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Guidebook

for Acquiring

Engineering

Technical

Services (ETS)

Best Practices &

Lessons Learned

Version 1.0

2016 
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Table of Contents 

Preface .......................................................................................................................................... 1 

Requirements Development Phase ............................................................................................. 3 

a. Key Considerations for Requirements Developers in Advocating for the Right Source 

Selection Methodology ............................................................................................................. 3 

Lessons Learned – Lowest Price Technically Acceptable .................................................. 4 

Best Practices – TA/LTEP Strategy .................................................................................... 5 

b. Market Research and Industry Engagement .................................................................. 6 

Best Practices – Market Research/Industry Engagement ................................................. 8 

c. Performance Work Statements ........................................................................................ 8 

Best Practices – PWS ........................................................................................................... 9 

d. Determinations for Government or Contracted Service Support .................................. 9 

e. Requirements Development Phase Resource Links ..................................................... 10 

Contracting Phase ..................................................................................................................... 10 

a. Low Price Technically Acceptable, Technically Acceptable-Lowest Total Evaluated 

Price, Full Tradeoff (Key Considerations for Contracting) .................................................. 11 

b. Contract Type ................................................................................................................. 11 

Lessons Learned – Contract Type Selection ..................................................................... 12 

Best Practices – Contract Type Selection ......................................................................... 12 

c. Strategic Sourcing .......................................................................................................... 12 

Pros/Cons of Using Strategic Sourcing/Enterprise Contracts ......................................... 14 

Lessons Learned – Strategic Sourcing .............................................................................. 15 

d. Source Selection Criteria ................................................................................................... 16 

Lessons Learned – Source Selection Criteria ................................................................... 17 

Best Practices – Source Selection Criteria ........................................................................ 17 

e. Contracting Phase Resource Links ................................................................................... 17 

Contract Execution Phase ......................................................................................................... 18 

a. Quality ............................................................................................................................. 18 

b. Performance Management ............................................................................................. 19 

Best Practices - Performance Management ...................................................................... 20 

c. Contract Execution Phase Resource Links ................................................................... 20 

Definitions .................................................................................................................................. 21 
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Preface 

Engineering Technical Services (ETS) is one of six portfolios in the Knowledge 

Based Services portfolio group as defined by the DoD services taxonomy1. The 

Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Systems Engineering (DASD(SE)) is the 

Functional Domain Expert (FDE) for contracted ETS within DoD and is responsible 

for identifying functional expertise and localized best practices to share across the 

portfolio. ETS supports a broad spectrum of acquisition activities by providing 

robust engineering and technical support throughout the lifecycle. Our objectives 

for the ETS portfolio are to: 

 Achieve cost effective, affordable solutions for engineering-related outcomes

 Increase the effectiveness of enterprise approaches for acquiring ETS

 Obtain quality support to achieve innovation and maintain technical 

superiority

 Access the right vendors and attract top talent that can be brought to bear on 

our most complicated technical challenges

Improve Tradecraft in Acquisition of Services is a Better Buying Power (BBP) 3.02

focus area that builds on BBP 1.0 and 2.0 efforts to improve the management of 

contracted services, which now accounts for over 50% of DoD’s contracted dollars. 

BBP 3.0 specifically directed efforts to Improve the Effectiveness and Productivity of 

Contracted Engineering and Technical Services. 

This ETS Guidebook 

was developed to 

specifically address 

strategies to improve 

the acquisition of 

ETS. The Guidebook 

is written in a format 

to help contracting 

and buying of ETS for 

people who are not 

experts in doing so. It 

is not intended to be 

all-encompassing, but 

rather a high-level guide to present some useful best practices and lessons learned

 

1 Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics Memorandum, “Taxonomy for 

the Acquisition of Services and Supplies & Equipment”, August 27, 2012 

2 Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics Memorandum, 

“Implementation Directive for Better Buying Power 3.0 – Achieving Dominant Capabilities through 

Technical Excellence and Innovation”, April 9, 2015 

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Requirements Development Phase 

This section is written primarily to inform the requiring community of the 

importance of understanding the process of planning an acquisition for contracted 

ETS requirements. Although buying activities ultimately have the responsibility to 

select the contract type and develop the source selection strategy, requiring 

activities should be knowledgeable of the impact these decisions will have on the 

resultant contract and services provided. Understanding the implications can better 

prepare requiring activities to write ETS requirements that describe the level of 

innovation and technical complexity needed to meet mission needs. It is 

recommended that requiring activities engage with the buying activity early in the 

acquisition planning process to develop a comprehensive acquisition plan and 

associated requirements package that clearly and accurately describes the need of 

the requiring activity. 

