Issues Associated with Second-Source Procurement Decisions

Abstract

The basic argument for competition in Department of Defense procurement is that it is believed to reduce the government's cost of purchasing goods and services. Nonetheless, in some cases (especially in the procurement of major systems) it may be actually less costly for the government to forego competition and to rely on a single supplier. The DoD's program manager must determine whether competition is likely to result in savings or losses for the government; if competition is indicated, he must then decide on what specific form it should take. This report focuses on one of the DoD's strategies for establishing competitive production sources: 'second-source' procurement, in which two firms produce a single design. The leader is usually the system designer and developer, and the follower, a second production source most often established at government expense. This is usually referred to as a leader- follower strategy.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Dec 01, 1990
Accession Number
ADA233248

Entities

People

  • E. Dews
  • J. L. Birkler
  • J. P. Large

Organizations

  • RAND Corporation

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Aircrafts
  • Airframes
  • Business Administration
  • Contractors
  • Contracts
  • Control Systems
  • Cost Analysis
  • Cruise Missiles
  • Department Of Defense
  • Economic Analysis
  • Engineering
  • Engineers
  • Investments
  • Manufacturing
  • National Security
  • Procurement
  • Test Equipment

Readers

  • Defense Acquisition Program Management
  • Economics
  • Integrated Circuit Design and Technology.