Commercial Solutions Opening
While a policy analyst or contracting officer may read these bulletins and simply capture mental notes for potential future use, our research will systematically break down all feedback data and categorize it by topic area. This research breakdown will readily lend itself to developing more strategic recommendations about actions that can be taken regarding CSOs. The four overarching categories are the following: 1. Training and Information Sharing —how the workforce is educated on this solicitation technique. 2. Internal Agency Processes —how individual DoD agencies structure their facilitation of evaluating and awarding CSOs. 3. Solicitation Definition —how various contracting officers draft individual CSOs. 4. Industry Interaction —how the government advertises to and receives information from potential offerors. These four categories are purposely broad to accommodate separation and subsequent categorization of a diverse range of feedback (the DoD agency points of contact were not required to structure their Cross Talk presentations in any particular way). We separated the feedback into these categories and then identified strengths, weaknesses, and best practices. Also, commonalities and focus areas for recommendations can be consolidated. Findings It may appear easy for one to predict potential strengths, weaknesses, and best practices of any new technique based on its developer’s intention or motivation, but having the firsthand experience to back up those findings and open oneself up to questions about them is another matter entirely. The CSO Cross Talks served as a forum for airing those findings starting in April 2022. As discussed in the Research Methodology section, we consolidated the feedback that follows from various agency representatives and then categorized it into broad categories to highlight possible focus areas on which to capitalize for recommendations. As previously discussed, we reviewed the CSO Cross Talks and developed categories under which to align our findings. The four categories, developed specifically for this research, follow.
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Defense ARJ , Spring 2025, Vol. 32 No. 1
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