Objective. As soon as a requirement is identified and validated, and once it is likely that it will be funded, acquisition planning should commence. This initial step includes a variety of actions all aimed at identifying potential sources, and determining the workflow and techniques to be used to satisfy these needs. In fact, an initial review of national/international agreements, memorandum of understanding or agreement with other NATO Agencies or existing organic resources e.g., existing in-house capabilities or inventories/surplus may even eliminate the need to pursue a new commercial contract. The complexity of requirements will dictate the extent of acquisition planning. For very basic, routine and simplified purchases, detailed planning is not necessary. The following are some initial steps that fall either just before or during acquisition planning:
Origination/Validation of Requirements. Organisations may originate requirements for supplies or services needed to support mission requirements. Only essential, affordable and military operational requirements or capabilities (defined as Minimum Military Requirements - MMRs) will be considered for solicitation. Although the Fund Manager and the Fiscal Officer have ruled on eligibility and affordability of requirements, the Contracting Officer may seek HQs FC guidance on requirements that are potentially questionable. The HQs FC has the ultimate responsibility for approving funding for acquisitions for which the Contracting Officer has expressed concerns.
Requests for supplies or services should be written in a manner that includes a comprehensive description and/or technical specification.
The Authorised Requestor (AR) on behalf of the originating organisation will certify the operational essentiality of the requirements, and will be responsible for arranging funding from Fund Managers and for timely communication with Contracting Officers. The AR will equally track status requirements throughout the procurement process.
Requests for items carried in the HQs warehouse will be submitted to the HQs Supply Officer, who shall be responsible for satisfying the requirement from warehouse stocks. If that item is temporarily out of stock, the Supply Officer will notify the Authorised Requestor of the backordered status of the request, and advise the customer of the estimated fill date. In cases of urgency, the Supply Officer will request the P&C Branch to expedite delivery of the outstanding order, or prepare an additional expedited re-order.
Requests for services, or items not normally internally stocked, will be submitted to the appropriate Fund Manager for allocation of funding. This submission should be initiated through the automated financial information systems or via paper copy. The Fund Manager will validate the requirements and screen requests to ensure that the item/service is both affordable and eligible for international funding from within approved budgets. The Fund Manager should review the requirement from a technical standpoint, and advise the Originator/Authorised Requestor regarding the adequacy of the requirement specification.
Whenever practicable, it should also be verified that material cannot be satisfied through redistribution of assets known to be available within ACO/ACT HQs.
Acquisition Plan (AP).
An AP is a document prepared through the team effort of requirements, logistics, technical, budget, legal, and P&C Branch Staff. The purpose of the plan is to ensure the procurement strategy addresses acquisition background, objectives and a plan of action that establishes a logical and systematic approach for meeting an organisation’s needs. The AP normally applies to higher value procurements, which are more complex in nature, and serves as a descriptive outline of how ACO/ACT HQs will acquire specific goods or services. The decision as to whether written plans ought to be developed is left to the discretion of the Contracting Officer.
The planner, or designated person tasked to develop the AP, begins the preparation as soon as the need for a plan is recognized. The content of plans can vary. However, the following areas should be considered and if applicable recorded: objectives; decision milestones; business management and technical factors; acquisition background; use of Commercial Off-The-Shelf (COTS) items; trade-offs and risks; life-cycle-costs; lease versus buy; market survey results; feasibility of strong competition, follow-on logistic support considerations, and any other relevant contracting questions. The AP should also account for management of contractor performance risk.
An AP should address the need for deviation authority to allow the implementation of a best value approach. A detailed source selection plan should be developed in these cases establishing evaluation factors, their relative importance and adequate rating scales. This information should be treated as sensitive and properly safeguarded by the responsible Contracting Officer. The provisions of the solicitation shall be drafted based on the input provided by the AP and source selection plan.
