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 4 shows a sample comparison of five pest removal services; it also shows the character- istics required by the government. In this example, the government did not specify any quality assurance requirements.The market research showed that firms in this industry adhere to vari- ous standards. Further research into this area will aid the government in establishing quality as-

surance requirements for the final requirements that appear in the actual solicitation.

Table 4. Sample Comparison of Pest Removal Services

Item	Services offered	Geographic coverage	Contract Service basis availability	Certified employees	Quality assurance
Government requirement	Insects, mammals	Regional	Fixed price Within 48 hours	Yes	—
Supplier A	Insects, birds, mammals	National	Fixed price; Within 24 hours annual contract	Yes	ISO 9001
Supplier B	Insects, birds, mammals	Local	Fixed price; Business hours, annual contract 5 days a week	Yes	Industry association service standards
Supplier C	Insects, mammals	Regional	Time and 24 hours materials	Yes	Company standards
Supplier D	Insects	Local	Fixed price Within 12 hours	Yes	State govt. standards
Supplier E	Insects, birds, mammals	National	Various: fixed Within 24 hours price; time and materials	Yes	Industry association service standards

Services can be easier to tailor or adapt to the user's needs than products.Whereas adapting a commercial product might require costly engineering, design, and production changes, adapting a service might require only a change in a business process. In some cases, the commercial serv- ice may include related tasks that the government customer had not considered. In any event, a thorough understanding of both the government's needs and the supplier's capabilities are nec- essary in order to develop a good statement of work for the actual solicitation.

As demonstrated by these two examples, you may conclude from your evaluation that a commercial product or service is not feasible; that commercial products or services meet the need as stated; that commercial products or services can meet the need if certain requirements

in the original statement are relaxed; or that commercial products or services could be modified

to meet the requirement.

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