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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FAR Part 12 also encourages tailoring of the acquisition process for commercial items and NDIs.Without tailoring, the potential time and money savings may be lost.Tailoring should address the environment in which the item will be used, the extent of modification necessary, and the amount of testing necessary to evaluate the item and to make sound program and busi- ness decisions. Examples of such tailoring follow:

•  For a commercial item meeting the operational requirement with no modification, a sin- gle decision review (Milestone A, B, or C) may be sufficient to verify the item's suitability and to initiate production.

•  For an NDI requiring modifications, an abbreviated engineering development phase may be sufficient to verify the suitability of the modifications before undertaking the engineer- ing and manufacturing development of the modifications. In this case, Milestones A and B could be combined, with the Milestone C production decision made when verification testing of the modifications is completed.

•  For a commercial item being integrated into an existing system, a combined Milestone A and B decision may be appropriate when the integration engineering required is consid- ered to be low risk.

•  For an NDI that is a unique integration of existing subsystems and components, an abbre- viated engineering and manufacturing development phase may be sufficient to verify that the parts function as a whole or, in other words, the final product performs as required.

When planning the acquisition strategy, the IPT must not only identify the item to be ac- quired, but it also must address the acquisition method, budgets, and business considerations such as the contract type, pricing, best-value source selection, technical data and intellectual property, and warranties.The following sections summarize several key considerations pertinent to the acquisition of commercial items and NDIs.

Acquisition Method

DoD has several methods for obtaining commercial products. If the acquisition is for a stand- alone commercial system, subsystem, or component, the IPT should use the procedures in FAR Part 12. A similar approach is used for commercial services. Standalone contracts for commer- cial products or services are typically used for lower-dollar value or less complex acquisitions.

When acquiring major systems, DoD typically does not use a commercial contract because major systems usually require some type of R&D.The traditional contracting approach is a prime contractor-subcontractor arrangement. Under this arrangement, the prime contractor is responsible for the overall system and awards subcontracts for subsystems, components, and services.The prime contractor would not typically follow FAR Part 12 procedures, but DoD would encourage the prime to incorporate commercial items and NDIs in the system.The

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