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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conduct market research to identify opportunities for maximizing the use of commercial items and NDIs. In addition, to facilitate commercial item and NDI use, design-type requirements should be avoided as much as possible.

•  Purchase descriptions. Purchase descriptions are used to competitively solicit and contract for an item when development of a standardization document is not justified, such as for infrequent or one-time buys. A "brand name or equal" description is an example of a pur- chase description. As with other product descriptions, when writing purchase descriptions, performance terms should be used whenever possible.

The following tips are useful to remember when selecting or developing product descriptions:

•  Communicate with the user. Continuous two-way communication between the user and the person preparing the product description is essential to ensure that the description accu- rately reflects the user's requirement and to communicate information gained during mar- ket research.

•  Maintain consistency between the product description and the evaluation criteria. To attain the overall best value for DoD, the product description must be consistent with the evaluation process and vice versa.

•  Consider the intended environment. If the intended environment is similar to that for which the item was designed, existing commercial standards should be acceptable. If a commer- cial item will be used in a more severe environment, those special characteristics will need to be included in the requirements.

•  Evaluate market standards and practices. For existing items, the market will have established standards for quality, production, and materials, as well as for item support, technical data, and warranties. Deviating from prevailing market standards and practices can erode the benefits of using commercial items.

•  Establish flexibility in the operational requirement to allow consideration of a broader range of alternatives. The product description should reflect the user's flexibility by stating require- ments in terms of acceptable ranges, targets, or desired and required values rather than exact values.

•  Document result of market research. Market research information should indicate the poten- tial for using commercial items or NDIs and serve as the basis for many of the character- istics contained in the product description.

To the extent practical, product descriptions should be written in terms of function or per- formance. Functional characteristics address what is to be accomplished, for example,"provide transportation." Performance characteristics address the level at which the function is carried out, for example,"provide transportation for up to four adults at speeds up to 60 miles per