a. Key Considerations for Requirements Developers in Advocating for the 

Right Source Selection Methodology 

Selecting the appropriate source selection strategy is key to ensuring the contracted 

ETS meet the requirement needs. ETS requirements are typically focused on 

innovation solutions and require a high level of technical expertise. A source 

selection strategy that allows industry to propose innovative technical solutions and 

affords the government the flexibility to evaluate and select the best solution is the 

goal for contracted ETS. This differs from strategies for less complex services where 

a Lowest Price Technical Acceptable (LPTA) strategy may be sufficient. 

USD AT&L issued a memorandum4

outlining appropriate use of a Lowest 

Price Technically Acceptable source 

selection process and associated contract 

type. LPTA may provide the best value 

solution in situations when requirements 

are well-defined and the government 

believes selecting the lowest priced, 

technically acceptable proposal will best 

meet mission needs. While LPTA may be 

the right choice for well-defined and 

understood non-complex service 

 

4 Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics Memorandum, “Acceptable 

Use of Lowest Price Technically Acceptable Source Selection Process and Appropriate Contract 

Type”, March 4, 2015
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requirements such as lawn mowing or janitorial services, it is unlikely the best 

solution for services such as ETS that may require innovation and a technically 

superior solution. Used incorrectly, LPTA can have disastrous results. When price is 

the most important factor in determining which contractor will receive a contract 

award, contractors are incentivized to propose the lowest possible price. To do so, 

contractors will propose staff with minimum skills and experience. This results in 

increased performance risk for services requiring top talent, such as ETS.

Combined with a firm-fixed-price contract type, an LPTA strategy can be a worst 

case combination for an ETS acquisition. Underbidding is a practice that can result 

in lower quality, junior performers and can be detrimental to the requiring 

organization. The Department can’t afford to lose valuable ETS contractor talent 

on account of LPTA! 

Lessons Learned – Lowest Price Technically Acceptable 

Technically Acceptable – Lowest Total Evaluated Price (TA-LTEP) is a 

source selection strategy that has been used successfully by the Air Force to acquire 

contracted Knowledge Based Services 

requiring a higher level of quality, such as 

ETS. Under a TA-LTEP construct, the 

technical bar is established by the requiring 

activity during requirements development. 

Technical acceptability of proposals is 

determined by the technical evaluation 

team, which should include representation 

from the requiring activity that defined the 

technical bar. The proposed price is evaluated through an informed process 

designed to identify and adjust proposed labor costs that are underbid for purposes 

of receiving a contract award on the basis of low price. This process is conducted by 

the cost evaluation team during the source selection process by comparing proposed 

labor costs with labor costs reviewed and approved by the Defense Contract Audit 

Agency (DCAA). 
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It is important to understand the need to define the level of technical capability that 

is necessary as contractors are not incentivized to propose solutions beyond the 

technical bar due to the Lowest Total Evaluated Price selection criteria. 

Best Practices – TA/LTEP Strategy 

A Tradeoff source selection process is appropriate when it is in the best interest of 

the Government to consider an award to 

other than the lowest price offeror or 

other than the highest technically rated 

offeror. The government isn’t obligated 

to award to the contractor with the 

lowest price, but rather has the 

flexibility to “tradeoff” to get the solution 

that will be meet the mission needs. 

Innovative and complex technical 

solutions enabling the Warfighter to 

maintain a technological advantage 

through a superior solution is an 

example of an optimal use of a Tradeoff 

source selection. Requiring activity input is critical in identifying and defining the 

key technical requirements that warrant paying more to support the value of a 

superior solution. 

The government must clearly communicate to industry in the request for proposals 

that it intends to make a contract award decision based on factors other than price. 

The government must also tell industry specifically what are the other than price 

factors it plans to evaluate. This is accomplished through evaluation criteria that 

identify each of the factors the government will evaluate (i.e., technical innovation, 

management capability, past performance) as well as how important each factor is 

to the government. Evaluation criteria are unique to each acquisition. 
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Requiring activities should be involved in designing the tradeoff source selection 

strategy and developing evaluation 

criteria to differentiate between Offeror’s 

proposals to “tradeoff” cost or price for the 

non-cost or price factors (i.e., technical 

innovation, management capability, past 

performance) to ensure the government 

can evaluate the things that are most 

important and receives the best value 

solution without sacrificing quality. 

