Competition is the most valuable means we have to motivate industry to deliver effective and efficient solutions for the Department of Defense (DoD). When we create and maintain a competitive environment, we are able to spur innovation, improve quality and performance, and lower costs for the supplies and services we acquire. Over the past four years, the Department has not met its competition goals, and has experienced a declining competition rate. The attached memo and guidance provided details on how DoD is to take action to reverse this trend.
Highlights include implementation of the following actions to improve the competitive environment:
- Address progress quarterly to expand and improve the use of competition at the Business Senior Integration Group meetings.
- Issuance of the "Guidelines for Creating and Maintaining a Competitive Environment for Supplies and Services in the Department of Defense" (see http://bbp.dau.mil/). Issuance of the "DoD Competition Handbook, A Practical Guide for Program Managers" in September 2014.
- Seek feedback from vendors who initially expressed interest in competitive solicitations in which more than one company expressed interest during the market research phase but only one offer or a lesser number of offers were ultimately received.
- Required the use of Requests for Information (RFI) or Sources Sought (SS) notices before soliciting non-competitive acquisitions that cite FAR 6.302-1 - "Only One Responsible Source."
- Amend procedures for completing non-competitive J&A documents.
For more details, see Mr. Frank Kendall’s memo “Actions to Improve Department of Defense Competition", dated 21 Aug 2014.
