Alternative Purchasing for the GWOT
Abstract
Marine Corps purchasing authorities waste precious time and resources by not taking full advantage of alternate purchasing processes. The acquisition system is governed by the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR), which is the primary document and various agency directives that implement or supplement the FAR. The commercial off the shelf (COTS) alternate acquisitions process has successfully proven the most efficient purchasing process for the Federal Government's Urgent Universal Need Statements (UUNS). COTS items not only speed up the purchasing process, but also save the government money in the short and long term. They provide better pricing by eliminating the large research and development funds necessary for some programs. COTS items allow the manufacturers to meet the needs of the consumers quickly by using manufacturing lines that are already operating. Manufacturers can provide the government reliability and mean time between failure data that can only be gained over long-term usage data. This allows the Marine Corps to collect and package spare and repair blocks accordingly. The use of COTS and COTS/NDI will continue to be the Marine Corps' best purchasing weapon to meet the needs of the Marines in the field as long as the Global War on Terrorism continues.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Feb 01, 2006
- Accession Number
- ADA504340
Entities
People
- Brad Ledbetter
Organizations
- Marine Corps University