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Original Date: 09/15/1997
Revision Date: 01/18/2007
Information : Commercial Item Approach to Procurement
Section 12.6 of the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) provides streamlined procedures for the evaluation of and solicitation for commercial items, while section 13.6 provides a test program for certain commercial items not exceeding $5 million. By using these FAR provisions together for commercial item acquisitions, awards can be made in a matter of days. Current experience indicates that commodity costs are consistently below those of similar items acquired prior to use of the streamlined procedures. Contract packages assembled in accordance with the composite procedures appear to be as required by section 12 of the FAR, with synopsis and requirements as required by section 13 of the FAR.
This streamlined approach to commercial product acquisition does rely heavily on an effective market research effort to capture marketplace information specific to the items required. A successful "Commerciality Determination" is critical. A very effective tool available for this purpose is the DOD Internet Market Research Tool, "i-Mart," whose Uniform Resource Locator is: http://www.acq.osd.mil/ar/cadv.htm. After market research, the contracting officer carefully reviews the organization's requirements based on marketplace knowledge.
These new FAR procedures do not require offerers to submit detailed technical or cost information; rated evaluation of proposals is heavily weighted on past performance history, not solely on pricing. Overall, benefits obtained to date are:
Enhanced competition
Better teaming results
Increased opportunities for small business concerns to compete
Price reductions
Reduction in time delays because of paperwork reduction
For more information see the
Point of Contact for this survey.
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