UNDERSTANDING ARMY ACQUISITION ON CONTRACTING WHAT YOU NEED
Market research can be the basis for vigorous competition in Army acquisition.
by Dennis P. Longo
Tis is the first in a new series, On Contracting. Te author developed the Competition in Army Contracting course for the Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Army for Procurement to introduce Army acquisition personnel to the competition requirements prescribed in the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR), Defense FAR Supplement and the Army FAR Supplement. Tis article is based on the content of the market research lesson in that course.
C
ompetition drives efficiency and stimulates innovation. For Army acquisi- tion, market research can serve as a powerful driver. While its connection with competition might not be immediately obvious, market research helps the Army identify industry talent and capability. Knowing who potential competitors
might be—all of them—is what good market research shows.
For example, let’s assume that helicopters don’t exist today; they haven’t been invented. Someone decides we need a “vertical lift capability” for missions downrange, and you’ve been assigned to research the market. Your market research consists of contacting aircraft manufacturers Cessna and Piper Cub for white papers on the feasibility of a vertical lift capability. Maybe you also contact a maker of blimps or dirigibles, because that’s the current technology that does vertical lift. Te manufacturers’ responses conclude they have no such capability. Fixed wing won’t do vertical, and dirigibles don’t have the maneuverabil- ity needed. So you conclude that vertical lift is a non-starter.
Pushing aside thoughts that whoever came up with the idea is a lunatic, you decide to limit competition for the development effort to Cessna and Piper Cub.
To your amazement, protests to the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) soon follow from Hughes Aircraft, Sikorsky, Bell and several others, stating they’ve invented what they call “helicopters.” You quickly realize that you can’t make conclusions based on what you don’t know.
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HOW TO CONVINCE THE ARMY TO GET
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