The Acquisition Planning Team
In addition to contracting staff, members from the program staff, financial/budget staff, user-group, and even legal offices play an active and significant role in acquisition teams. All of these skills and more can be required to assure that an acquisition goes as smoothly and efficiently as possible.
The team should be formed and functioning soon after the agency acquisition need is identified. The input of all those who will be responsible for significant aspects of the acquisition should be obtained as early in the process as possible. This is particularly important for acquisitions with critical time requirements. Early planning can also shorten acquisition times for complex or large acquisitions.
Acquisition planning is the precontractual process by which the efforts of all personnel responsible for acquisitions are coordinated and integrated through a comprehensive plan for fulfilling the government's needs in a timely manner and at a reasonable price/cost. This process allows the technical staff, users and the contracting staff to make maximum use of precontracting steps (e.g., defining Statement of Work, conducting market surveys, developing evaluation criteria, etc.) that will permit the procurement to be conducted smoothly from inception to completion.
The Acquisition Planning Team Needs:
- Full cooperation between the program, budgeting and Acquisition organizations and full support of program objectives,
- Early involvement by Acquisition during program planning phase,
- An understanding of the entire acquisition process from program inception to completion.
Procurement Integrity, FAR Part 3.1 and 3.104-3 in Particular
The Acquisition Planning Team has planning and source selection sensitive information that must be marked and treated in accordance with FAR Part 3 and must not be released outside the acquisition planning team.
It is imperative that all members of the Acquisition Planning Team understand that they must not disclose acquisition planning and source selection information to any person not authorized to receive the information. Generally, only the team members and personnel from the responsible contracting activity with a need to know are authorized access to information. Unauthorized use or disclosure of information may be a violation of law (The Procurement Integrity Act 41 U.S.C. 423, as amended, or 18 U.S.C. 1905, as amended), Executive Order, and regulation (Federal Acquisition Regulation, Part 3 - Improper Business Practices and Personal Conflicts of Interest), and subject to criminal or civil penalties punishable by fine, imprisonment, or both, or administrative remedies.