Technical Assistance Agreements (TAAs)

A Technical Assistance Agreement (TAA) is an agreement in which a domestic or primary source provides a foreign concern or government, often called a second source, with technical assistance. The assistance lets the second source manufacture specified supplies or perform specified services. The U.S. Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS) describes the arrangement in its subpart on foreign licence and technical assistance agreements.

The term has a second, closely related meaning in U.S. defence-export terminology. There, a TAA is an authorization to furnish defence services or disclose technical data to foreign persons, as the U.S. Department of State's Directorate of Defense Trade Controls explains. The term appears mainly in defence production, technology transfer, export controls and foreign-source development.

Primary sources and second sources under DFARS

DFARS treats these agreements as a way to develop or encourage foreign additional sources of supply. It distinguishes two parties. The primary source is the domestic concern that provides the assistance. The second source is the foreign concern or government that receives it. The same subpart covers foreign licence agreements and technical assistance agreements together.

What technical assistance can include

DFARS lists the forms the assistance can take:

• technical data and know-how
• trained personnel, and instruction and guidance for personnel
• jigs, dies, fixtures and other manufacturing aids
• information, rights or licences

The assistance is whatever the second source needs to produce the specified supplies or perform the specified services.

How the U.S. ITAR uses the TAA

Under the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR), the Directorate of Defense Trade Controls identifies the TAA as one of three agreement types commonly used for authorization. Its purpose in that setting is to authorize the furnishing of defence services or the disclosure of technical data to foreign persons. A TAA in this sense is therefore both a commercial arrangement between companies and an export-control instrument.

Patent rights, data rights and government review

DFARS also addresses how government contracts relate to these agreements. Under DFARS 227.673, contracts between the U.S. government and a primary source must, to the extent practicable, specify the patent rights, data rights and other rights to be supplied to the second source. The section also covers contracts that involve separate agreements between a primary source and a second source for patent rights or technical assistance relating to the articles or services in the contract.

The government may also review these agreements. Under DFARS 227.675-2, the department concerned may review foreign licence and technical-assistance agreements between primary and second sources for compliance with relevant ITAR requirements.

What it means for a supplier bidding on Canadian public contracts

The rules described above are U.S. rules. They govern U.S. defence contracts and U.S. export authorizations. They are not a Canadian clause or a Canadian solicitation type. A Canadian supplier that meets the term in a tender should read the solicitation's own definition of it. The supplier should also check any export-control requirements the document incorporates, and any referenced agreement or data-rights clause.

Suppliers working with U.S. partners or U.S.-origin technical data should treat a TAA as a matter of U.S. export authorization and data and patent rights. Confirm these points with the contracting authority and with your own export-control advisers before bid submission. Global Affairs Canada publishes its own funding information on its funding page, which is separate from the U.S. defence-trade usage covered here.

For standard defence and allied terminology, NATO maintains NATOTerm, its official terminology database. It is maintained by the NATO Terminology Office within the NATO Standardization Office.