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ACQUISITION OF SERVICES

The DISA Strategic Plan 2014-2019 specifies seven primary focus areas for the agency — one of which is Acquisition Agility. Acquisition of services (AoS) accounts for a large percentage of DISA acquisitions. About 96 percent of the total actions processed in fiscal year 2013 were for services. Therefore, addressing AoS is critical in DISA achieving acquisition agility. DISA will employ an acquisition strategy that reduces acquisition of services procurement cycle times, lowers costs, and accelerates delivery of critical capabilities.
CAE (Component Acquisition Executive) Guideline Number 001, Acquisition of Services, 13 May 2014, specifies the principles, procedures, and processes for acquisition of services within DISA.
“Acquisition of Services” is the execution of one or multiple contracts or other instruments committing or obligating funds (e.g., funds transfer or placing orders under existing contracts) for a specified service requirement. A service requirement's primary purpose is to perform an identifiable task rather than furnish an end item of supply. Its primary purpose directly engages a contractor's time and effort. A service requirement may be either non-personal or personal and performed by professional or nonprofessional workers whether on an individual or organizational basis.
The CAE guideline establishes several principles for AoS. Among them are:

Effective planning and management to eliminate poor acquisition practices, such as bridges, excessive ceiling increases, breaks in service, and reliance on Option to Extend Services clauses.
Clearly defined, traceable, prioritized, and approved requirements and delivery capabilities based on identifiable and measurable performance outcomes that meet/exceed mission partner's expectations.
Established baselines consisting of cost, schedule, and technical performance parameters that are approved by the Decision Authority (DA), and the execution of the AoS will be regularly evaluated against these baselines.
Supply Chain Risk Management must be implemented for all services, throughout the entire acquisition life cycle to ensure the integrity of critical information and communications.
AoS efforts will not be subjected to multiple governance and approval processes.
The most effective and efficient approach for buying services to include potential opportunities for strategic sourcing, partnering for economies of scale, and including enterprise-level requirements.

Enable the development of the enterprise concept and provide agile enterprise IT contract solutions for DoD.
Streamline agency acquisition and contracting processes to support the enterprise.
Eliminate duplication, optimize service offerings, and gain enterprise-level efficiencies to ensure “best value.”
Achieve strategic sourcing cost and performance efficiencies, and maximize enterprise license agreements (ELAs).
Expand cloud broker services for DoD, facilitating and optimizing access to government and commercial cloud services that can meet security and interoperability requirements.
Maximize mobile communication capabilities by fielding a portfolio of innovative mobility contracts.

Performance-based acquisition (PBA) is not a new procurement strategy. In PBA, the contractor’s performance to achieve clearly defined standards must be measurable through an objective process. The desired outcomes of PBA are:

Maximized performance — Contractors can determine/adjust processes and best practices to achieve standards.
Maximized competition and innovation — Innovation and performance requirements maximize opportunities for competitive alternatives in lieu of government-directed solutions.
More use of commercial services — Most service requirements are commercial in nature.
Shifted risk — From the government to industry as contractors are responsible for results.
Cost savings — Experience demonstrates that PBA results in cost savings.