not have had as many pieces of equipment as their opposition, but that equipment could be more effective, efficient, or lethal, and offset the opposition's numerical advantage. Today, the military needs equipment that works where it is needed, is dependable, has a high degree of maintainability, has long-term reliability, is agile and versatile, and aims to avoid equipment choices which might result in political debate and partisan politics. As part of the acquisition planning process, the Government must address its buying power leverage. Many Government acquisition commands write acquisitions solely based on haphazard acquisition strategies which are primarily directed toward avoiding bid protests. Thus, it is necessary to emphasize competition and understand the acquisition from the view point of the contractor; Government acquisition commands should ask what is to be achieved and whether or not the program is really in the best interest of the Government, specifying needs in a manner designed to achieve full and open competition and including restrictive requirements "only to the extent that they are necessary to satisfy the agency's legitimate needs". Many federal acquisitions are rushed due to poor time management. In these cases, the tendency is to issue a sole-source contract to known vendors even though FAR Part 6 specifically forbids sole-source contracting when it is due to lack of advanced planning. There is also a high cost premium that is added to the cost of an acquisition when a buyer wants a supplier/vendor to rush to execute a contract or push their contract to the head of all other work the contractor/vendor is executing. It is often said that "if you want it bad, you get it bad". Accordingly, poor acquisition planning generally produces poor and unjustifiable acquisition outcomes. Thus, it is critical to understand the time resources required to properly plan and execute a federal acquisition: generally, the acquisition of moderate to complex requirements requires at least 120 days. Preparing a proposal Frequently, contractor proposals in response to a Request for Proposals (RFP) include an exact copy of the RFP's statement of work. An offeror's response usually indicates their approach to performing the statement of work, their approach to managing the program or project, and examples of past performance on projects similar in size, scope, and complexity. Responsible bidders and responsive bids Potential vendors responding to RFPs may be characterised as "responsible" and/or "responsive". A "responsible bidder" is one who is qualified