Government acquisition of commercial products what is the policy?.

Abstract

The development of the current policy within the Department of Defense regarding the acquisition of commercial products is traced from its roots within the Report of the Commission on Government Procurement through present attempts to implement the Acquisition and Distribution of Commercial Products Program. Pending publication of the proposed Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) , there is no official separate policy in this area except a brief statement issued by memorandum from the Office of Federal Procurement Policy and repeated in a Department of Defense Directive. However, based on the potential savings of time and money exhibited in numerous test acquisitions ,' it is the conclusion of the researcher that official policy is necessary, but that it should be implemented with far more flexibility than proposed in the draft implementation documents reviewed. Acquisition personnel should not be constrained by exacting definitions and clauses addressing such areas as "commercial market acceptability", but should work within general guidelines allowing subjective evaluation of alternatives.