Lessons Learned – Tradeoff Strategy 

Best Practices – Tradeoff Strategy 

b. Market Research and Industry Engagement 

Market research and industry engagement to understand the commercial 

marketplace is essential to inform requirement and acquisition strategy 

development enabling best value ETS solutions for the government. For example, 

where unique and specialized engineering talent is required, the small business 

community may be able to best fulfill niche ETS services. Thorough market 

research serves to determine the appropriateness of soliciting ETS requirements as 

a small business set-aside. Requiring activities should actively participate in 
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market research activities conducted by buying activities as this is an opportunity 

to “discover” innovation in the marketplace and inform requirements and 

acquisition strategy selection that allow for the proposal of innovative solutions. 

ETS requiring and buying activities are encouraged to consider unique solutions to 

access superior talent that may be unavailable through traditional contract 

vehicles. For example, the Defense Innovation Unit Experimental (DIUx) is 

experimenting with strategies to access non-traditional vendors to more quickly 

acquire innovative and cutting edge technology for the Department. 

Market research also includes reviewing 

existing contracts and strategic sourcing 

vehicles to determine if an existing vehicle is 

a suitable solution to meet the ETS 

requirement need. This review includes 

ensuring the available labor categories and 

rates compliment the level of technical skill 

required and the talent needed for an ETS 

requirement.

Industry engagement as a market research 

tool can further help the government to better understand the marketplace and 

bring awareness of new and emerging innovative technologies through a variety of 

engagement techniques (i.e., technical exchanges, one on one technology discussion 

meetings with vendors, requests for information) This is also an opportunity to ask 

industry to share methods and 

commercial best practices regarding 

quality assurance and performance 

measures for ETS. 

Industry engagement is an integral part 

of an ETS contracted service acquisition, 

especially when using a Tradeoff source 

selection strategy. When the technical 

requirements and the value of superior 

performance are shared with industry in 

advance, industry can understand the value proposition and is better equipped to 

propose innovative solutions that meet the government’s needs. 
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Best Practices – Market Research/Industry Engagement 

c. Performance Work Statements 

Performance based acquisition strategies for ETS contracts encourage industry to 

propose innovative solutions by shifting the focus from government-directed 

processes to performance outcomes. In a performance based environment, industry 

has latitude to determine how best to meet the government’s requirement. 

Performance based contracts include a Performance Work Statement (PWS)5 that 

describes the work in terms of the required outcomes rather than detailing “how” 

the work is to be accomplished or the 

specific number of hours to be provided 

by the contractor. A PWS also includes 

measurable performance standards that 

define acceptable contractor 

performance in achieving the 

performance outcomes, and financial 

incentives to encourage cost-saving 

innovative solutions. The tasks and 

associated performance standards identified in the PWS inform the Quality 

Assurance Surveillance Plan (QASP) used to evaluate and monitor contractor 

performance during contract execution. 

The PWS should state requirements in general terms of what (outcome) is to be 

done, rather than how (method) it is done and define requirements at a high level to 

leave room for industry to propose innovative ETS solutions. The PWS gives the 

contractor flexibility to devise the best method to accomplish the required outcome. 

Unique ETS requirements need to be clearly identified in the PWS to ensure 

offerors understand the level of complexity of the effort. The government’s inability 

 

5 Department of Defense “Guidebook for the Acquisition of Services” provides additional guidance for 

developing Performance Work Statements and Quality Assurance Surveillance Plans 
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to accurately describe the need and convey the associated complexity of the need is 

often a reason for a disconnect in what the contractor delivers versus what the 

government expects. 

Best Practices – PWS 

d. Determinations for Government or Contracted Service Support 

Determining allocations and responsibility between in-house government workforce 

and contracted ETS support should be made using a thoughtful process. The 

duration of the need, the level of required skill complexity, and consideration of 

historical decision making should inform the determination. Programs should 

forecast future needs and identify key areas to grow in-house capabilities (this 

requires working closely with HR/workforce offices/leadership) to strike the right 

balance between government and contracted service solutions. Contracted services 

are an option to access highly-specialized ETS capabilities that do not exist within 

the government. Programs that are highly susceptible to budget impacts should 

consider using contracted services as this allows flexibility to quickly grow or 

downsize staff. 

