Executive Office of the President, Office of Administration, Procurement Branch, 725 17th Street, NW, Room 5001, Washington, DC 20503

U -- SOURCES SOUGHT FOR MARKET-RESEARCH AND ANALYSIS TRAINING FOR THE ACQUISITION OF COMMERCIAL ITEMS Due 022696. POC Contracting Officer, Lynnae C. Roscoe, 202-395-3314. The Office of Federal Procurement Policy (OFPP) has a major initiative underway to increase the use of commercial items by Federal agencies in fulfilling the acquisition needs of the Government. Title VIII of the Federal Acquisition Streamlining Act (FASA) of 1994 (Public Law 103-355) gives preference to the acquisition of commercial items and also establishes policies and procedures designed to make Government procurement more like the purchasing techniques practiced in the private-sector, i.e., more market-oriented and marketplace driven. FASA specifies certain requirements that Federal agencies must meet in order to determine if an agency's needs can be met by existing commercially available supplies or services. Principal among these techniques is the concept of market research and marketplace analysis. The implementation of FASA includes the development of two new parts of the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) entitled ``Market Research'' (FAR Part 10) and the ``Acquisition of Commercial Items'' (FAR Part 12). Training for the Government's acquisition work force has not usually focused on market research and market analysis of commercial items. Part of the reason for this has been, that in the past, much of the training given to acquisition professionals has focused on specific Government-unique laws or regulations that govern the procurement process. As the Government moves toward establishing more commercial type procurement practices, the need to perform research and analyze the commercial market place for supplies and services, as is done by buyers in private companies, becomes critical. The training courses that the Government now seeks should not emphasize knowledge of regulations, but rather knowledge of buying practices. Because traditional Government-oriented training sources have only recently begun the transition to more commercially-oriented market place training, there exists a large need to provide training and education for contracting and purchasing professionals among the Federal work force in the concepts and techniques used to perform market research - especially for the acquisition of commercial items. OFPP recognizes that the development of market research skills among Government procurement professionals will require extensive training. As a first step, the various agencies must be made aware of training opportunities. Therefore, we are requesting that Government agencies and commercial training vendors provide us with information on any training courses that are currently available on market research. Please provide us with the following information: (1) the name of the Government agency or commercial vendor offering the training, (2) the name of the course or program, (3) a general description of the course which can include an outline or syllabus, (4) the name of a point of contact, (5) the point of contact's telephone number, and (6) names and phone numbers of several references. OFPP will review and consolidate the information and provide it to agency Senior Procurement Executives for use in their market research procurement training programs. OFPP would also be anxious to learn about courses in this area that may be developed in the future. Responses to this notice must be submitted by the close of business of February 26, 1996, to Richard C. Loeb, Office of Federal Procurement Policy, 725 17th Street, NW, Room 9001, Washington, DC 20503. FAX: 202-395-5105. For further information contact: Richard C. Loeb at 202-395-3254. (033)

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