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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Test  and  Evaluate  Candidate

Items

The need to field a system as quickly as possible is a major incentive for using commercial items and NDis, because use of such items will save DoD many hours of unique design, engineering, and development time.The amount of time required for testing and evaluation also will be re- duced. However, the use commercial items or NDis does not eliminate the need to ensure that the items meet the performance requirements.Therefore, commercial item and NDi acquisitions need to be supported by a tailored test and evaluation program.

The extent of the test and evaluation program for a commercial item or NDi acquisition depends on the type of item (modified, unmodified) and the similarity of the item's current or planned use to its intended use in the DoD environment.The iPT needs to determine which of the following four situations applies:

•  Commercial item or NDI intended to be used in the same environment and under the same condi- tions for which it was designed. Development testing is normally not required before produc- tion qualification testing. Operational testing is required when organic maintenance is a necessity.

•  Commercial item or NDI intended to be used in an environment different from that for which it was designed. Early qualification testing will probably be required in the operational and main- tenance environment. Preproduction qualification testing will be required if early qualifi- cation testing leads to modification of the original item. Production qualification and operational testing also will be required.

•  Commercial item or NDI intended for integration into a larger system. Feasibility testing to qual- ify a test sample should be conducted before the item is integrated into the system. Preproduction testing of the complete system is required. Hardware and software integra- tion testing also will be necessary.

•  Commercial item or NDI that has been modified. Testing should focus on the modification to ensure that it meets the operational requirement and does not have a negative effect on overall operations.

A test and evaluation program for commercial items and NDis relies largely on data from ex- ternal sources, rather than on actual testing. Examples of these data are the performance history of the proposed item, test data from the original system development or from the commercial producer, and user experience. (Much of the needed information can be gathered as part of the

tactical market research.) The rationale for a reduced test and evaluation program for commercial

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