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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Table 3. Sample Comparison of GPS Hand-Held Receivers

ers routinely modify their products for their commercial customers. Another possibility is that the suppliers will see that the modification would be commercially marketable and be willing to make the modification in anticipation of a return from the commercial market.

These kinds of tradeoff analyses are important tools in establishing a pool of candidate sources that represent the overall best choices. In some cases, it may be economically feasible to develop techniques that mitigate the risk of using commercial items that do not fully meet the requirement. For example, a commercial alternative may not satisfy a particular reliability re- quirement (e.g., 300 hours mean time between failures). However, a tradeoff analysis might demonstrate that other equipment capabilities or performance would compensate for the relia- bility shortfall. Or, if cost savings per unit were sufficient, redundancy or a dispose-and-replace policy might compensate for the shortfall.You can use similar analyses to evaluate processes, production methods, and production control procedures. It is usually better to accept or tailor these processes, methods, and procedures rather than to impose totally new procedures that will drive up risk and cost.

Modifying a product can increase program risk, because modification of a commercial item may result in a partial development effort. Many of the cost, risk, schedule, and supportability benefits of buying a commercial item may be jeopardized as a result of modification.The test and logistics support plans must account for the scope of the modification to ensure success. Evaluate the total effect of modifications, particularly in the area of logistics support. For exam- ple, a supplier may not recognize or support the resulting redesigned product, and DoD may have little or no organic support capability for it.

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