This page provides Resources and Training.
We offer sole source pricing and negotiation resources:
General
Specific
Best Practices/Lessons Learned for Sole Source Pricing
The Best Practices/Lessons Learned for Sole Source Pricing document contains best practices from across the Department of Defense. The lessons learned are useful for large dollar acquisitions, including those that undergo peer review, but Contracting Officers and acquisition teams for small dollar actions should consider how to employ best practices as well.
The Best Practices/Lessons Learned for Sole Source Pricing document is available for download here.
Price Negotiation Documentation Checklist
The Price Negotiation Documentation Checklist provides a checklist for preliminary negotiation documentation and post negotiation documentation. This job aid is a resource that is useful for large dollar acquisitions, including those that undergo peer review, but Contracting Officers and acquisition teams for small dollar actions should consider how to leverage the checklist as well.
The Price Negotiation Documentation Checklist is available for download here.
Contract Pricing Reference Guides
The Contract Pricing Reference Guides are a set of reference volumes that were developed jointly by the Federal Acquisition Institute (FAI) and the Air Force Institute of Technology (AFIT).
The Guides were developed to provide instruction and guidance for contracting personnel. They include examples of applying pricing policies to pricing problems.
The Contract Pricing Reference Guides are posted on the DAU Acquisition Tools & Resources Website located here.
Commercial Acquisition Resources
DCMA Commercial Item Group Website
Department of Defense Guidebook for Acquiring Commercial Items
Access to commercial items and commercial practices brings significant benefit to the DoD including the creation and integration of new technology, increased competition, and an expanded pool of innovative and non-traditional contractors who seek to do business with the DoD. This guide is written for acquisition professionals that are seeking additional information on the commercial acquisitions including the commercial item definition, how to make a commercial item determination, and how to price commercial items.
Performance Based Payments Resources
Performance Based Payment Guidebook
The purpose of the Guide is to provide assistance to users based on lessons learned over the past fifteen years. It is important for users to read the entire guide because of the inter-relationship of the topics covered. It includes Chapters such as:
The Guide is Available for download here.
Contract Incentive Resources
Contract Incentive Guidebook
Incentive-type contracts are proven vehicles for DoD and industry to share equitably in cost savings or risks. When structured correctly, an incentive contract aligns industry motivations with the Government’s desired outcomes. DFARS 216.104 requires contracting officers to follow the principles and procedures in Guidance on Using Incentive and Other Contract Types, dated April 1, 2016.
In this area, we offer a suggested training plan framework for pricing professionals at all levels; we also separately list select training offerings for key pricing topics:
Training Plan Framework
Supervisors and pricing professionals should work closely together to develop a training plan that allows the professional to develop core competencies and build on areas of expertise. To assist, we have developed a framework with suggested pricing-specific training plans for contracting professionals. This framework includes recommended courses and potential credentials for trainees, journeymen, experienced, and senior (technical expert/supervisor) pricing professionals.
The examples in the framework aim to assist with navigating the range of courses at the Defense Acquisition University (DAU) under the talent management framework, Back-to-Basics.
The pricing training plan framework is available for download:
To learn more about the contracting talent management framework, click here
Training Offerings
Select training offerings for key pricing topics include:
Maximizing Warfighter Edge Through Efficient Acquisition
This webinar series is moderated by DAU and sponsored by Defense Pricing, Contracting, and Acquisition Policy (DPCAP)’s Price, Cost and Finance directorate. It addresses the need to “save to spend” as the Department contracts with the Defense Industrial Base to deliver capabilities to enable our uniformed military to defend the nation. The overall focus is on proactively managing DoD portfolios and limited budgeted dollars. Cross-functional communities—including contracting, pricing, acquisition, program, budget, finance, and supply chain—dialog on ways to increase our speed to deliver capability, volume, and availability to the warfighters. Topics include the pricing imperative, proactive utilization of actuals, and technical evaluation. A list of the webinars in the Maximizing Warfighter Edge Through Efficient Acquisition series, to include presentation materials, may be found here.
Striking the Balance
This innovative training series, taught by subject matter experts across the DoD, covers pricing-related topics of interest to help acquisition professionals strike the balance between competing objectives. The webinar series is moderated by DAU and sponsored by Defense Pricing, Contracting, and Acquisition Policy (DPCAP). Webinars have included topics such as pricing variable quantities; cost plus incentive fee contracts; lessons learned and best practices on speed, price and quality; and performance-based payments. A list of Striking the Balance webinars to include presentation materials may be found here.
Performance Based Payments Training
It is imperative that acquisition professionals have a solid understanding of how to develop a PBP contract financing arrangement that is beneficial for both Government and Industry. This course covers six key steps in how to develop an adequate PBP agreement.
Click Here for the August 2020 PBP training
PCF has created a training demonstration on how to appropriately use the PBP tool to structure and negotiate “win-win” agreements with the contractor.
Click Here for the July 2021 PBP tool training, which was a Striking the Balance webinar series course entitled Performance Based Payments.
Inflation Training
DPCAP has partnered with DAU to provide training for acquisition professionals regarding the impact of inflation based on contract type pertaining to existing contracts, and the proper use of the Economic Price Adjustment (EPA) clause to address inflation-related concerns for prospective contracts. This training consists of a DAU online training course, CON 7470 Inflation and Economic Price Adjustments, and a Striking the Balance webinar series course entitled "Striking the Balance: Constructing Fair Economic Price Adjustment Clauses".
Commercial Acquisition Training
DAU Commercial Acquisition Resources: Examples, Roles, and References