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<p>The past decade has seen a significant change in business practices within the  Federal contracting arena. Acquisition reform initiatives have fundamentally transformed  the protocols and processes the Federal Government utilizes to procure billions of  dollars' worth of goods and services every year. Reforms provided under the Federal  Acquisition Streamlining Act (FASA), the Federal Acquisition Reform Act (FARA), and  the Services Acquisition Reform Act (SARA), along with ensuing regulatory provisions in  the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR), have created a more business-to-business-like  contracting methodology. One such methodology is the FAR 13.5 Test Program for  Commercial Items. FAR 13.5 allows the utilization of Simplified Acquisition Procedures  (SAP) for all commercial-item designated goods and services up to and including $5 .5  million. The FAR 13.5 provisions are aimed at improving the efficiency and effectiveness  of Federal contracting processes. The FAR 13.5 regulatory provision has tremendous  potential to alleviate field contracting activities' work-in-process backlogs, improve  cycle-time, reduce transaction costs, and increase customer satisfaction in the business  processes designed to provide essential goods and services.  However, based on the researcher's review of the business decision protocol at  the Fleet and Industrial Supply Center San Diego, this text asserts Navy contracting  activities may not be effectively utilizing the legislative and regulatory authority under  FAR 13.5 to garner desired efficiencies and effectiveness.  Therefore, the objective of this MBA research project is to determine the extent to  which the Navy's FISC (Fleet and Industrial Supply Center) activities are capitalizing on  the legislative provisions and regulatory provisions of FAR 13.5 and to make specific  recommendations for improving the full utilization of the FAR 13.5 commercial-item  designation provisions.   This sponsored research study: 1) provides an overview of the applicable  legislative and regulatory provisions, specifically FAR 13.5, and urges full utilization of  the FAR 13.5 provisions, 2) investigates current business practices within the Fleet and  Industrial Supply Centers (FISC) related to the FAR 13.5 regulatory provisions, 3)  determines the extent to which FISC is reporting FAR 13.5 utilization and the degree of  effective and efficient utilization of the FAR 13.5 provision, and 4) provides research  conclusions and specific recommendations for better utilization of the FAR 13.5  provisions designed to benefit all process-protocol stakeholders, including the FISCs,  their supported customers, the Navy and, ultimately, the American taxpayers.
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<br>Subjects: Federal Acquisition Streamlining Act (FASA); Federal Acquisition Reform Act (FARA); Services Acquisition Reform Act (SARA); Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR); FAR 13.5; Simplified Acquisition Procedures (SAP)</div>
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<dl><dd>Johnson, Jason M.</dd>
<dd>Ziegler, Mark A.</dd>
<dd>Simonson, Brian K.</dd></dl></div>
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