Best Practices – Government or Contracted Service Support 
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e. Requirements Development Phase Resource Links 

AT&L Memo Appropriate Use of LPTA and Appropriate Contract Type: 

‒ http://bbp.dau.mil/docs/Appropriate_Use_of_Lowest_Priced_Technically_Acce

ptable_Source_Selec_Process_Assoc_Con_Type.pdf 

DPAP Product and Service Code Selection Tool: 

‒ https://psctool.us/ 

Defense Acquisition University Service Acquisition Workshop: 

‒ https://acc.dau.mil/CommunityBrowser.aspx?id=252669 

DAU Service Acquisition Mall for Knowledge Based Services: 

‒ http://sam.dau.mil/Content.aspx?currentContentID=9689b62c-912b-4a07-

b8c3-d9fd0268e119 

DoD Instruction 5000.74 - Defense Acquisition of Services: 

‒ http://www.dtic.mil/whs/directives/corres/pdf/500074p.pdf 

DoD Guidebook for the Acquisition of Services: 

‒ https://acc.dau.mil/adl/enUS/472568/file/69670/Services%20Acquisition%20Guideboo

k%206_5_2012.pdf 

OFPP Memo Myth-Busting: Addressing Misconceptions to Improve 

Communication with Industry during the Acquisition Process:

‒ https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/omb/procurement/memo/MythBusting.pdf 

OFPP Memo Myth-Busting 2: Addressing Misconceptions and Further 

Improving Communication During the Acquisition Process: 

‒ https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/omb/procurement/memo/mythbusting-2-addressing-misconceptions-and-further-improving-communication-duringthe-acquisition-process.pdf 

Contracting Phase 

This section is written primarily to inform the process of executing an acquisition 

for contracted ETS requirements. The responsible buying activity should 

continuously engage with the requiring activity throughout this phase to ensure 

requiring activity needs are understood and met. 
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a. Low Price Technically Acceptable, Technically Acceptable-Lowest Total 

Evaluated Price, Full Tradeoff (Key Considerations for Contracting) 

As discussed in the previous section, the appropriate source selection strategy for 

ETS contracted services should be developed in concert with the requiring activity 

based on the complexity of the requirements. A summary of the strategies 

previously discussed is as follows. 

b. Contract Type 

Just as carefully selecting the source selection strategy is critical to successfully 

acquiring ETS, choosing the appropriate 

contract type that best fits the requirements 

and drives desired outcomes is equally as 

important. The two broad categories of contract 

types are fixed-price and cost reimbursement. 

There are many variations within these two 

categories to incentivize contractor 

performance.6 Contracting Officers are 

responsible to select the appropriate contract 

 

6 Variations of Fixed-Price and Cost-Reimbursement contract types are discussed in the Federal 

Acquisition Regulation, Part 16 
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type to achieve the government objectives. ETS requirements that are not complex, 

not easily defined, and have a higher performance risk are better suited to cost 

reimbursement contracts than fixed-price contracts. 

Lessons Learned – Contract Type Selection 

Best Practices – Contract Type Selection 

c. Strategic Sourcing 

The DoD relies extensively on contracted services for technical management, 

systems engineering, and engineering services, including programs associated with 
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Systems Engineering and Technical Assistance (SETA) contracts. In many cases, 

enterprise approaches for acquiring ETS are effective for increasing the efficiency of 

the acquisition process, identifying cost savings that leverage the buying power of 

the DoD, and standardizing the oversight and management of ETS contracts. 

Many of the military departments and agencies have moved toward enterprise 

solutions for ETS by offering strategic sourcing vehicles and enterprise contracts 

that encompass ETS. Examples are as follows:

Benefits of using a government or DoD-wide strategic sourcing vehicle such as GSA 

OASIS and OASIS Small Business (SB) for complex professional services such as 

ETS include: 

• Reducing duplicative contracts, total spend to acquire services, and high risk 

contract actions (Office of Management and Budget’s Strategic Sourcing 

goals) 
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• No program ceiling, five-year base and one five-year option structure provides 

long term planning for complex program requirements 

• Tiered access fee (ranging from 0.1% - 0.75% on OASIS) and negotiated based 

on expected Service/Agency obligation level 

As a result of these strategic sourcing efforts and enterprise contracting initiatives, 

the Department has achieved efficiencies in the acquisition of ETS. When 

appropriate, strategic sourcing and 

enterprise solutions provide benefits in 

the form of efficiencies and cost savings. 

