SD-2 Dod Acquisitions Buying Commercial Items And Nondevelopmental ItemsThis document offers guidance on acquisitions involving all types of commercial and nondevelopmental items: systems, subsystems, assemblies, parts, and items of supply. Commercial services are also addressed.This document does not present a “cookbook” approach to the acquisition of commercial and nondevelopmental items; such an approach could not accommodate the vast array of potential applications. It does offer lessons learned and things to consider when participating on an integrated product team.

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The remainder of this document describes these activities. Recognize, however, that they are not necessarily discrete nor are they necessarily sequential. Furthermore, they may not all be necessary, depending on the item to be bought. For example, when acquiring a relatively simple item, such as a laptop computer, it may be possible to eliminate both testing and development

of a support plan. In contrast, when acquiring a complex item, such as a financial management system or a weapon system, these activities may be somewhat iterative, requiring early and on- going market research and tradeoff analyses to identify the item that best meets DoD's needs with the least performance, cost, and schedule risk. Moreover, DoD may plan the acquisition strategy first and then contract with a system integrator or other prime contractor to design and engineer the item; to select the systems, subsystems, and components to be incorporated into the end item; and to deliver the item that meets the performance requirements at the best value and in the needed time frame.Whether DoD or the contractor is responsible for deliver- ing the item, the use of commercial systems, subsystems, and components to the extent practi- cable is preferred.

Regardless of the item to be acquired, the process requires continual interaction among IPT members to reach consensus on the preferred solution.To achieve consensus, the customer/ user, the program manager, and other IPT members must remain flexible in their acquisition strategy and be willing to adapt to the commercial environment if they hope to realize the full benefits of commercial technology.

Adapting to commercial markets is both a necessity and a challenge for programs that seek

to maximize the use of commercial items. A program that relies on commercial items may nev- er be "finished" in the traditional sense, because commercial firms continually revise and update their products to compete in the commercial market. Moreover, commercial items can pose challenges to programs in areas such as integration, modification strategy, support of outdated items, and budgeting for upgrades. At the same time, a program can realize significant benefits from using commercial items, such as obtaining the latest technology without the need to uni- laterally fund its development.