Overview
This section mandates that acquisition organizations engage with internal customers and, when feasible, industry stakeholders to ensure requirements documents accurately reflect mission needs and to identify areas for improvement.
Key Rules
- Mandatory Customer Communication: Acquisition organizations shall communicate with internal customers to evaluate how effectively the requirements document meets their needs.
- Continuous Improvement: Organizations must seek suggestions for corrective actions to improve the quality of requirements.
- Industry Engagement: Agencies are encouraged to provide industry an opportunity to comment on requirements documents whenever it is practicable to do so.
Practical Implications
- This section fosters a feedback loop between contracting offices and program offices to prevent the procurement of goods or services that do not fulfill the actual operational requirement.
- It supports early market research and "Industry Days" by authorizing agencies to solicit technical feedback from contractors before a formal solicitation is released.