However, just because strategic sourcing 

vehicles are available doesn’t mean they 

are the best fit for every acquisition. 

Individual requirements may best be 

fulfilled by unique solutions that are 

focused on a high level of quality rather than achieving cost savings. ETS solutions 

may be best satisfied by one-off contract solutions and a case by case analysis is 

critical to determine the best solution. 

Pros/Cons of Using Strategic Sourcing/Enterprise Contracts 

An example of encouraging the use of an enterprise solution is the Air Force Life 

Cycle Management Center’s (AFLCMC) customization of the GSA OASIS and 

OASIS SB vehicles for Air Force-wide Knowledge Based Services (KBS). The 

Engineering, Professional, and Administrative Support Services (EPASS) PMO 

manages the Air Force’s KBS needs using a tailored set of OASIS and OASIS SB 
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pools. Although not required, AFLCMC strongly encourages requiring activities to 

coordinate KBS needs with the EPASS office. 

Best Practices from leveraging and customizing the OASIS and OASIS SB strategic 

sourcing vehicle include: 

Lessons Learned – Strategic Sourcing 

 
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Best Practices – Strategic Sourcing 

d. Source Selection Criteria 

Source selection evaluation criteria should be developed collaboratively with the 

ETS requiring activity. The people that develop the requirements should be the 

same people that participate in the source selection evaluation. This ensures the 

critical requirements are identified, well understood, and used to develop 

meaningful criteria. Clearly linking the evaluation criteria to the requirements of 

greatest importance to the requiring activity enables a source selection that results 

in a contract meeting the specific needs of the requiring activity. 

The evaluation criteria for a LPTA or TA-LTEP source selection should identify the 

minimum requirements that will be used to determine Technically Acceptable. 

The evaluation criteria for a Tradeoff source selection should identify the evaluation 

factors that will be used to evaluate offers and their importance as they relate to 

cost/price. This information is necessary for contractors to understand the value the 

government is placing on factors other than cost/price to determine best value. 
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Lessons Learned – Source Selection Criteria 

Best Practices – Source Selection Criteria 

e. Contracting Phase Resource Links 

2014 OMB Memo – Past Performance Information:

‒ https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/omb/procurement/memo/makin

g-better-use-of-contractor-performance-information.pdf 

DoD Instruction 5000.74 - Defense Acquisition of Services: 

‒ http://www.dtic.mil/whs/directives/corres/pdf/500074p.pdf 

DoD Guidebook for the Acquisition of Services: 

‒ https://acc.dau.mil/adl/enUS/472568/file/69670/Services%20Acquisition%20G

uidebook%206_5_2012.pdf 
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2016 DoD Source Selection Procedures:

‒ https://acc.dau.mil/docs/DoDSSP/Source%20Selection%20Guide%20and%20M

emo%201%20April%202016%20ljm.pdf 

DPAP Strategic Sourcing:

‒ http://www.acq.osd.mil/dpap/ss/ 

GSA OASIS and OASIS SB:

‒ http://www.gsa.gov/portal/category/104731 

Alliant Government Wide Acquisition Contract:

‒ http://www.gsa.gov/portal/content/104793 

Army Responsive Strategic Sourcing for Services (RS3) Contract:

‒ http://acc.army.mil/contractingcenters/acc-apg/RS3/ 

Contract Execution Phase 

Ensuring quality services are received during the contract execution phase requires 

consideration during acquisition planning. Appointed Contracting Officer’s 

Representatives (COR), Contracting Officer’s Technical Representatives (COTR), 

and Technical Points of Contact (TPOC) must also be adequately trained and 

equipped to monitor contractor performance against the performance measures to 

ensure the government receives the agreed to quality of service. 

a. Quality 

Quality is uniquely defined for each individual acquisition. The key requirements 

that were identified in the requirements development phase and used to develop 

evaluation criteria in the contracting phase also inform the measurable 

performance standards that define required contractor performance in achieving 

the performance outcomes, and financial incentives to encourage cost-saving 

innovative solutions. Using a performance based acquisition strategy, performance 

measures align with and map to the PWS through the Quality Assurance 

Surveillance Plan (QASP)7. 

Contracting Officer’s Representatives (CORs), Contracting Officer’s Technical 

Representatives (COTRs), Technical Points of Contact (TPOCs) must fully 

understand the contract specific QASP performance measures and features 

designed to measure quality of services provided. 

