, 67 Government Contractor ¶ 1 (Thomson Reuters, Jan. 8, 2025)
- OECD, Public procurement for public sector innovation: Facilitating innovators’ access to innovation procurement (2024)
- Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment, Other Transactions Guide (July 2023, v. 2.0)
- Sonia Tabriz, Stuart Turner, Ronald Lee & Kyung Liu-Katz, Trump Administration Issues Executive Orders Directing Major Changes to Defense Acquisition and Federal Procurement More Broadly (Arnold & Porter, Apr. 21, 2025)
- Senator Roger Wicker, Restoring Freedom’s Forge: American Innovation Unleashed (Defense Management Institute, Dec. 2024) (FoRGED Act)