SD-5 Market ResearchThe purpose of this document is to provide DoD and other Federal personnel involved in the acquisition process with practical guidance on using market research to ensure the acquisition of products and services that will best serve the government??s needs. Specifically, this document is designed for personnel involved with establishing requirements for products or services, such as engineers, technical specialists, project officers, and customers; personnel involved with purchasing products or services, such as contracting officers, contract specialists, and cost analysts; and personnel who support the acquisition process, such as logisticians, testing and quality assurance specialists, and legal counsel.

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Figure 4. The Four Steps of Strategic Market Research

• Product or service?

• What are the requirements?

• Who are the users?

• Who are the suppliers?

• Are there related products and services?

• Economic data

• Associations

• Standards

• Journals and publications

• Requests for information

• News media

• Conferences

• Trade shows

• Web searches

• Determine information desired

• Devise filing scheme

• Conduct research

• Extract key information

from sources • Devise format for reporting results

• Discuss findings with team members

• Prepare report of strategic market research results

• Communicate with others as needed

to investigate factors such as technologies, manufacturing and production processes, and logis- tics. For services, you will need to investigate the performance requirements that affect quality, labor factors such as availability and required skills, and the approach to delivering the service.

What are the requirements? At the early stages in an acquisition program, the requirements may not yet be defined. In that case, you will need to take a much broader look at the market in order to identify alternatives. On the other hand, if you know the requirement will involve only reciprocating pumps, then you can limit your efforts to that market segment.

Who are the participants in the market? Who are the sellers? Who are the buyers? Is the Federal Government currently a buyer? Are there dealers or distributors? Do industry or trade associations play a role? Do other markets affect or have a relationship with the market of inter- est, such as suppliers and transportation? Are there any consortia? Do nonprofit or educational

Examples of Strategic Information

Number of suppliers in the market and market share Name, size, and annual sales of potential suppliers Availability of commercial items

Willingness of suppliers to modify commercial items to meet requirements

Past government work by potential suppliers

Other government agencies that are buying the same product or service

Existence of market research done by those other government agencies

Commercial business practices, terms, and conditions

Business, legal, trade, political, and other developments affecting the market

Existence of any new developments in the field of interest

Related areas that may affect the field of interest