Spiral Market Intelligence
• Conduct Spiral 1 Market Intelligence
o Determine data sources and evaluate the current market climate and processes. Sources of data may include: commerce magazines, trade associations, libraries, government subject matter experts, and leaders in the commercial industry.
o Document market trends, such as:
n Do price fluctuations occur periodically (i.e., each quarter or year)?
n Is the commodity readily available?
n Does the industrial sector forecast any shortages, which could produce price and delivery fluctuations?
n What is the current market share of the federal government and the Air Force?
n What is the normal reporting cycle for quarterly economic status of the leaders in the industry?
n Who are the current commercial market leaders for the commodity?
n What is the availability and number of small business vendors with government experience and commodity expertise?
o Analyze market for emerging suppliers and commodities. Evaluate the market to determine what new suppliers and commodities are coming on the market in order to take advantage of potential benefits of new commodities and suppliers. Prepare for requirements that may rise from stakeholders in the future. Assess impacts of obsolete technology products, commodities, etc.
o Request information from leading suppliers. Ask them how others are accomplishing the same goals. What are the trends in the industry? How does the AF compare as a customer?
o Analyze supplier capacity and capabilities. Determine the volume of the commodity that can be delivered by individual suppliers. Review their manufacturing capabilities, performance capabilities, understand what they can do, etc. Use information from the supplier and from external sources.
o Determine market availability of commodities. Research the availability of the commodity. Is it available commercially? Is it readily available? Is it sole sourced? Does it require exclusive manufacturing? Or, is it available off-the-shelf?
o Stratify suppliers by socio-economic status. To ensure compliance with FAR requirements, break out the available suppliers by socio-economic indicators such as: small business, woman owned, minority owned, historically underutilized business zone, disabled veteran owned, large business, and so forth. Provide the types of suppliers available; the list may not include all suppliers across the U.S. but a representative sample.
o Reach out to other industries, services, companies that may be similar to determine how they are accomplishing the same goal (e.g., a University for the refuse commodity, a casino or bank for intrusion detection systems, etc.)
o Identify key industry cost drivers. Drivers calculated in the base cost of the item may include:
n Costs for the item or services. Do not break out each and every component of an item, but do list the cost for the main components.
n Labor costs are the main driver of cost in many segments of industry. The labor cost is the total labor cost included in one unit.
n Transportation costs aid the determination of shipping methods, storage costs, and/or expediting cost.
n Research and development costs for past and future efforts.
n IBIS World reports can help develop this type of information
o Evaluate current strategy against best practices within the industry that could produce increased efficiency and/or effectiveness in the current market.