 

7 Guidelines for developing a QASP are presented in the DoD Guidebook for the Acquisition of 

Services 
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b. Performance Management 

The focus of performance management is to ensure contract requirements are 

delivered using the agreed to performance measures. An understanding of roles of 

responsibilities of all stakeholders (government and contractor) is a critical element 

for successful performance and performance management. This includes frequent, 

meaningful communication and feedback with the contractor throughout the 

performance period. 

Contractor Performance Assessment Reporting System (CPARS) is a required tool 

intended to collect a record of positive and 

negative contractor performance throughout 

the contract period of performance. 

Assessments should be factually based and 

supported by cost reports, customer 

feedback, how well the contractor met the 

QASP performance measures required by 

the contract, and other factors. 

It is important that CPARS assessments accurately reflect performance as this data 

directly feeds past performance reports that are used in contract source selections, 

as well as the DoD Superior Supplier Incentive Program8 which recognizes 

contractors that provide the greatest value to the DoD through superior 

performance and informs those who perform below average. 

Care should be taken in conducting timely and realistic CPARS assessments 

reflecting the quality of ETS performance. Inaccurate information can have 

potentially serious implications. 

 

8 According to the Performance of the Defense Acquisition System: 2015 Annual Report, dated 

September 16, 2015 (page 99), "as part of BBP, the three Military Departments and the Defense 

Logistics Agency (DLA) each established a Superior Supplier Incentive Program (SSIP) to incentivize 

contractor performance by recognizing the contractors that provide the greatest value to the DoD 

through superior performance and by informing those who perform below average 
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Best Practices - Performance Management 

c. Contract Execution Phase Resource Links 

DoD COR Handbook: 

‒ http://www.acq.osd.mil/dpap/cpic/cp/docs/USA001390-

12_DoD_COR_Handbook_Signed.pdf 

DAU COR Training Presentation: 

‒ http://www.dau.mil/Locations/MidWest/MwDocs/2014Mar24BreakoutSession

2/COR%20Duties%20and%20Responsibilities.pdf 

DAU ACQuipedia – Quality Assurance Training Plan: 

‒ https://dap.dau.mil/acquipedia/Pages/ArticleDetails.aspx?aid=07612fab-5891-

4078-abfc-a6a7ca2b8c0a 

CPARS Online Training and Materials: 

‒ https://www.cpars.gov/webtrain_tm.htm 

CPARS Guidance:

‒ https://www.cpars.gov/pdfs/CPARS-Guidance.pdf 

DoD Superior Supplier Incentive Program:

‒ https://acc.dau.mil/CommunityBrowser.aspx?id=735521 

OFPP Making Better Use of Contractor Performance Information:

‒ https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/omb/procurement/memo/makin

g-better-use-of-contractor-performance-information.pdf 

DoD Guidebook for the Acquisition of Services: 

‒ https://acc.dau.mil/adl/enUS/472568/file/69670/Services%20Acquisition%20Guideboo

k%206%20_5_2012.pdf
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Definitions 

Best value. The expected outcome of an acquisition that, in the Government’s 

estimation, provides the greatest overall benefit in response to the requirement. 

Contracted Services. A negotiated contract for a contractor’s time and effort rather 

than for a concrete end product. 

Evaluation Factors. Represent key areas of importance and emphasis to be 

considered in the source selection evaluation and support meaningful comparison 

and discrimination between and among competing proposals. 

Functional Domain Expert. OSD level official who services as the DoD-level staff 

lead for his or her respective service portfolio group, reporting to the USD(AT&L). 

Responsible for actively overseeing and improving lifecycle processes of services 

acquisitions within his or her portfolio group.

Incurred Costs. Reasonable, allowable, and allocable actual costs that are paid to a 

contractor under a cost reimbursement contact type. 

Market Research. Collecting and analyzing information about capabilities within 

the market to satisfy agency needs 

Most Probable Cost (MPC). Analysis of proposed costs for realism to identify 

proposals which are significantly over or under priced compared to the 

Government's estimate of the true probable costs of performance based on the 

proposed technical approach. 

Performance Work Statement. A statement of work for performance-based 

acquisitions that describes the required results in clear, specific and objective terms 

with measurable outcomes. 

Requiring Activity. The organization charged with meeting a mission and delivering 

requirements, obtaining funding, developing the program objective, and submitting 

written requirements for services required. 

Strategic Sourcing. Enterprise level contract vehicles in place to acquire services 

more effectively and efficiently.